Sustainability Report 2019
Customer & Community Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration
Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration
Con Edison works closely with local communities to keep them informed, address their concerns, and convey our company’s mission. We inform local community groups—including business improvement districts, chambers of commerce, and local development corporations—about major capital projects, new initiatives such as smart meters, energy efficiency programs, and how to do business with Con Edison. We coordinate with operating departments to respond to inquiries about topics like construction noise, service restoration, and outages. We maintain close working relationships with local stakeholders so Con Edison remains aware of changes and new developments in the communities we serve. These relationships are also critical to our coordination during emergencies and they help us collaborate on new initiatives.
Policy & Regulatory Impact
Con Edison and O&R support New York State’s clean energy policies and goals, including plans to reduce GHG emissions 85% from 1990 levels by 2050, provide customers with 70% of their energy from renewable resources by 2030, and increase energy efficiency.
We work in partnership with our customers, policy-makers, various third parties, and other energy companies to seek innovative ways to bring a clean energy future. This includes exploring new ways to advance clean energy technologies through adoption of distributed resources, including energy storage and solar connected to the distribution system. We are also developing a solar program for low-income customers and are advocating for the ability to own large-scale renewable generation This is in addition to installing smart meters throughout our service areas and piloting new rate designs that will help customers manage their energy usage and bills.
We’re active in regulatory proceedings, including those which seek to expand energy efficiency, develop offshore wind, provide customers with high efficiency electric heating options, and grow the electric vehicles sector. We work with regulators, customers, and other stakeholders to develop solutions that will promote a clean energy future in a cost-effective way for all New Yorkers. We also serve these goals by being an active participant in the legislative process at all levels of government.
Political Contributions & Lobbying
No Con Edison corporate funds are used directly for political contributions to candidates, political parties, or political committees other than contributions to the Consolidated Edison, Inc. Employees’ Political Action Committee (CEIPAC). No corporate payments have been made, nor do we intend to make payments, to influence the outcome of ballot measures. Additionally, neither Con Edison nor CEIPAC makes independent expenditures in support of, or in opposition to, candidates, political parties, or ballot measures. Finally, we do not contribute to “independent expenditure” committees organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code.
For further information on CEIPAC and links to our publicly disclosed lobbying reports, please refer to our Corporate Governance – Political Engagement page.
Shareholders
We are the longest, continuously-listed company on the New York Stock Exchange and have increased dividends to shareholders for 46 consecutive years.
For more information, refer to our Shareholder Services page.
Con Edison, Inc. Dividend Growth for Shareholders(per share)
Proactive, Year-Round, Shareholder Engagement
Shareholder Engagement Team
Our core shareholder engagement team, consisting of our Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Investor Relations, proactively engages with shareholders to discuss matters of interest with the input of subject matter experts, including the Office of the Controller, Office of the Corporate Secretary, and Environmental, Health and Safety
Shareholder topics:
- Corporate strategy
- Disclosure practices
- Corporate governance
- Political spending and lobbying practices
- Operational and financial issues
- Environmental, social, health, and safety
Shareholder Feedback
Shareholder engagement activities are reported to the Board of Directors to convey feedback received from shareholders and propose implementation of appropriate practices in response to shareholder feedback.
Management responds to shareholder inquires with enhanced company disclosures, including:
- Financial and operating metrics in our quarterly earnings presentations and investor presentations
- Sustainability reporting, including our Edison Electric Institute and American Gas Association ESG/Sustainability Reports
- Climate-related disclosures, including the Climate Change Vulnerability Study released in December 2019 and collaborative efforts with other companies in the utilities industry on environmental advocacy
Shareholder Meetings
Management meets with a broad range of shareholders, including index funds, union and public pension funds, actively-management funds and stockholder advisory firms in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Canada.
To address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues with our shareholders, our team contacts our top 100 shareholders and smaller shareholders with an identified interest in ESG
We engage in discussions with shareholders that have submitted proposals for inclusion in the annual proxy statement.
Our team participates in national and international ESG forums to identify ESG issues important to shareholders, adopt best practices, and improve related disclosures.
2019-2020 Shareholder Engagement Season
110
|
19% of our shares outstanding, and
25% of our debentures outstanding
|
Con Edison has continued to proactively engage with shareholders this year and to accept invitations to discuss matters of interest to them. The core shareholder engagement team consists of:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Treasurer
- Investor Relations
The company’s engagement efforts also include the Office of the Controller, the Office of the Corporate Secretary, the Environment, Health and Safety department, and the Corporate Affairs department. In addition, the chairman and chief executive officer, the presidents of each of the subsidiaries, and other company officers participate in face-to-face meetings with shareholders during the year.
During 2019, the company participated in 23 shareholders conferences and organized 10 roadshows in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Canada, engaging in the process with a broad range of shareholders, including index funds, union and public pension funds, actively-managed funds and stockholder advisory firms. Key topics of discussion during the year included corporate strategy, disclosure practices, corporate governance, political spending and lobbying practices, operational and financial issues, and environmental, health and safety matters.
As a result of shareholder feedback during the year on financial disclosures, Con Edison enhanced disclosures in its quarterly earnings presentations to include business segment income, cash flow, and balance sheet statements; detailed analysis of the utilities’ regulatory filings for new rates and the ensuing joint proposal; and a comprehensive shareholder fact book.
Con Edison also has a targeted environmental, social and governance shareholder-engagement team that consists of:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Corporate Secretary
- Treasurer
- Investor Relations
We are actively involved in national and international ESG forums that bring companies and shareholders together to identify ESG issues important to its shareholders, adopt best practices, as appropriate, and to improve related disclosures. In 2019, we actively participated in the trade association efforts of the Edison Electric Institute and the American Gas Association to develop industry templates for ESG reporting. Those templates are available on our website.
Following the close of the annual proxy-voting season and in advance of the preparation of the next annual proxy, the company reaches out to its top 100 shareholders as well as smaller shareholders with an identified interest in ESG issues to discuss related issues and trends as well as company-specific issues. We respond to shareholder inquiries focused on ESG issues, including shareholders that have submitted proposals for inclusion in the annual proxy statement. As a result of this ongoing engagement, we have enhanced disclosures in our proxy, including this more detailed description of our engagement efforts, and in last year’s proxy, clearer and more accessible information on board diversity, tenure, and skills and experience. We will continue our proactive engagement and responsiveness to shareholder inquiries and expect that our disclosures will continue to be enhanced as a result.
In addition, we have engaged with shareholders, who urged studies of climate-change risk to the company’s infrastructure, and who urged we assume an advocacy role as federal environmental rules and regulations have been rolled back. As a result of these engagements, the company has done the following:
- publicly joined other companies in the utility industry to defend strong state auto emission standards
- publicly supported a science-based climate policy agenda
- released its science-based Climate-Change Vulnerability Study in December 2019
- begun preparation of a Climate-Change Vulnerability Study implementation plan to be released by year-end 2020
The results of our engagement activities during the year are reported by the shareholder engagement team directly to the nominating and corporate governance committee, other committees as needed, and the board to convey the feedback received from shareholders, and to propose implementation of appropriate practices in response to such feedback. During the 2019 to 2020 engagement season, the company engaged with shareholders holding in aggregate 19% of shares outstanding and 25% of corporate debentures outstanding.
Strategic Partnerships
We are proud to support hundreds of nonprofit organizations across New York City and Westchester to further our commitment to sustainable communities and a clean energy future. Our partnerships strengthen the neighborhoods we serve by offering cash grants, employee volunteers, and more. Here are three examples of programs we support as part of our commitment to investing in renewables, promoting the green careers of the future, and strengthening communities.
Groundwork Hudson Valley
For 20 years, Groundwork Hudson Valley has worked to restore the environmental conditions in Yonkers and other urban communities as a means of revitalizing neighborhoods and business districts.
Con Edson supports Groundwork’s award-winning STEM education destinations, the Science Barge and the EcoHouse. The barge is a floating environmental education center that is powered by renewable energy and is entirely off-the-grid. Its greenhouse grows the equivalent of an acre of farmland, with tomatoes, melons, and beans hanging from its rafters. More than 10,000 visitors tour it each year.
The EcoHouse complements the barge, demonstrating how to live more sustainably in our homes by reducing our carbon footprint. It offers interactive exhibits revealing what is behind the walls and underneath the floor of a typical home—and energy-saving, environmentally conscious alternatives.
Billion Oyster Project
The Billion Oysters Project’s mission is to restore New York City’s oyster reefs, revitalizing New York Harbor as the center of a rich, diverse, and abundant estuary. Restoring oysters and reefs will, over time, restore the local marine ecosystem’s natural mechanisms for maintaining itself, resulting in cleaner water and greater biodiversity.
Con Edison supports this hands-on science of reef construction and monitoring. Programs include in-school restoration-based STEM learning opportunities, volunteer programs, community science and research, and restaurant shell collection. New York Harbor School, a maritime high-school located on Governors Island, is the flagship school of the Billion Oyster Project, and its students contribute to Billion Oyster Project as part of their career and technical education experience.
Ramapo College’s Mobile Food Lab
The Mobile Food Lab is a multi-sensory educational experience on wheels. It is a retrofitted bus that brings the “field trip” to schools allowing students to take part in STEM activities without traveling. The program is designed to improve student understanding of experimental science; human physiology; plant science; and the chemistry and biology that are the basis of nutrition through hands-on learning.
Sustainability Report 2019
Customer & Community Energy Efficiency, Renewables & Distributed Energy
Energy Efficiency, Renewables & Distributed Energy
As part of our continuous commitment to renewable energy, Con Edison’s Clean Energy Businesses continued growing by investing approximately $240 million in renewable projects in 2019, expanding its footprint to 19 states and operating a total of 2,682 megawatts of aggregate solar and wind capacity at the end of 2019.
Renewable sources, such as solar and wind, produce energy when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. That makes battery storage especially important to store power when it is produced and deliver it when it is needed. Storage can help ensure reliability and can reduce peak demand. Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses added a dedicated battery storage team in the fourth quarter of 2018 to position itself for the emerging growth of energy storage. They are actively integrating storage into new renewable development as well as into operating assets where economical and are offering battery storage for projects they are developing on behalf of their renewable energy and energy efficiency customers.
We continue to make our customers aware of energy efficiency improvements that will help them save money on their bills and give them more control over their energy usage. We work regularly with customers and regulators to test new models for the distribution of energy.
Energy Efficiency & Demand Response
Con Edison and O&R offer a broad array of energy efficiency initiatives designed to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, lower customer bills, and give New Yorkers control over their energy choices.
Our customers are as diverse as the area we serve. That’s why we have targeted efficiency programs to help us deliver cost-effective and customer-centric energy efficiency offerings that emphasize the clear benefits and impacts of energy efficiency. We focus on four primary customer segments—commercial and industrial, small business, multifamily, and residential—designing our offerings to meet each customer group’s needs. Our goal is to give customers multiple options and opportunities to reduce their energy use.
Con Edison’s electric customers who chose energy-saving HVAC, lighting, building management systems, and other equipment received $102.4 million in incentives in 2019, a 50.3% increase from the previous year. Our gas customers received $12.6 million in incentives, a 13.3% increase from the previous year. Technology is giving households and businesses new ways to reduce energy use, and we’re at the forefront of helping customers get more value for their money while protecting the environment. Upgrades made by customers last year through our energy efficiency programs reduced electrical usage by 561,347 megawatt hours and saved 546,410 dekatherms of gas—that’s equivalent to taking more than 90,404 cars off the road or powering 49,135 homes for one year. The proposals would put New Yorkers on a path toward a cleaner energy future, with reductions in carbon emissions and more renewable energy options that achieve goals in both the short term and potentially through 2050.
Con Edison Inc. is a leader in sustainability and has ramped up energy efficiency efforts that are facilitating New York’s ambitious clean energy goals. We are working with partners across the service territory to better serve low- and moderate-income customers as well as providing choices to our customer to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels through adoption of beneficial electrification technologies such as heat pumps and electric transportation. Additionally, Con Edison is increasing its focus on achieving deeper and longer-lived energy efficiency savings by targeting more impactful technology upgrades.
O&R customers who upgraded to high efficiency energy-saving HVAC, lighting, building management systems, and other equipment received $5.4 million in incentives from us in 2019, a 98% increase from the previous year. As a result of these upgrades, more than 14,000 O&R customers reduced their bills and lowered their carbon footprint. The My ORU Store, our online customer marketplace, provided a one-stop shopping experience for customers by introducing them to innovative smart home technologies, including smart thermostats, security cameras, smart plugs, wireless dimmable lighting, and electric vehicle chargers. Through instant rebates at checkout, incentives were given to customers to help lower costs and increase adoption of energy efficient technologies. Through the My ORU Store, O&R partnered with the local water utility, SUEZ NY, to support their water conservation program by offering instant rebates to mutual customers on water and energy efficient products. The program strives to help customers save water and energy and in turn lower their utility bills.
We are on the forefront of using technology to give households and businesses new ways to reduce their energy use, get more value for their money, while protecting the environment. For example, upgrades made by customers through our energy efficiency programs reduced electrical usage by 53,373 megawatt hours and saved 31,001 dekatherms of gas. This increased our carbon reduction by more than 133,000 tons, which is equivalent to taking more than 30,000 cars off the road.
Of the total O&R rebates issued in 2019, two large projects stand out. Rockland Community College installed a combined heat and power system with an estimated savings of 3,832 megawatt hours, which is equal to approximately $650,000 per year. This concludes a three-year energy savings project that addressed several opportunities at the college including lighting, an integrated building management system, variable speed drives, and a computer load management system. Secondly, a town in Rockland County upgraded all of their street lights to LED lighting and is estimated to save 863 megawatt hours, or about $147,000 per year.
Learn more about how energy efficiency upgrades can save money and protect the environment at our website www.oru.com/save.
Annual Incremental CO2 Reductions Through Energy Efficiency Programs(metric tons)
Reforming the Energy Vision Projects
Con Edison continues to take a leading role in facilitating the adoption of distributed energy resources by our customers through non-wires solutions. The Brooklyn-Queens Demand Management program eliminated the need for a $1.2 billion substation to serve customers in Brooklyn and Queens by implementing smart thermostats, LED lighting upgrades, lighting controls, energy storage, combined heat and power, and other distributed energy resources to meet the demands of customers during peak periods. We’re currently implementing additional non-wires programs in the Water Street and Plymouth Street substation networks. In these communities we are focusing on energy efficiency measures, and energy storage to meet grid needs.
Additionally, our Customer Energy Solutions group is running new business model demonstrations in the areas of storage integration, electric vehicle infrastructure, community distributed generation, energy efficiency, and delivering energy services to low- and middle-income customers. For example, two front-of-the-meter storage projects, which demonstrate both grid support and energy market revenue-sharing partners, were selected through a rigorous RFI process and are in the construction stage. One low- and middle-income demonstration project is progressing seeking to deliver packages of energy efficiency measures to this customer segment. Three electric vehicle infrastructure projects that facilitate growth and reduce barriers to EV ownership are expected to make substantial progress in 2020, including a project in White Plains where electric school buses will feed battery power back into the grid. We also have a new electric vehicle comparison shopping site, cars.coned.com. A pilot program will see up to 3 megawatts of solar panels installed across a number of company rooftops to create a community solar project for low- and middle-income customers.
Renewables
Con Edison and O&R continue to support New York’s ambitious clean energy policies, including the state’s goal to source 70% of its energy from renewable resources by 2030, and 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040.
For the past decade, Con Edison and O&R, along with Sustainable CUNY at City University of New York, government agencies, and other parties, have encouraged residents and businesses to consider solar to reduce their energy bills and protect the environment. Our customers are responding. Using the power of the sun, we generated more than 275 megawatts of clean, renewable power by year-end 2019. A total of 30,138 Con Edison installations and 8,597 O&R installations are generating enough renewable energy to power almost 65,000 homes.
Con Edison Cumulative Installed Distributed Energy Resources Capacity (MW)*through December 2019
Con Edison believes that all customers should have access to clean energy, regardless of income level, whether they own or rent or whether they live in a house or an apartment.
Con Edison continues to explore opportunities to be more innovative in renewable and energy storage installations. Through a piloted device, ConnectDER, residential customers witnessed additional savings that allowed a cost-effective alternative to the traditional solar installation, while providing Con Edison’s engineering teams with solar production data to better forecast and plan system needs. Con Edison also enhanced microprocessor relays to allow additional solar capacity to export power into our network systems, enabling the construction of additional community solar projects at higher capacities across the territory.
Lastly, innovation in battery installations will provide power when and where customers need it the most, via the mobile emergency battery generator pilot. The effort replaces diesel emergency generators during outages with a clean, quiet source of energy.
O&R has automated interconnection studies and other aspects of the interconnection process to assist customers with technical evaluations of projects for distributed energy resources. O&R is connecting community DG and battery storage projects at an increasing rate. The company participated in the Enabling Extreme Real-Time Grid Integration of Solar Energy project, or ENERGISE, that will help develop the technology and strategy to improve the electric grid’s ability to accommodate power generated from renewable energy sources. O&R is participating in NYSERDA PON 3770 Smart Inverter Settings Guidance for High Performing Smart Grid Applications project that will inform utilities on best practices for enabling smart inverter technology. O&R has also applied for NYSERDA PON 4074 Distribution System of the Future project that become the model of future distribution systems.
Through these initiatives, Con Edison and O&R are helping realize a greener energy future.
Cumulative Utility Customer Solar MW Installation(MWs)
Energy Storage
Con Edison and O&R are helping New York achieve its ambitious energy storage goals of 1,500 megawatts by 2025 and 3,000 megawatts by 2030 through a variety of efforts. Energy storage plays a critical role in our clean energy future and we continue to actively engage with the city’s department of public service and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to support storage policy goals. In 2019, we developed and implemented a request for proposals that targeted utility-scale storage projects connected directly to the grid. We are negotiating contracts with selected projects which are expected to be in service by the end of 2022. We are also leading a variety of projects and programs where we are test new business models, build utility capabilities, engage third party providers, and support customers to interconnect energy storage.
Through 2019, Con Edison has interconnected a total of 47 behind-the-meter energy storage systems, totaling 8,042 kilowatts of capacity, and O&R also interconnected 73 behind-the-meter energy storage systems, totaling 610 kilowatts of capacity. In 2018, Con Edison commissioned its first utility-owned storage project, a lithium-iron phosphate battery designed for 2 megawatts / 11 megawatt-hours in Ozone Park, Queens. The battery was built to provide grid support in the Brooklyn Queens Demand Management area. Last year, the battery was deployed six times to provide load relief during summer heat related events. In 2020, Con Edison plans to use this battery to provide market services to the New York Independent System Operator. Building on this model, Con Edison requested funding and received authorization for both utility owned and third party owned “make ready” energy storage in the recent rate case filing. We will be installing a utility-owned battery at a Staten Island substation to provide peak shaving, system load relief, system support to absorb power during periods of high customer solar output, and replace temporary fossil generators needed during system contingencies. In addition, this battery will participate in the NYISO electricity markets. We will also be interconnecting a first-of-its-kind “make ready” storage model for the co-location of 10 megawatts / 40 megawatt-hours of energy storage and multiple electric vehicle charging stations on utility property. We are facilitating direct access to the distribution grid to monetize multiple value streams and developing a better understanding of how energy storage can facilitate the adoption of EV charging on the grid through localized peak demand management.
Con Edison and O&R continue to implement energy storage demonstration projects to test new business models. Con Edison is advancing its Storage-on-Demand demonstration, a 1.5 megawatt / 4 megawatt-hour mobile storage model that will deploy three separate 500 kilowatts / 1.34 megawatt-hour mobile storage trailers to areas of grid need—in areas of local grid constraint or locations that may have otherwise been temporarily served by diesel generators. Con Edison expects commercial operations to begin in late 2020. As part of the 4 megawatt / 4 megawatt-hour customer-sited business model demonstration, Beyond BTM, will deploy front-of-the-meter storage at up to four customer sites to provide grid support. Two of the projects are expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2020 with the remaining two projects to be completed later this year. Each project will provide distribution load and voltage relief and reduce network peak demand while testing the ability to garner revenues for participating in NYISO markets. Con Edison is also testing how technology, such as energy storage combined with solar, could be used to help customers respond to more dynamic rates. In our Smart Home Rate demonstration project, up to 100 participants with rooftop solar photovoltaic systems will receive storage systems with advanced controls, for customers use in optimizing their overall usage, taking into account the output of their rooftop photovoltaic systems and the timing of their storage charge and discharge.
Through its Innovative Storage Business Model demonstration project, O&R is working with partners to develop innovative business models for driving down the cost of energy storage investments by enabling storage assets to participate in multiple markets, providing benefits and incentives to multiple stakeholders. We’re working with a vendor to explore how residential solar plus storage systems can be leveraged to provide resiliency benefits to customers, provide load relief benefits to the utility’s local distribution system and also earn additional revenues from participating in NYISO electricity markets. We plan to deploy at least 400 residential solar plus storage systems within the next three years as part of this demonstration project. The total project portfolio will be approximately 2.1 megawatts / 4.7 megawatt-hours.
Con Edison and O&R also support energy storage through non-wires solutions (sometimes referred to as non-wires alternatives). Both companies consider and often include storage as part of our load relief portfolios. Con Edison is supporting and incentivizing third-party owned and operated energy storage for local load relief as part of its Brooklyn-Queens Demand Management program. Completed and in operation demand management projects include a 300 kilowatts / 1.2 megawatt-hour storage system at the Marcus Garvey apartment complex in Brooklyn and a 4.8 megawatts / 16.4 megawatt-hour system at Gateway Center—the largest grid support battery system in New York City to date. Con Edison is also engaged in procurements for energy storage dispatch rights from projects to be developed under our Water Street and Newtown programs.
O&R has two open procurements for energy storage systems to meet distribution system needs in place of traditional utility solutions. O&R’s Monsey project will aim to defer the upgrade of an existing substation. Due to extensive load growth in the Monsey area, the current substation does not have adequate capacity to serve the forecasted load. The Monsey non-wires alternative plans to deploy a portfolio of 15 megawatts / 58 megawatt-hour batteries at three separate locations in the Monsey area to defer the upgrade of this substation. O&R is also developing an energy storage system that will be utility-owned and installed on property jointly owned by Con Edison and O&R in Pomona. The project will use a 3 megawatt / 12 megawatt-hour battery to defer the construction of a new transmission/distribution substation. Both the Pomona and Monsey projects are currently in the contract negotiation process with their respective winning vendors. O&R expects the Pomona Battery to be deployed by the summer of 2020. O&R is also currently soliciting vendors for two additional non-wires alternatives RFPs (West Warwick and Mountain Lodge Park). These two projects may also include battery storage projects in the technology portfolio. In 2020, O&R plans to release three additional non wires solicitations.
Con Edison’s 2017-2019 demand management program was a market transformational effort targeting system peak demand reduction during the summer peak of 2 to 6 p.m. Through this program, Con Edison incentivized energy storage systems across the service territory and supported the advanced technology through contributing to energy storage certifications and testing aligned with industry best practices. The program installed roughly 1.5 megawatts over the course of the three-year program in both lithium ion and valve regulated lead acid chemistries.
Con Edison continues to take the lead in addressing energy storage safety and zoning concerns, working closely with New York City’s department of buildings, fire department, the mayor’s office of sustainability, and department of city planning, as well as battery technology developers and NYSERDA. Con Edison proactively engages with City and State agencies and storage stakeholders on storage issues including the development of emergency response procedures, technical requirements, and energy storage rules. Con Edison will continue to collaborate with stakeholders to advance the safe installation and operations of energy storage systems in New York.
O&R has also led multiple initiatives to educate and inform their various “authorities having jurisdictions.” These include multiple meetings with the local town and county fire departments and first responders to discuss energy storage systems and address any questions they might have on battery storage safety. As local towns and municipalities are updating their local zoning and permitting to incorporate battery storage systems, O&R has taken an active role to make sure proper requirements are being reflected for storage. O&R also held a battery fire prevention seminar for the county of Rockland, to facilitate discussion between all the stakeholders. This seminar was conducted by a retired FDNY lieutenant who is well-known and widely recognized as a battery safety and fire prevention expert.
Energy storage is a transformational technology that can provide numerous benefits to the electric system, and ultimately, to electric customers. Con Edison and O&R envision a future where storage provides support to our electric delivery system, enables the operation of intermittent renewable resources, and reduces GHG emissions and other local emissions. Declining costs and broader proliferation of storage will help customers and communities adopt these technologies. Storage will allow for customers to manage their usage, participate in energy programs, respond to more cost-reflective rate designs, such as hourly pricing and demand-based rate structures, and integrate new applications, like EV charging.
Sustainability Report 2019
Customer & Community Talent Attraction, Development & Retention
Talent Attraction, Development & Retention
We continually look at who we are, how we work, and how we engage with each other to make sure we are valuing and including the talents, skills, backgrounds, and experiences of our diverse team. We regularly examine and strengthen our policies and procedures, especially those related to our talent-management processes.
Our overall philosophy is to provide compensation and benefit opportunities that are aligned with overall company performance and business conditions. Our intent is to align employee performance with the interest of our customers and shareholders by compensating employees fairly based on their contributions to our success. Among the benefits we offer are retirement and health, as well as tuition assistance, adoption assistance, and wellness programs. The majority of Con Edison’s workforce is employed full time.
To attract, develop, and retain a diverse and inclusive workforce, we accomplished the following in 2019:
- Strategically recruited women in non-traditional careers, veterans, and people with disabilities through our continued partnership with programs such as:
- Big Brothers Big Sisters’ STEM education mentorships
- Nassau Community College’s URGENT Women, which trains women seeking careers in energy
- Power Your Future, a company recruitment event focused on educating female candidates from partner programs about nontraditional career opportunities
- U.S. Army’s Soldier for Life, which provides veterans the resources to learn necessary skills for natural gas jobs
- Awarded as a Best for Vets company by the Military Times in recognition of our supportive culture for veterans – ranked No. 48 out of 100 top companies.
- Honored for our veteran recruitment and retention efforts with the Pro Patria Award from the New York State Committee of the Employee Support for Guard and Reserves. It is the highest award bestowed by the state for companies supporting its employees who are veterans.
- Recognized as a patriotic employer by the U.S. Secretary of Defense’s Employer Support of The Guard and Reserve program for contributing to national security and protecting liberty and freedom by supporting employee participation in America’s National Guard and Reserve.
- Supported working parents with the employee resource groups Moms ON IT and Dads Matter, which help with work-life balance, benefits and resources, including backup childcare services, eldercare solutions, and awareness of the NY State Paid Family Leave policies. Working with the Employee Wellness Center’s Well Baby Care program, we opened three additional lactation rooms across the company.
- Continued to support the development of a diverse and inclusive workplace by offering tuition reimbursement, internal and external training to enhance job-related skills, mentoring and coaching, career counseling workshops, and online career management resources.
- Continued to offer conflict management resources that include mediation, training, and coaching to empower employees to accept responsibility for their performance and relationships with others.
Con Edison, Inc. Minorities and Women in the WorkplaceShare of Promotions
Sustainability Report 2019
Customer & Community Workforce Diversity & Inclusion
Workforce Diversity & Inclusion
At Con Edison, an inclusive culture is one that values everyone as an important member of the team. It’s a feeling you have when those around you recognize your importance and want your contributions.
We strive for strong diversity numbers. Equally, we need everyone to feel respected, included, and valued. In other words, diversity ensures a wide range of views, and inclusion makes sure all of those ideas get heard.
Our employees are on the frontlines every day of increasingly higher customer expectations and unprecedented technological change. In addition to delivering safe, reliable energy to more than 10 million people, our employees are making a smarter grid, boosting the use of electric vehicles, and generating more renewable energy for people all around the country. They’re making it easier for our customers to choose cleaner, more efficient energy and have more control over how they use it. A culture of inclusion creates fertile ground for new ideas and innovations that make our energy future bright.
To learn more, read our 2019 Diversity & Inclusion Report.
Diversity
Total workforce |
14,637 |
14,805 |
14,941 |
15,255 |
14,955 |
14,596 |
Management |
5,866 |
5,983 |
6,151 |
6,430 |
6,424 |
6,394 |
Union |
8,771 |
8,822 |
8,790 |
8,825 |
8,531 |
8,202 |
Minorities in the workforce |
6,733 |
6,890 |
7,025 |
7,317 |
7,220 |
7,080 |
Minority share |
46% |
47% |
47% |
48% |
48% |
49% |
Women in the workforce |
2,946 |
3,009 |
3,063 |
3,210 |
3,179 |
3,123 |
Women share |
20% |
20% |
21% |
21% |
21% |
21% |
General Managers, Directors and Above |
240 |
255 |
253 |
266 |
270 |
282 |
Minorities in GMs, Directors and Above |
68 |
77 |
75 |
78 |
78 |
80 |
Minority Share |
28% |
30% |
30% |
29% |
28% |
28% |
Women in GMs, Directors and Above |
69 |
78 |
77 |
82 |
84 |
89 |
Women Share |
29% |
31% |
30% |
31% |
31% |
32% |
Sustainability Report 2019
Customer & Community Training & Professional Development
Training & Professional Development
As the industry continues to evolve, our critical focus is to ensure that our workforce has the right skills, knowledge, and capabilities to work in a safe manner while meeting the needs of our customers. To achieve this goal, we provide continuous state-of-the-art training and development to our employees in a wide variety of areas.
The company offers robust training programs in gas, electric, customer operations and central operations. These programs ensure employee skills, knowledge, and operational performance are maintained at the highest levels. We are focused on preparing our employees to work safely, effectively, efficiently, and in a way that is compliant with our policies, procedures, and regulatory expectations. To that end, our Learning Center fosters a work culture centered on safety, operational excellence, and the customer experience by continually making improvements to our learning experiences.
With safety as our key business priority, we partner with our operating organizations to strengthen our focus on a zero-harm culture, which includes several digital learning modules. Our Operational Excellence guiding principles are integrated into our training curriculum and highlight the need to respect the complexity, power, and unforgiving nature of our energy systems and encourage all to manage them safely. This effort includes a focus on Human Performance Improvement tools, safety precursors, and programs such as, “Are You Doing Enough for Safety?”
Our purposeful field visit program uses real-life events to assess potential gaps or requirements in related training. These visits are also opportunities to gain insight from employees on safety improvements and current work practices, and provide real-time constructive feedback. The training effectiveness committee serves as the liaison between our operating areas and training teams to achieve, improve and maintain high quality and consistency in training. Ongoing meetings with subject matter experts from various areas allow a collective review of training activities, including curriculum, new policies and procedures, annual goals, career path and tests to ensure consistency, relevancy, and effectiveness in training offerings.
Our digital learning vision and strategy is to transform learning through innovation. We are using the digital space to improve curriculum, provide employee access to training outside of the classroom and enhance the employee learning. A multi-year program supports integrating digital technologies into our training platforms and allows us to train and develop highly competent employees. Our digital content includes e-books, technical training videos, micro-learning, and virtual- and augmented-reality modules. More than 55 digital tools were created in 2019 and this will continue for 2020 and beyond. School safety and electric service box inspection videos are just a few examples of videos created in 2019 to help teach and refresh important tasks and behaviors. We continue to add training simulators and equipment, such as the flange assembly demonstration unit, the substation area station simulator and the STAR human performance communications simulator all designed to enhance the training experience of our employees.
We pay significant attention to the development of our future leaders. Guided by competencies geared toward leadership effectiveness, emerging leaders are provided with a broad array of training options that prepare them to meet current responsibilities and future challenges. Development efforts include more than 450 course offerings in leadership and professional development, career planning, performance management, and mini-workshops—all designed to improve the ability of managers to lead employees effectively, handle problems creatively, and lead teams to elevated performance. More than 10,000 employees attended these programs and continue to benefit from an array of tools, assessments and resources that assist with the professional development. We continued the enhancement of our mentoring programs, introducing mentoring circles to our corporate mentoring program and “pop up” mentoring workshops for all employees. These efforts support our culture of continuous learning and development and encourage meaningful discussions about our company, our culture, and our future.
The company’s training and development strategy fosters a highly engaged workforce that produces strong performance. It also supports a high retention environment where we get to keep our best employees and enhances the company’s reputation and profile, making the company more attractive to potential new recruits.
Training
Hours of instructor-led, skill-based and leadership training |
604,173 |
703,385 |
544,557 |
543,706 |
Hours of eLearning |
173,182 |
157,197 |
132,490 |
121,861 |
Employees taking part in a mentoring program |
97 |
114 |
77 |
298 |
Employees taking advantage of tuition aid |
607 |
589 |
572 |
575 |
Sustainability Report 2019
Customer & Community Volunteerism
Volunteerism
Enhancing the fabric of our communities is not only what we do, it’s who we are. We provide financial support, in-kind contributions, and board service to hundreds of nonprofits dedicated to the arts, environmental stewardship, community, civics, and education.
Employees at Con Edison and O&R donate their own time and resources through our volunteer program to give back to the communities we serve. During 2019, 635 Con Edison and O&R employees volunteered 6,300 hours of their own time at over 170 company-sponsored events. Whether it’s helping at a soup kitchen, installing solar LED lights through residential areas to create safer neighborhoods, building composts using 6,000 pounds of food-scraps, planting and pruning trees, re-seeding a formerly barren area of the Bronx River coastline, mentoring students, rehabilitating homes for veterans, career coaching, or any number of other activities, volunteering gives our employees renewed energy, fulfillment and the happiness of knowing they made a difference in their community.
A dedicated employee engagement platform makes it easy for employees, as well as retirees and their families, to choose how to give back.