Wednesday, January 9, 2008

CON EDISON DELIVERS RECORD ELECTRICITY IN 2007

Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Con Edison) delivered a record amount of electricity to customers in New York City and Westchester County in 2007, spurred largely by the region's growing economy. Last year's usage of 62,591 gigawatt hours (GWh) eclipsed the record of 61,608 GWh set in 2005, and is more than 23 percent higher than the 50,837 GWh used in 1997. According to the latest available national data, Con Edison's record delivery surpasses the annual electrical usage of the entire state of Colorado (49,734 GWh) or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (55,850 GWh) in 2006. That same year, electrical usage in Con Edison's service area was 60,627 GWh.

A gigawatt is a rate of energy production equal to 1,000 megawatts. One megawatt can power approximately 1,000 homes. Peak electric demand in New York City and Westchester County in summertime has been growing annually by about 200 megawatts, the equivalent of powering an additional 200,000 homes per year.

New construction and increased use of new electrical devices, including flat-screen televisions and associated on-screen games, computers, and various handheld gadgets, as well as record numbers of home offices, are all part of downstate's prosperity and contribute to increasing use.
Con Edison has the largest underground electrical system in North America with 94,000 miles of underground cables, enough to wrap the earth 3.6 times. The company also maintains 36,000 miles of overhead cables. Con Edison expects to spend $7.5 billion over the next five years on its electric delivery system to maintain reliability and support the significant economic growth projected for its service area.

Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE: ED), one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues and $28 billion in assets. The utility provides electric, gas, and steam service to more than 3 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York.

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