Consolidated Edison Inc (ED) Business Profile

What it does

Consolidated Edison, Inc., or Con Edison, is a holding company headquartered in Manhattan. It was founded in 1998. Timothy P. Cawley is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

The company owns Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (CECONY), Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R), and Con Edison Transmission, Inc. Its principal work is delivering electricity, natural gas and steam through regulated utility networks. CECONY delivers electricity, gas and steam in New York City and nearby Westchester County. O&R delivers electricity and gas in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey. Con Edison Transmission develops and invests in electric-transmission projects and holds electric and gas assets through joint ventures.

For a new customer, the central service is delivery: moving electricity or gas over the company’s wires, pipes and other infrastructure to homes, businesses, public customers and buildings. CECONY also produces and distributes steam in parts of Manhattan, supplying a network used for building heating and cooling. The company sells electricity and gas to full-service customers, while also delivering those commodities for customers that choose other suppliers.

The company had 15,407 employees in FY2025. Its operating utilities are overseen by state regulators, while certain transmission activities are subject to federal oversight.

How it makes money

Con Edison earns utility revenue primarily from regulated delivery service. CECONY charges customers in its service area for electricity delivery, whether they buy power from CECONY or from another load-serving entity. It similarly delivers gas to full-service and retail-choice customers. O&R operates regulated electric and gas delivery businesses. CECONY’s steam business produces and delivers steam to buildings in parts of Manhattan.

Rates are set through tariffs and rate plans approved by the relevant state utility regulator. These rates are intended to recover regulator-approved costs of serving customers, including capital costs, and to provide a return on invested capital. A rate plan determines the rate base and the weighted average cost of capital used in setting the utility’s authorized revenue requirement. The allowed return on common equity is determined by the applicable state regulator.

Electricity and gas bought for CECONY’s full-service customers are generally recovered from customers on a current basis. The company states that it does not earn a margin or profit on the electricity and gas commodity it sells. Instead, the recurring economics of the utility business depend on delivery rates, the allowed return on utility investment, cost recovery mechanisms and operating within the terms of rate plans.

CECONY’s electric delivery revenue is generally protected from changes in delivery volumes through a revenue-decoupling mechanism. Its gas delivery revenue is generally insulated from changes in delivery volumes through weather normalization and revenue decoupling. Con Edison Transmission adds a separate business line through development and investment in regulated electric-transmission projects and joint-venture electric and gas assets.

The company seeks dividend growth supported by earnings growth in regulated utilities and electric-transmission projects.

Customers and how it sells

Con Edison’s customers are concentrated in regulated service territories in New York and northern New Jersey. CECONY provides electric service across New York City except part of Queens, and in most of Westchester County. Its gas customers are in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens and most of Westchester County. Its steam customers are located in parts of Manhattan.

O&R and its Rockland Electric Company subsidiary provide electric service in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey. O&R also delivers gas in southeastern New York. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial, state and municipal customers, as well as buildings using CECONY’s steam network.

Customers can take full service, under which the utility purchases and sells the electricity or gas, or use retail choice and buy the commodity from another supplier while continuing to receive delivery service from the utility. CECONY also delivers electricity to state and municipal customers of the New York Power Authority. The company charges customers in its service area for electricity delivery regardless of which supplier provides the commodity.

This territory model means the company’s utility operations are tied to the population, building stock, energy needs and regulatory rules of the areas they serve.

Suppliers and costs

The utilities buy electricity and gas for their full-service customers. Most electricity sold by CECONY to these customers was purchased through the wholesale electricity market administered by the New York Independent System Operator. CECONY also plans to meet its supply obligation through contracts, wholesale-market purchases and generation from its own facilities.

Natural gas is delivered to CECONY by interstate pipelines at points in or near its service territory. The company uses derivative transactions to hedge part of its expected wholesale electricity purchases, aiming to reduce volatility in full-service customers’ energy costs.

Major costs include power and gas purchases, utility-plant investment, financing, materials, operations, maintenance, storm restoration and customer-account collection costs. Approved energy-purchase costs and the cost of hedging are generally recoverable through rate provisions. The utilities’ cost of capital, including working capital, is reflected in customer rates. The company states that import tariffs increased material costs across supply-chain contract portfolios during 2025 and could lead to further cost increases and supply-chain disruptions if they remain in place.

Competitive position

Con Edison operates in a regulated delivery model rather than in an open retail network market. In New York State, electric and gas delivery service is provided by Con Edison, National Grid plc, Avangrid, Inc., National Fuel Gas Company, CH Energy Group, Inc., or state authorities including the New York Power Authority and Long Island Power Authority. Customers can also choose electricity or gas suppliers under retail-choice arrangements.

Distributed generation is an alternative electricity source for utility delivery customers. It includes solar facilities, fuel cells and micro-turbines. Energy storage is also a source of electricity for delivery customers. For gas customers, electricity, oil and propane are alternatives; for steam customers, electricity, oil and natural gas are alternatives for heating and cooling. The company expects distributed energy resources and electric alternatives to gas and steam to increase, while gas and steam usage decreases as New York clean-energy laws are implemented.

The regulatory franchise is a source of protection for the delivery business: a new provider in an existing service territory would need regulatory consent, facilities, compliance with service standards and responsibility for comparable taxes, fees and ongoing regulation. Con Edison Transmission’s current and prospective customers may have competitive alternatives for transmission projects.

Our reading: The regulated service territory is a strong protection for delivery operations because a new delivery provider faces regulatory approval, infrastructure construction and continuing regulation. [item1]

Our reading: Retail commodity choice and distributed generation are weaker protections because they can change what customers buy, even while customers remain connected to the delivery system. [item1]

Our reading: Transmission development has less protected economics than the utility delivery franchise because its customers may have competitive alternatives. [item1]

Growth opportunities

The company’s long-run investment activity is linked to maintaining and expanding regulated utility infrastructure, meeting reliability needs and developing electric-transmission projects. Its stated objective is continued dividend growth supported by earnings growth in regulated utilities and electric-transmission projects. It invests in reliable, resilient, safe and clean energy for customers in New York and New Jersey.

Electric demand is an important planning input. The company forecasts an average annual increase in hourly electric peak demand in its service area at design weather conditions over the next five years. It uses this forecast for electric-supply and capital-expenditure planning. CECONY has identified reliability needs in New York City associated with increasing load demand, generator retirements and updates to reliability design criteria, and it is developing a reliability contingency plan.

Con Edison Transmission develops and invests in electric transmission projects and participates in competitive solicitations for additional projects. Through its New York Transco partnership and jointly with the New York Power Authority, it is developing the Propel NY Energy transmission project to increase high-voltage transmission connections between Long Island and the rest of New York State.

Clean-energy policy is also shaping demand and investment. The utilities expect electricity usage to increase and gas and steam usage to decrease as policies aimed at reducing the carbon intensity of energy consumption are enacted and implemented. The company also expects distributed energy resources and electric alternatives to gas and steam to increase as New York climate laws continue to be implemented.

Structural risks

• The utilities are extensively regulated. State regulators set service terms and rates, can impose penalties, and can review the ability of an electric or gas utility to provide safe, adequate and reliable service. Rate-plan changes could adversely affect the utilities.

• Damage to, or failure of, facilities could disrupt service. Prolonged outages can lead to customer compensation, unrecovered costs and penalties or denied recovery of restoration costs if a utility fails to reasonably implement its emergency-response plan.

• Climate change, severe weather and environmental requirements can raise costs and affect system reliability. The company also faces uncertainty from changing federal environmental and energy rules.

• Rising electric usage, generator retirements and uncertainty over planned projects have contributed to identified reliability needs in New York City. The company must maintain reliable electric service while demand and grid requirements change.

• Higher aged customer receivables, inflation and higher interest rates have increased the utilities’ capital needs and the cost of capital. Slow recovery of customer receivables can affect liquidity and the recovery of carrying costs and write-offs.

• Cybersecurity regulation applies to the companies and their systems. A cyberattack could affect operations, customer interactions, customer data or critical energy infrastructure.

Bottom line

Our reading

Our reading: Con Edison is principally a regulated energy-delivery business whose recurring economics rest on state-approved rates, invested utility infrastructure and defined service territories. [item1]

Our reading: Its operations face changing energy use: the company expects electricity use to increase while gas and steam use decrease, alongside reliability, climate, affordability, collection and cost-of-capital pressures. [item1, item7]

Our reading: Electric-transmission development provides an additional investment path, but it has competitive alternatives that do not apply in the same way to the regulated delivery franchise. [item1]