Con Edison’s robust investments and dedicated crews have made the company’s electric delivery service the most reliable in New York, according to recently released data from the New York State Public Service Commission.
The Commission, which regulates the industry to ensure safe, reliable service, found the typical Con Edison customer would experience an outage once every nine years based on the company’s performance in 2023.
The Commission measures reliability by dividing the number of interruptions customers experience by the number of customers. Con Edison’s System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) number was .11, while the SAIFI for the rest of the state was .94.
That means Con Edison’s service was nearly nine times as reliable as the service of the state’s other electric providers. The state figures do not include outages caused by major storms or snow and ice events that affect the underground electric delivery system.
Con Edison’s service was 10 times more reliable than the service of electric delivery companies across the nation in 2022, based on a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The national average was 1.4 interruptions per customer served in 2022, while Con Edison’s was .14.
The company’s Network Reliability Index predicts where investments would be most beneficial guide Con Edison’s engineers in making upgrades. The index’s algorithms consider the age, performance history and future demand that will be placed on each piece of equipment.
The Public Service Commission report also tracks utilities’ reliability over the last five years. Con Edison’s service was nearly seven times as reliable as the service of other electric delivery companies in the state from 2019 to 2023.
The company maintains its reliability through robust investments in underground and overhead cables and transformers, substation equipment, circuit breakers and other components. For the summer of 2024, the company invested $2.3 billion.
Con Edison fortified its equipment against the increasingly frequent and severe weather events caused by climate change. Crews have installed submersible transformers that stay in service during heavy flooding like Superstorm Sandy brought in 2012; installed stronger poles and wiring; built walls around low-lying equipment; and installed smart switches to limit outages.
The company is installing switches on its underground power lines in Brooklyn and Queens to limit outages. These “interrupters” detect faults on cables and take a portion of a cable out of service, limiting the number of customers affected.
Crews are also strategically placing overhead wires and equipment underground to protect them from overhead storms that bring heavy winds, rain, and snow. The company considers the economic status of areas where it does the undergrounding work, understanding that disadvantaged communities can least afford to lose service.
Con Edison’s Climate Change Vulnerablity Study with Columbia University has indicated that increased heat represents the biggest, immediate threat to reliability. By 2030, New York City will experience up to 17 days a year with temperatures of 95 degrees or higher, the study projects, up from four days a year historically.
Based on the findings of that study, the company has proposed to the PSC approximately $903 million in reliability investments between 2025 and 2029. Those investments are outlined in Con Edison’s Climate Change Reliability Study.
