Supporting our communities is important to the success of our business and is a founding principle of sustainability. At Con Edison, our community is comprised of all our stakeholders including customers, shareholders, employees, and the more than 10 million people that make our service territory the diverse and prosperous region it is. Two of the six principles of our sustainability strategy relate to our communities as we look to:
1. Develop a work environment that fosters a diverse, high-quality and engaged work force valuing safety, sustainability, and business ethics.
2. Support the vitality of our communities and engage our stakeholders regarding strategy and performance.
At Con Edison, we look to offer customers opportunities to manage their energy needs cost-effectively and provide consistently excellent customer service. Our suite of energy efficiency programs, the ability to convert from oil to gas, and our competitive business solutions are helping our customers to reduce their energy use, energy costs, and carbon footprint. We are also working to help our customers integrate new technologies like distributed generation and electric vehicles. Finally, we know our customers are interested in better communication, and in 2014, we made significant strides to make it easier for our customers to talk to us, whether online, through text messages, or on social media.
Con Edison has a long tradition of contributing to and maintaining the social, cultural, and economic vitality of our service areas. To do this, we’ve committed ourselves to providing financial or in-kind support to organizations whose activities advance strong, vibrant, and stable communities. We choose these groups carefully who focus on Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) education, environment, civics, community, and arts and culture, looking to their ability to use education, training, and special programs and events to enrich the quality of life of all New Yorkers.
Con Edison recognizes that one of our most important resources is our people. We work hard to promote inclusion, ensuring that our employees represent the full vitality of the area we serve. Con Edison’s corporate culture is built around a strong commitment to ethical business practices. We look to attract and retain our talented workforce through a competitive employee compensation program consisting of fair wages, augmented by a comprehensive benefits program.
Con Edison is one of the largest companies in New York State, and plays a major role in the economic development of the New York metropolitan area. We employ more than 14,600 people, purchase goods and services from community-based organizations, and are one of the largest taxpayers in both the city and the state. Our managers identify significant business and operational risks and liabilities to the company, ensuring that they are prudently addressed to minimize their impacts on our performance.
In 2014, Con Edison was again named winner of the 2014 Outstanding System Reliability Award by PA Consulting, top U.S. utility in the Newsweek Green Rankings, and winner of an Innovation Award from the Utility Analytics Institute for development of a software program that aids in identifying programs to reduce customer electrical usage in times of high demand.
At Con Edison, we recognize that our suppliers are an important part of our value chain and their performance can impact our sustainability. While we have an established purchasing program and have made progress in a number of areas related to sustainability. In 2013, we joined the Electric Utility Industry Sustainable Supply Chain Alliance. We continue to partner with our utility peers to share and learn best practices to address sustainability issues throughout our supply chain as we look to improve our processes at Con Edison of New York and Orange Rockland, and better understand the social and environmental impact of our upstream suppliers.
