not to be confused with comed commonwealth edison in illinois . consolidated edison company type public traded as nyse ed dow jones utility average component s & p 500 component industry energy founded 1823 as the new york gas light company headquarters 4 irving place new york city new york united states area served new york metropolitan area key people john mcavoy services electricity gas steam revenue 2013 12.35 billion operating income 2013 2.24 billion total assets 2013 40.6 billion number of employees 2013 14 653 website www.coned.com con ed plant on the east river at 15th street in manhattan new york city . following the september 11 attacks the 15th street exit from the fdr drive announced by the sign on the right was permanently closed . consolidated edison inc. commonly known as con edison or con ed is one of the largest investor owned energy companies in the united states with approximately 13 billion in annual revenues as of 2010 and over 36 billion in assets . the company provides a wide range of energy related products and services to its customers through its subsidiaries consolidated edison company of new york inc. cecony a regulated utility providing electric gas and steam service in new york city and westchester county new york ; orange and rockland utilities inc. a regulated utility serving customers in a 1 350 square mile 3 500 km2 area in southeastern new york and adjacent sections of northern new jersey and northeastern pennsylvania ; con edison solutions a retail energy supply and services company ; con edison energy a wholesale energy supply company ; and con edison development a company that owns and operates generating plants and participates in other infrastructure projects . in 2014 electric revenues accounted for 70.54 % of consolidated sales 70.84 in 2013 ; gas revenues 14.96 % 14.74 % ; steam revenues 4.86 % 5.52 % ; and non utility revenues 9.62 % 8.85 % . 1 though the company provides an indispensable service to new york residents a number of major incidents and service problems have negatively impacted its reputation with the public . contents 1 history 2 systems 2.1 electrical 2.2 gas 2.3 steam 3 leadership and associations 4 major accidents and incidents 5 bribery prosecution 6 honors and criticism 7 adaptive re use of former con ed building 8 see also 9 references 10 external links history edit a sketch of an early power plant on pearl street as well as gas and electricity con ed supplies steam to new york city in 1823 con edison s earliest corporate predecessor the new york gas light company was founded by a consortium of new york city investors . a year later it was listed on the new york stock exchange . in 1884 six gas companies combined into the consolidated gas company . the new york steam company began providing service in lower manhattan in 1882 . today con edison 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 . 2 con edison s electric business also dates back to 1882 when thomas edison s edison illuminating company of new york began supplying electricity to 59 customers in a square mile area in lower manhattan . after the war of currents there were more than 30 companies generating and distributing electricity in new york city and westchester county . but by 1920 there were far fewer and the new york edison company then part of consolidated gas was clearly the leader . in 1936 with electric sales far outstripping gas sales the company incorporated and the name was changed to consolidated edison company of new york inc. the years that followed brought further amalgamations as 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 . 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 14 billion in annual revenues and 33 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 a number of 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 . systems edit electrical edit the con edison electrical transmission system utilizes voltages of 138 kilovolts kv 345 kv and 500 kv . the company has two 345 kv interconnections with upstate new york that enable it to import power from hydro qu bec in canada and one 345 kv interconnection each with public service electric and gas in new jersey and lipa on long island . con edison is also interconnected with public service electric and gas via the branchburg ramapo 500 kv line . con ed s distribution voltages are 33 kv 27 kv 13 kv and 4 kv . the 93 000 miles 150 000 km of underground cable in the con edison system could wrap around the earth 3.6 times . nearly 36 000 miles 58 000 km of overhead electric wires complement the underground system enough cable to stretch between new york and los angeles 13 times . 3 gas edit the con edison gas system has nearly 7 200 miles 11 600 km of pipes if laid end to end long enough to reach paris and back to new york city and serves westchester county the bronx manhattan and parts of queens . gas service in the other boroughs is provided by national grid usa . the average volume of gas that travels through con edison s gas system annually could fill the empire state building nearly 6 100 times . 4 steam edit main article new york city steam system con edison produces 30 billion pounds of steam each year through its seven power plants which boil water to 1 000 f 538 c before pumping it to hundreds of buildings in the new york city steam system which is the biggest district steam system in the world . 5 steam traveling through the system is used to heat and cool some of new york s most famous addresses including the united nations complex the empire state building and the metropolitan museum of art. 6 leadership and associations edit john mc avoy chairman and chief executive officer craig s. ivey president robert hoglund senior vice president and chief financial officer carole sobin secretary robert muccilo vice president controller and chief accounting officer scott l. sanders vice president and treasurer elizabeth d. moore general counsel coned solutions is a member of real estate board of new york . 7 major accidents and incidents edit 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 . 8 2004 in manhattan stray voltage killed a woman walking her dog in the east village when she stepped on an electrified metal plate . 9 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 . 10 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 . 11 2007 the day before thanksgiving an explosion critically burned queens resident kunta oza when an 80 year old cast iron gas main ruptured . oza died on thanksgiving day and her family later settled with con edison for 3.75 million . 12 2009 another gas explosion claimed a life in queens while con edison personnel were on the scene . there was a leak in a manhole and a fault in an electrical feeder at the same time . the fault in the feeder caused the explosion due to the sparks being generated . when the mechanic opened the manhole more oxygen entered and the explosion took place . citation needed due to that event con edison has changed its procedure on outside gas leak calls . 13 2012 on october 29 flooding from hurricane sandy caused a transformer explosion at a con ed plant on new york city s east side . 14 15 during the storm con edison used social media to get outage and restoration information out to customers . the company s twitter account gained an extra 16 000 followers during the storm . 16 17 con edison s subsidiary orange & rockland utilities was criticized for its response to hurricane sandy . some customers experienced a loss of electrical power for 11 days . 18 2014 on march 12 two apartment buildings exploded in east harlem after a reported con edison gas leak . eight people were killed in the massive explosion that reduced the conjoining buildings to rubble . 19 20 bribery prosecution edit on january 14 2009 eleven con edison supervisors were arrested for demanding more than 1 million in kickbacks related to work done by a construction company that was repairing the midtown stream pipe eruption of 2007 . according to federal prosecutors the employees had approved payment for work that was unnecessary or not performed and promised faster payment for some work performed by the construction company in exchange for the bribes . the fbi had two retired con edison employees and the president of the construction company wear recording devices that recorded the suspects demanding bribes of between 1000 to 5000 . 21 later that year con edison sued brendan maher one of the construction supervisors who was arrested and later admitted taking bribes that the utility company claimed amounted to 10 000 . 22 in april 2016 con edison agreed to pay over 171 million about 1.5 % of its annual revenue back to its customers in compensation for harm resulting from the bribery . the public service commission had found that con edison failed to supervise the employees . con edison admitted no wrongdoing . 23 honors and criticism edit in march 2002 fortune magazine named the company as one of america s most admired companies in the publication s newest corporate ranking survey . in 2003 con edison ranked second on the top ten list for electric and gas utilities . 24 in december 2011 the non partisan organization public campaign released a report criticizing coned for spending 1.8 million on lobbying and not paying any taxes during 2008 2010 instead getting 127 million in tax rebates despite making a profit of 4.2 billion and increasing executive pay by 82 % to 17.4 million in 2010 for its top five executives . 25 in 2014 con edison was named one of the 50 best companies for latinas by latina style magazine . 26 in its best of the best issue in 2015 hispanic network magazine named the company a top employer among energy gas and oil companies . 27 con edison was also selected as a top regional utility by diversityinc magazine . 28 adaptive re