Consolidated Edison
Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison or ConEd, is an energy company based in New York City. It is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $15.26 billion in annual revenues as of 2024, and over $70 billion in assets. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through its subsidiaries:
- Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., a regulated utility providing electric and gas service in New York City and Westchester County, New York, and steam service in the borough of Manhattan;
- Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc., a regulated utility serving customers in a area in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey; and,
- Con Edison Transmission, Inc., which invests in electric and natural gas transmission projects.
History
On March 23, 1823, "The New-York Gas light Company" was incorporated by the 46th New York State Legislature, creating the earliest corporate predecessor of Consolidated Edison. Founding directors included Samuel Leggett and Henry Eckford, respectively, a noted banker and large real estate holder. On May 12, 1823, the New York Gas Light Company received the exclusive privilege to lay gas pipes in the streets of New York City south of Grand Street. A year later, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It holds the record as the longest listed stock on the NYSE. Due to the Board of Aldermen's authority to grant franchises in the City of New York in the early to mid-19th century, interaction with Tammany Hall was required to expand the business. By William M. Tweed's reign in the late 1860s as the boss of Tammany Hall, the power to authorize franchises lay with the County Board of Supervisors, of which Tweed had been a member. By 1871, Tweed was a member of the board of the Harlem Gas Light Company, a precursor to the Consolidated Edison Company. On November 10, 1884, New York Gas Light merged with the Manhattan Gas Light Company, Metropolitan Gas Light Company, Municipal Gas Light Company, Knickerbocker Gas Light Company, and Harlem Gas Light Company to form the Consolidated Gas Company of New York.In 1901, the Consolidated Gas Company bought Edison Illuminating Company, which had been founded by Thomas Edison in 1880, first supplying electricity to 59 customers in a area in lower Manhattan. After the "war of currents", more than 30 companies were generating and distributing electricity in New York City and Westchester County. But by 1920 there were far fewer, and Consolidated Gas's electricity arm, then called the New York Edison Company, was the leader. On February 18, 1936, an annual report issued by Consolidated Gas Company of New York, Inc. revealed that roughly 75% of their gross operating revenue came from electricity, leading to discussion by the company's officers about changing the company's name to better reflect its nature. On March 16, 1936, stockholders of the Consolidated Gas Company of New York, Inc. voted to change the company's name to Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
The New York Steam Company began providing service in Lower Manhattan in 1882. Con Edison bought it in 1954, and now operates the largest commercial steam system in the world, providing steam service to nearly 1,600 commercial and residential establishments in Manhattan from Battery Park to 96th Street.
Consolidated Edison acquired or merged with more than a dozen companies between 1936 and 1960. Con Edison today is the result of acquisitions, dissolutions, and mergers of more than 170 individual electric, gas, and steam companies.
Consolidated Edison acquired land on the Hudson River in Buchanan, New York, in 1954 for the Indian Point nuclear power plant. The first reactor began generating power on September 16, 1962. The reactor was shut down on October 31, 1974, because the emergency core cooling system did not meet regulatory requirements. The company built two more reactors at Indian Point during the 1970s: Indian Point 2 and 3. Indian Point 3 was sold to the New York Power Authority in 1975. Entergy acquired Indian Point 2 in November 2000, nine months after a steam generator leak. With the sale of Indian Point 2, the last power plant it owned, Consolidated Edison, Inc. became primarily an energy distributor.
On January 1, 1998, following the deregulation of the utility industry in New York State, a holding company, Consolidated Edison, Inc., was formed. It is one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $13 billion in annual revenues and $47 billion in assets. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through two regulated utility subsidiaries and three competitive energy businesses. Under several corporate names, the company has been traded on the NYSE without interruption since 1824—longer than any other NYSE stock. Its largest subsidiary, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., provides electric, gas, and steam service to more than 3 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York, an area of with a population of nearly 9 million. Also in 1998, Consolidated Edison, Inc. acquired Orange & Rockland Utilities, which is operated separately.
Con Edison had invested $3 billion in solar and wind projects. In September 2017 it was announced that the company would invest $1.25 billion in "renewable energy production facilities over the next three years."
The company's "renewable portfolio" contained more than 1.5 gigawatts of operating capacity. Seventy-five percent of that capacity came from solar energy. Clean energy accounted for around eight percent of the company's earnings, as of fall 2017. Con Edison sold its clean energy business to RWE in 2023.
Systems
Clean energy
To support electric vehicles, Con Edison partnered with the company FleetCarma to provide $500 in rewards to owners of electric vehicles in New York City and Westchester County, New York. Through this program, Con Edison pays customers to charge their vehicles when energy demand is low.Electrical
The Con Edison electrical transmission system utilizes voltages of 138 kilovolts, 345 kV, and 500 kV. The company has two 345 kV interconnections with upstate New York that enable it to import power from Hydro-Québec in Canada and one 345 kV interconnection each with Public Service Electric and Gas in New Jersey and Long Island. Con Edison's connection with Hydro-Québec is via a series of transmission lines owned by the New York Power Authority and neighboring utilities; a more direct connection via the Champlain Hudson Power Express HVDC line is expected to come online in 2025.Con Edison is also interconnected with PSE&G via the Branchburg-Ramapo 500 kV line. Con Ed's distribution voltages are 33 kV, 27 kV, 13 kV, and 4 kV.
The of underground cable in the Con Edison system could wrap around the Earth 3.6 times. Nearly of overhead electric wires complement the underground system—enough cable to stretch between New York and Los Angeles 13 times.
Gas
The Con Edison gas system has nearly of pipes—if laid end to end, long enough to reach Paris and back to New York City, and serves Westchester County, the Bronx, Manhattan, and parts of Queens. Gas service in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the rest of Queens is provided by National Grid USA's New York City operations, except the Rockaway peninsula, which is serviced by National Grid's Long Island operations. The average volume of gas that travels through Con Edison's gas system annually could fill the Empire State Building nearly 6,100 times.Steam
Con Edison produces 30 billion pounds of steam each year through its seven power plants which boil water to before distributing it to hundreds of buildings in the New York City steam system, which is the biggest district steam system in the world. Steam traveling through the system is used to heat and cool some of New York's most famous addresses, including the United Nations complex, the Empire State Building, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Metering
The Smart Meter Project was awarded to Aclara Smart Grid Solutions and the majority of the rollout was completed in 2022 with several thousand meters still needing to be changed in 2023 due to customer access issues. ConEd utilized Aclara's metering products for field installation. Over five million electric and gas meters were replaced in this project. Lime green-colored seals were used on electric meters to indicate that the meter was changed by a contractor.Programs and resources
ConEd offers a variety of programs and resources for its customers and stakeholders, organized in such categories as, "For Renters", "For Residential Owners", "For Small & Medium Businesses", "For Commercial & Industrial", "Business Partners", "Investors", "Community Affairs", and "Municipalities". Examples of such resources include:- CONCERN Program, which offers eligible customers a specially trained representative and advice about government aid programs, safety tips, and ways to save money on one's energy bill
- Quarterly Billing Plan, which allows senior citizens, whose Con Edison bills are less than $420 a year, to receive bills once every three months, rather than once a month
- SPOTLIGHT, Con Edison's newsletter
Community partnerships
Leadership and associations
- Timothy P. Cawley, Chairman, president and Chief Executive Officer, Consolidated Edison, Inc.
- Matt Ketschke, president, Con Edison of New York
- Michele O'Connell, president and CEO, Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc.
- Stuart Nachmias, president and CEO, Con Edison Transmission
- Robert Sanchez, president, Shared Services
- Kirkland Andrews, senior vice president and chief financial officer
- Mary E. Kelly, senior vice president and chief information officer
- Jennifer Hensley, senior vice president, Corporate Affairs
- Yukari Saegusa, vice president, Treasury and Investor Relations
- Edlyn Misquita, vice president and general auditor
- Sylvia Dooley, vice president and corporate secretary
- Joseph Miller, vice president, controller and chief accounting officer
- Deneen L. Donnley, senior vice president and general counsel
- Scott Sanders, vice president, Business Finance
- Edward L. Conway, ombudsman