Consolidated Edison, Inc.

What does Consolidated Edison own?
The company owns Con Edison of New York, the electric, gas, and steam utility serving NYC and Westchester, Orange & Rockland Utilities, plus transmission and clean energy subsidiaries.

Is Consolidated Edison publicly traded?
Yes. It trades on the NYSE under ticker ED and is an S&P 500 component.

When was Consolidated Edison founded?
Its predecessor New York Gas Light Company was founded in 1823. The Consolidated Edison name dates to 1936.

Where is Consolidated Edison headquartered?
The company is headquartered at 4 Irving Place in New York City.

Who owns Consolidated Edison?
Public shareholders own it through the NYSE listing, with institutional investors holding most shares.

What is Con Edison's service area?
New York City and Westchester County for the main utility, plus northern New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania through Orange & Rockland.

Is Con Edison a monopoly?
Yes, a regulated one: the New York Public Service Commission grants the franchise and sets rates in exchange for universal service obligations.

The company's roots reach to 1823, when the New York Gas Light Company received its charter, making Con Edison one of the oldest continuously operating enterprises on the New York Stock Exchange. The gas business predates the light bulb by half a century, lighting Manhattan's streets with coal gas.

Thomas Edison's 1882 Pearl Street Station launched the electric era from downtown Manhattan, and competing gas and electric companies consolidated through the early twentieth century into The New York Edison Company, renamed Consolidated Edison in 1936. The steam system, born in the same era as the skyscrapers it still serves, remains unique in the United States.

The twentieth century established the modern regulated monopoly serving the most demanding load pocket in America, with density and reliability requirements no other US utility faces. The 1970s Indian Point nuclear era, the 2003 blackout, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 each drove infrastructure investment waves.

Recent history centers on New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which mandates economy-wide decarbonization and positions Con Edison's grid as the delivery mechanism for building electrification, offshore wind interconnection, and clean heating transitions.

The company's climate position is double-edged: it delivers the fossil energy New York uses today while being tasked by state law with building the clean grid of tomorrow.

Its clean energy commitments include renewable interconnection support, energy efficiency programs, grid modernization for electrification, and emissions reduction targets aligned with New York's mandates. The steam system's efficiency, using waste heat for district energy, is a genuine efficiency asset.

No B Corp or equivalent certification applies. Its sustainability credibility rests on regulatory-mandated clean energy delivery rather than voluntary certification.

Rate increases: Con Edison's rate cases are perennially controversial, with New York customers paying among the nation's highest electricity prices and advocates pushing back on delivery charge increases to fund grid investment.

Blackout and reliability scrutiny: Outages, from the 2019 Manhattan blackout to storm events, draw outsized political and media attention given the city's centrality and the utility's monopoly accountability.

Gas system transition: The future of the gas network under electrification policy creates regulatory friction over stranded asset risk and cost recovery, an unresolved structural question for the whole gas utility industry.

Steam system incidents: Periodic steam pipe explosions, including a notable 2007 and 2018 event, draw scrutiny to the aging underground network's maintenance.