Con Edison Proposes Investments to Meet Growing Demand for Clean Energy, Enhance Customer Support

Con Edison is seeking state regulatory approval for its proposed infrastructure investments to maintain a reliable electric service and continue fortifying its energy systems, as extreme weather events become more frequent and severe.

The investment plan, subject to approval by the New York State Public Service Commission, supports clean energy investments required to build and maintain the grid of the future, improvements to customer affordability programs, and IT infrastructure and tools to better serve customers’ needs.

Con Edison is building new electric infrastructure to meet the forecasted growth in customer demand from building and transportation electrification and from new development throughout the service territory. Con Edison customers will continue to select heat pumps and electric vehicles consistent with New York State’s climate laws and the proposed investments to ensure the grid is ready to meet the forecasted growth in customer demand from building and transportation electrification and from new development throughout the service territory.

The proposed electric and gas rate plans will support economic growth and development in New York City and Westchester County by investing more than $21 billion over three years to build new infrastructure, like transmission, substation and distribution facilities to better serve customers, including those in disadvantaged communities, and help ensure compliance with New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

The filing requests new rates for one year starting on January 1, 2026. Con Edison is open to a multi-year settlement to provide more cost certainty for its customers. Con Edison estimates that its investments will require approximately $1.6 billion more in electric revenue and about $440 million more in gas revenue, resulting in an average electric bill increase of 11.4 percent and an average gas bill increase of 13.3 percent.

Con Edison is seeking funding to expand its outreach for enrolling eligible customers in the Energy Affordability Program (EAP). In 2024, Con Edison provided more than $300 million in bill discounts to those enrolled in the EAP.

Additionally, the plan estimates that increasing property taxes on energy infrastructure paid by customers account for nearly 27 percent of the proposed electric revenue increase and about 14.5 percent of the proposed gas revenue increase. Con Edison estimates it will collect more than $3.2 billion in property taxes from its customers in 2026 and will work with policy makers on solutions expected to direct the tax revenue back to low-income customers to provide bill relief or support clean energy programs.

Con Edison supports its customers’ energy choices while building a reliable and resilient grid capable of delivering 100 percent clean energy. Specific components of the investment include:

A substation complex in eastern Queens to support the growing demand for power from the redevelopment of JFK Airport, MTA bus depots and customer electrification in the Jamaica network that will also help to lower emissions contributing to cleaner air quality for the community.
A clean energy hub in Brooklyn that will unlock renewable energy while supporting reliability in local neighborhoods.
A Distributed System Technology Platform to integrate renewable energy sources and maintain grid stability during extreme weather. Supporting demand response programs helps Con Edison manage energy consumption to provide reliable service for all customers.
An electrification pilot for private, affordable multi-unit buildings to help address the affordability impact of heating electrification through bill credits to tenants not covered by rent control and residents in low-income co-ops. This pilot will provide insight and understanding into how to best help mitigate the cost of the clean energy transition for these tenants.
Expansion of service installation programs for new businesses, including electric vehicle infrastructure and building heating electrification, to accommodate the expected increase in activity due to the transition to electric vehicles and clean heat and new development.
Expansion of the electric delivery system in areas where medium- and heavy-duty fleets are located to facilitate the conversion to electricity for transportation, and to maintain system reliability and resilience while enhancing public and employee safety investments.

Con Edison implements ongoing efforts to drive cost efficiencies by leveraging business processes, workforce and its technology:

Con Edison will continue its rigorous competitive bid processes for major contracts.
To drive efficiency of its operation and reduce energy waste, Con Edison will continue to deploy algorithms and sensors on underground equipment to help detect problems early and manage issues before they become costly.
Con Edison will also continue to implement energy efficiency programs to help low- and moderate-income customers reduce their energy consumption and costs.
Con Edison will continue investments in its digital channels, including websites, virtual assistant, and mobile applications to support customers’ ability to receive service promptly and effectively. Investments in these robust channels will allow Con Edison to serve customers more efficiently by avoiding the need for millions of calls annually to its call center and the associated cost.

Con Edison’s gas plan includes investments to maintain the safety and reliability of its system. The company seeks to continue replacing cast-iron and unprotected steel main with durable plastic piping to reduce the emission of methane.

Con Edison’s research with Columbia University and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority found that extreme weather events will continue to increase in frequency and severity. The plan includes investments to enhance reliability and resiliency to address more frequent and severe storms.

These investments build on the company’s success in hardening its energy systems against severe heat, wind, flooding, snowstorms and rainstorms since Superstorm Sandy. The resiliency measures implemented have prevented more than 1.2 million customer outages, and Con Edison seeks additional funding to help ensure it can keep pace with changing climate impacts.

Con Edison proposes:

Replacing overhead wire circuits with more resilient aerial cable and installing switches to diversify supply sources and maintain adequate power.
Hardening overhead wire circuits, particularly those serving customers that provide critical services. These include hospitals, warming and cooling shelters, pumping stations and first responder and emergency operations centers.
Placing some overhead circuits underground to protect them from tree damage and avoid outages during overhead storms.
Replacing sections of underground cable that the company’s analysis indicates are vulnerable to increasing temperatures caused by climate change.

Con Edison is proposing continued investments in customer service enhancements to better serve customers, and in the IT systems necessary to make it easier to do business with Con Edison while keeping critical information and systems safe from increasing cyber threats. This includes:

Increasing customer service staff to shorten wait times and handle increased call volume.
Expanding outreach and tools that provide language translation services to meet the needs of the region’s diverse population.
New information technology infrastructure to expand bill payment options and cyber protections.
Protections for its customers through enhancements in cyber and physical security capabilities to meet evolving regulatory standards and increased threats to IT systems.