Consolidated Edison
Headquarters:
4 Irving Place
New York, NY 10003
Employees: 15,628
CEO: Kevin Burke
Website: http://www.conedison.com
Stock Symbol:
ED
Career
Page
Consolidated Edison, Inc. is one of the
nation's largest investor-owned energy companies and serves the
densely populated New York City metro area. The company provides
a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers
through the following subsidiaries:
Consolidated Edison Company of New York,
Inc., a regulated utility providing
electric service to approximately 3.2 million customers and gas
service to approximately 1.1 million customers in New York City
and Westchester County;
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc., a regulated utility serving customers in a 1,350
square mile area in southeastern New York State, as well as adjacent
sections of northern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania;
O&R provides electric service to 300,000 customers in southeastern
New York and adjacent areas of northern New Jersey and eastern
Pennsylvania and gas service to more than 126,000 customers in
southeastern New York and adjacent areas of eastern Pennsylvania.
Con Edison Solutions, a retail energy supply and services company;
Con Edison Energy,
a wholesale energy supply company;
Con Edison Development, a company that owns and operates generating plants and participates in other infrastructure projects. During the second quarter of 2008, Con Edison Development and its subsidiary, CED/SCS Newington, LLC, completed the sale of their ownership interests in power generating projects with an aggregate capacity of approximately 1,706 MW.
Con Edison of New York operates the world's
largest underground electric system with 94,000 miles of cable.
The company also maintains 36,000 miles of overhead cables.
In 2008, Con Ed reported revenues of $13.5 billion and net income of $1.19 billion.
History
Con Edison traces its early history to
the New York Gas Light Company, founded in 1823. New York Gas
received a charter from the New York State Legislature to serve
all of Manhattan south of an east-west line created by Grand,
Sullivan, and Canal Streets. Like most early gas companies, New
York Gas would focus its efforts on street lighting, in this
case, supplementing or replacing the whale-oil lamps that were
installed by the city beginning in the 1760s.
Gas pipe was first laid on Pearl Street,
and then on Broadway from Grand Street to the Battery. On October
4, 1824, the Cherry Street residence of Samuel Leggett, one of
the company's founders, became the first house in New York to
be illuminated by gas. New Yorkers embraced the new technology,
and gas lamps soon lighted more than 300 homes and stores.
In 1833, the Common Council (forerunner
of today's New York City Council) granted a franchise to the
Manhattan Gas Light Company covering Manhattan above Grand and
Canal Streets. Another new company came on the scene in 1850
when the Harlem Gas Light Company was granted a franchise to
serve customers north of 79th Street. In 1854, the Metropolitan
Gas Light Company was granted a city-wide charter and went into
direct competition with the existing gas companies. Eventually
it settled into a service territory between those of Manhattan
and Harlem Gas Light. Over time, additional companies were formed,
including New York Mutual Gas Light in 1866 and the Municipal
Gas Light Company in 1877.
With six major gas companies serving New
York City, the streets were constantly being torn up by one company
or another installing or repairing their own mains - or removing
those of a rival. From time to time, work crews from competing
companies would inadvertently meet on the same street and literally
battle for customers, giving rise to the term "gas house
gangs."
Competition in overlapping franchise areas
and unreasonable price-cutting were bringing some gas companies
to the brink of financial ruin. In May 1880, the city's major
gas companies came to an agreement on the price of gas and ended
the construction of competitive mains, a business arrangement
that would be unlawful today but was legal, and sensible, at
the time.
Just as company executives were looking
forward to the financial stability and profitability the agreement
would bring, a new problem was brewing. In December 1879, Thomas
Edison demonstrated his newest invention - the incandescent light
bulb. As the electric lamp quickly became the light of choice,
gas companies countered by finding new uses for their product
and touted the benefits of gas for heating and cooking.
But the future survival of the gas business
seemed to depend on consolidation. On November 10, 1884, executives
from the New York, Manhattan, Harlem, Metropolitan, Municipal,
and Knickerbocker Gas Light companies gathered at Manhattan Gas
Light's 4 Irving Place headquarters (the present-day location
of Con Edison's headquarters) and agreed to combine their businesses
into the Consolidated Gas Company of New York.
While Consolidated Gas retained its focus
on the gas business, the company recognized the role that other
energy sources would play in meeting New York's growing needs,
and by the early 1900s had acquired a number of electric companies
along with additional gas businesses. In the 1920's, Consolidated
expanded alternating current (AC) distribution, the technology
that is widely used today to distribute electricity. The company
also designed and built the first 345,000-volt underground transmission
lines, allowing it to bring electricity into New York from distant
generating sources north of the city.
Through the years, Consolidated Gas continued
to acquire gas, electric, and steam companies serving New York
City and Westchester County. On May 23, 1936, the business was
renamed the Consolidated Edison Company of New York.
Through its 1999 merger with Orange and
Rockland Utilities, Con Edison expanded its base to include Orange
and Rockland counties in New York as well as parts of New Jersey
and Pennsylvania.
Benefits
The OPTIONS Program
You can choose the level of coverage that best fits your needs
from:
- Medical options - including hospital and vision care coverage
- Prescription drug options
- Dental options
- Long-term disability options
- Employee life insurance
- Health care and dependent care flexible reimbursement accounts
- Transportation reimbursement account
Benefits For Your Future Security
Retirement Plan, Thrift Savings Plan, Stock Purchase Plan, and
Group Universal Life Insurance.
Job-related Insurance Benefits
Occupational Accidental Death, Business Travel/Accident, and
Crime Protection Insurance.
Family Benefits
Adoption Benefit Plan, Child Care and Eldercare Information and
Referral Services, Emergency Child Care Plan, Maternity Leave
Health Benefits, Parental Leave of Absence Pension Credit, and
College Savings Program.
Additional Benefits
Company Sick Allowance Plan, Tuition Aid Program, Work-Home Wellness
Program, Vacations and Holidays, Voluntary Cancer Protection
Plan, and Accident Plan.
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