Details continue to be revealed regarding FirstEnergy’s behavior while it was involved in financing a $61 million bribery scheme, according to a report by the Energy and Policy Institute. Evidence suggests FirstEnergy was classifying lobbying and donations as “construction expenses” while it was also funding what became a bribery scandal. However, the Ohio Capital Journal says the report does not determine whether any of that misclassified money was being used to pay for bribes.

However they were labeled, $108 million in such errors have been found.

Now, FirstEnergy has the audacity to ask the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for permission to charge customers to cover those costs. The alternative, it seems, is not an option for the company, as it would require billing FirstEnergy shareholders, including its own executives, the Capital Journal reports.

After a federal audit’s findings, FirstEnergy had reclassified the $108 million in claimed construction expenses as “miscellaneous deferred debits.” The company then rolled those into a request to the utility commission to pass $190 million in additional costs to ratepayers.

At best, the company got creative in a way that earned the attention of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Energy and Policy Institute. But rather than deal with the consequences themselves, they would have customers shoulder the responsibility.

Fortunately, the Office of Consumers Counsel — the state’s official consumer advocate — has asked the utilities commission to make First Energy’s shareholders pay.

“Consumers shouldn’t pay for FirstEnergy’s mistakes. Both the independent auditor and OCC’s expert agree that FirstEnergy’s $108 million ‘fix’ for its own error was improper,” the agency’s head, Maureen Willis, said in an email, according to the Capital Journal.

That seems like plain common sense and decency. Here’s hoping the public utilities commission employs both.