NEW YORK (Reuters) - FirstEnergy Corp., already under fire for its actions during the worst blackout in North American history, said Friday the Securities and Exchange Commission has requested data on the company's recent restatement of financial results for 2002.

"FirstEnergy intends to fully comply with the request and does not anticipate any adverse consequences," the Akron, Ohio, utility said in an SEC filing.

The latest piece of bad news underscores the company's problems, which also include debt and safety issues, one analyst said.

"The company's credibility has been called into question based on a number of these events and this is another issue that I think management has to deal with," said Paul Fremont, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. who rates the company a "buy" and owns no shares of it.

"It's an area that the company needs to address. We will probably see increasing pressure by outside parties to resolve the situation," said Fremont, who acknowledged that a change in management is possible.

FirstEnergy's top executives include Chairman and Chief Executive Peter Burg, President Anthony Alexander and Chief Financial Officer Richard Marsh.

Several power company executives -- including Aquila Inc.'s Robert Green, Dynegy Inc.'s Chuck Watson and El Paso Corp.'s William Wise -- have stepped down in the wake of plunging stock prices and shifts in company strategy.

FirstEnergy, which owns electric utilities in three states, last month restated its results for 2002 and the first quarter of 2003. The restatements were prompted by changes in how it accounts for costs related to Ohio's move toward a competitive energy market.

FirstEnergy said the SEC request was voluntary and informal and was made Thursday, the same day the company revised regulatory filings for quarterly reports for the first and second quarters of 2003 and the 2002 annual report, citing tens of millions of dollars in "typographical and minor computational errors."

"Clearly the company was sending a signal that it was having trouble getting things in final form by the deadline date," said Fremont, referring to the multiplicity of errors in the original filings.

"I would venture a guess that the request for information will ultimately try to determine why the company was having trouble and also what the magnitude of the corrections were that had been issued."

A spokeswoman blamed the errors Thursday on the short two-week timeframe the company had to complete the restatement.

The company's transmission lines have been cited as a possible source of the massive Aug. 14 blackout. Some members of Congress have condemned FirstEnergy for its actions during the blackout, which left millions of people in the United States and Canada without electric power.

FirstEnergy (FE: Research, Estimates) has also suffered from debt issues and safety issues at its Davis-Besse nuclear power station.

Trading in shares of FirstEnergy was halted ahead of the news Friday. The shares closed at $31.10 on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.