Consolidated Edison

On March 23, 1823, "The New York Gas Light Company" was incorporated by the 46th New York State Legislature, creating the earliest corporate predecessor of Consolidated Edison. Founding directors included Samuel Leggett and Henry Eckford, respectively, a noted banker and large real estate holder. On May 12, 1823, the New York Gas Light Company received the exclusive privilege to lay gas pipes in the streets of New York City south of Grand Street. A year later, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). It holds the record as the longest listed stock on the NYSE. Due to the Board of Aldermen's authority to grant franchises in the City of New York in the early to mid-19th century, interaction with Tammany Hall was required to expand the business. By William M. Tweed's reign in the late 1860s as the boss of Tammany Hall, the power to authorize franchises lay with the County Board of Supervisors, of which Tweed had been a member. By 1871, Tweed was a member of the board of the Harlem Gas Light Company, a precursor to the Consolidated Edison Company. On November 10, 1884, New York Gas Light merged with the Manhattan Gas Light Company (inc. 1830), Metropolitan Gas Light Company (inc. 1848), Municipal Gas Light Company (inc. 1874), Knickerbocker Gas Light Company (inc. 1876), and Harlem Gas Light Company (inc. 1855) to form the Consolidated Gas Company of New York.

In 1901, the Consolidated Gas Company bought Edison Illuminating Company, which had been founded by Thomas Edison in 1880, first supplying electricity to 59 customers in a 1-square-mile (2.6 km2) area in lower Manhattan. After the "war of currents", more than 30 companies were generating and distributing electricity in New York City and Westchester County. But by 1920 there were far fewer, and Consolidated Gas's electricity arm, then called the New York Edison Company, was the leader. On February 18, 1936, an annual report issued by Consolidated Gas Company of New York, Inc. revealed that roughly 75% of their gross operating revenue came from electricity, leading to discussion by the company's officers about changing the company's name to better reflect its nature. On March 16, 1936, stockholders of the Consolidated Gas Company of New York, Inc. voted to change the company's name to Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.

The New York Steam Company began providing service in Lower Manhattan in 1882. Con Edison bought it in 1954, and now operates the largest commercial steam system in the world, providing steam service to nearly 1,600 commercial and residential establishments in Manhattan from Battery Park to 96th Street.

Consolidated Edison acquired or merged with more than a dozen companies between 1936 and 1960. Con Edison today is the result of acquisitions, dissolutions, and mergers of more than 170 individual electric, gas, and steam companies.

Consolidated Edison acquired land on the Hudson River in Buchanan, New York, in 1954 for the Indian Point nuclear power plant. The first reactor (Indian Point 1) began generating power on September 16, 1962. The reactor was shut down on October 31, 1974, because the emergency core cooling system did not meet regulatory requirements. The company built two more reactors at Indian Point during the 1970s: Indian Point 2 and 3. Indian Point 3 was sold to the New York Power Authority in 1975. Entergy acquired Indian Point 2 in November 2000, nine months after a steam generator leak. With the sale of Indian Point 2, the last power plant it owned, Consolidated Edison, Inc. became primarily an energy distributor.

On January 1, 1998, following the deregulation of the utility industry in New York State, a holding company, Consolidated Edison, Inc., was formed. It is one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $13 billion in annual revenues and $47 billion in assets. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through two regulated utility subsidiaries and three competitive energy businesses. Under several corporate names, the company has been traded on the NYSE without interruption since 1824—longer than any other NYSE stock. Its largest subsidiary, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., provides electric, gas, and steam service to more than 3 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York, an area of 660 square miles (1,700 km2) with a population of nearly 9 million. Also in 1998, Consolidated Edison, Inc. acquired Orange & Rockland Utilities, which is operated separately.

Con Edison had invested $3 billion in solar and wind projects. In September 2017 it was announced that the company would invest $1.25 billion in "renewable energy production facilities over the next three years."

The company's "renewable portfolio" contained more than 1.5 gigawatts of operating capacity. Seventy-five percent of that capacity came from solar energy. Clean energy accounted for around eight percent of the company's earnings, as of fall 2017. Con Edison sold its clean energy business to RWE in 2023.

Major accidents and incidents

1977: All of New York City, with the exception of the Rockaways - which get their power from the Long Island Lighting Company (LILCo) - was blacked out overnight on July 13 and 14, due to lightning strikes on a number of sub-stations and the resulting failures of interconnects in the power grid.

1989: A steam pipe explosion in Gramercy Park killed three, injured 24, and required the evacuation of a damaged apartment building due to high levels of asbestos in the air. Workers had failed to drain water from the pipe before turning the steam on. The utility also eventually pleaded guilty to lying about the absence of asbestos contamination, and paid a $2 million fine.

2001: The Con Edison electricity substation at 7 World Trade Center was destroyed on September 11th as a result of the collapse of Numbers 1 and 2 World Trade Center following a terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda against the United States.

2004: In Manhattan, stray voltage killed East Village resident Jodie Lane and her dog when she stepped on a service box that wasn't properly insulated. The corner of East 11th Street and 1st Avenue, where the incident occurred, was given the alternate name of Jodie Lane Place in 2005.

2006: After the blackout in Queens, the company was criticized by public officials for a poor record in the restoration of service to its customers.

2007: On July 18, an explosion occurred in midtown Manhattan near Grand Central Terminal when an 83-year-old Con Edison steam pipe failed, resulting in one death, over 40 injuries, as well as subway and surface disruptions.