Operational Excellence

Ethical Business Practices

Our strong business ethics are founded on our corporate values and help us achieve our three priorities—safety, operational excellence, and customer experience. We are committed to conducting business with the highest ethical standards. How we do business, how we treat our customers and business partners, and how we treat one another all contribute to how we are perceived by others and, ultimately, to our long-term viability. Our Values in Action Advisor network of 130 employees and our Business Ethics Council with 15 members assist the organization in maintaining a culture of integrity.

Our corporate values are at the heart of our Standards of Business Conduct. Our Standards of Business Conduct explain the behaviors expected of the employees of Con Edison and reinforce our corporate values. Our individual commitment to support and uphold them in every aspect of our work is the foundation of our culture of integrity. Based on the laws, regulations, and company policies we need to know and follow, our standards serve as a framework for ethical decision-making and direct us to the appropriate resources when we need help or more information. For more information, please read our Standards of Business Conduct (coned.com)

Training

Storytelling is a powerful tool that makes training more interesting and memorable. The 2021 Standards of Business Conduct training featured videos of our colleagues telling their personal ethics-related stories and learnings on select topics from the Standards of Business Conduct.

In 2021, Business Ethics & Compliance raised awareness of ethics-related resources with an online quiz developed to test employees’ knowledge of ethics and compliance, fraud prevention, and cyber security. Approximately 950 of our colleagues participated.

Additionally in 2021, Business Ethics & Compliance distributed several new engagement tools and resources:

• Launched our Ethics Zone series of microlearning videos to help mitigate identified risks to the company with our first videos on cyber awareness and avoiding conflicts of interest;
• Developed an Ethics App making it easier for colleagues to address questions and concerns; and
• Released a video about the Ethics Helpline and Ethics Investigation process.

Data Privacy

We are committed to securing the personal and private information entrusted to us by employees, customers, and others. To enhance our data privacy and protection efforts, we brought on board our first Chief Privacy Officer (CPO). The CPO is focused on building a strong privacy compliance program and addressing improvement opportunities identified in recent assessments.

Conflicts of Interest

Avoiding conflicts of interest (or the appearance of conflicts of interest) is essential to acting with integrity. In 2021, all employees of the Con Edison companies completed a Certificate of Disclosure providing information on potential conflicts of interest. Business Ethics & Compliance worked with our colleagues to create plans to reduce the risks from their disclosures.