Utilities
Utilities - Regulated Electric
$30.79B
N/A
Consolidated Edison, Inc. is a holding company that, through its subsidiaries, provides electricity, gas, and steam services. The company's primary revenue streams are derived from its regulated utility operations in New York City and surrounding areas. Con Edison holds a strong market position within its service territories, benefiting from its established infrastructure and customer base.
Key insights and themes extracted from this filing
Con Edison reported net income of $2,519 million in 2023, a substantial increase compared to $1,660 million in 2022. This indicates a strong improvement in overall financial performance.
Adjusted earnings, which exclude certain non-recurring items, were $1,762 million in 2023 compared to $1,620 million in 2022. This suggests that the core business operations are also performing better.
Con Edison anticipates that the Utilities (CECONY and O&R) will continue to provide substantially all of its earnings over the next few years. This highlights the importance of the regulated utility businesses to the company's overall financial health.
The Utilities expect to invest heavily in their energy delivery systems over the next five years, with planned investments increasing from $4.8 billion in 2024 to $5.9 billion in 2028. This indicates a commitment to upgrading and expanding their infrastructure.
Con Edison Transmission expects to invest in electric transmission projects, including a 41.7% interest in New York Transco's Propel NY Energy project, a 90-mile electric transmission project with an in-service date of 2030.
Con Edison completed the sale of all of the stock of Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses, Inc. This strategic decision reflects a shift in focus towards regulated utilities and contracted electric transmission assets.
The Utilities have approved rate plans that are generally designed to cover each company's cost of service. This provides a degree of predictability in their revenue streams.
CECONY forecasts an average annual increase in peak demand for electricity of approximately 0.7 percent over the next five years. This suggests a stable but not rapidly growing market environment for their core electric business.
The NYSPSC approved CECONY's petition for authorization and cost recovery to construct two new substations in Jamaica, Queens, with an estimated cost of $1.2 billion. This demonstrates management's ability to secure regulatory approval for major capital projects.
The Companies are subject to cyber regulation by federal agencies, including FERC, the Transportation Security Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The Utilities are subject to cyber regulation by the NYSPSC.
Climate change could affect customer demand for the Companies' energy services. It might also cause physical damage to the Companies' facilities and disruption of their operations due to more frequent and more extreme weather.
The Companies' operations require numerous permits, approvals and certificates from various federal, state and local governmental agencies. State utility regulators may seek to impose substantial penalties on the Utilities for violations of state utility laws, regulations or orders.
The Utilities do not consider it reasonably likely that another company would be authorized to provide utility delivery service of electricity, gas or steam where the company already provides service.
The Companies expect DERs and electric alternatives to gas and steam, to increase, and for gas and steam usage to decrease, as the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act enacted by New York State and the Climate Mobilization Act enacted by New York City continue to be implemented.
Following industry restructuring, there were several utility mergers as a result of which substantially all of the electric and gas delivery service in New York State is now provided by one of five investor-owned utility companies.
CECONY owns 63 area distribution substations and various distribution facilities located throughout New York City and Westchester County. At December 31, 2023, the company's distribution system had a transformer capacity of 32,636 MVA, with 37,633 miles of overhead distribution lines and 98,789 miles of underground distribution lines.
CECONY's smart solutions for gas customers include energy efficiency and heating electrification programs. See "CECONY- Gas Operations - Gas Peak Demand," below.
The NYSPSC approved CECONY's advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) installation plan for its electric and gas delivery businesses, subject to a cap on capital expenditures of $1,285 million. CECONY substantially completed its smart meter installations in 2023 and expects to complete its AMI installation plan in 2024.
The NYSPSC is directing development by New York electric utilities of a distributed system platform to manage and coordinate distributed energy resources in their service areas under NYSPSC regulation and to provide customers, together with third parties, with data and tools to better manage their energy use.
As of December 31, 2023, CECONY and O&R had one shared active demonstration project, and individually, CECONY had four and O&R had three active demonstration projects.
In December 2023, CECONY and O&R filed pilot project proposals with budgets of $255 million and $46 million, respectively. The proposed pilots are subject to approval by the NYSPSC.
The Utilities expect to invest heavily in their energy delivery systems over the next five years, with planned investments increasing from $4.8 billion in 2024 to $5.9 billion in 2028. This indicates a commitment to upgrading and expanding their infrastructure.
Con Edison plans to meet its capital requirements for 2024 through 2028 through internally-generated funds and the issuance of long-term debt and common equity.
Capital expenditures approved in CECONY's 2023 electric rate plan to address identified reliability needs in New York City include CECONY's projects to: transfer electric customers from its Brownsville substation to its Glendale substation (estimated completion in 2026 and estimated cost of $115 million); build a transmission feeder between
In November 2023, CECONY and O&R filed their combined gas system long-term plan. The Utilities' plan has a 20-year horizon to achieve the greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets of the CLCPA and includes three pathways.
In April 2023, the NYSPSC approved CECONY's December 2022 petition seeking cost recovery approval for a proposed clean energy hub in Brooklyn, New York (Brooklyn Clean Energy Hub) at an estimated cost of $810 million and an estimated in-service date of December 2027.
In November 2023, CECONY and O&R filed climate change resilience plans with the NYSPSC that proposed to make investments of $903 million and $411 million, respectively, between 2025 and 2029 to enhance the resilience of their electric systems against extreme weather events brought about by climate change.
CECONY forecasts average annual increase in peak demand in its service area at design conditions over the next five years for electricity to be approximately 0.7 percent and an average annual decrease in gas and steam peak demand in its service area at design weather conditions over the next five years to be approximately 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
O&R forecasts an average annual increase in electric peak demand in its service area at design conditions over the next five years to be approximately 2.0 percent and average annual decrease in gas peak demand in its service area over the next five years at design conditions to be approximately 0.2 percent.
In May 2022, the NYSPSC issued orders on gas planning and moratorium management. The orders set forth a schedule for filing future gas planning analyses and the process for initiating, operating and lifting a natural gas moratorium.