Consolidated Edison Maps $38B Grid Buildout to Power New York Electrification

Key Points

• Consolidated Edison plans to invest $38 billion over five years in electrification, grid modernization, reliability and climate resilience, driven primarily by New York’s building and transportation electrification rather than data-center demand.
• Electric-capacity requests are running about 20% above historical levels. The company plans new substations and transmission upgrades, while using battery storage, demand management and other non-wires alternatives to meet projected capacity needs.
• Con Edison expects five-year earnings growth of approximately 8.7% annually, supported by regulated rate plans that include roughly $17 billion of CECONY capital investment and returns on equity ranging from 9.4% to 9.75%.

Consolidated Edison NYSE: ED outlined a five-year, $38 billion infrastructure investment program centered on electrification, grid modernization, reliability and climate resilience during its annual investor update.

Chairman and CEO Tim Cawley said the company’s growth outlook is tied less to the hyperscale data-center demand seen in other utility territories and more to New York’s building and transportation electrification policies. New York State clean-energy targets, New York City mandates and customer demand are driving higher electricity needs from electric vehicles, heating, water heating and cooking, he said.

“Con Edison is not a data center play,” Cawley said. “We’re an energy infrastructure company serving one of the most essential and demanding regions in the world.”

Grid Expansion and Electrification Demand

The company said requests for new electric capacity are running about 20% above historical levels. Cawley cited the modernization of JFK International Airport, the Willets Point mixed-use development in Queens and the Port Authority Bus Terminal project as examples of developments that will add load, including through fleet electrification.

Con Edison plans nine new substations in its core New York City utility territory from 2026 through 2035, including four already under construction and five additional planned projects. At Orange & Rockland, the company plans to install 19 new substations, perform major upgrades at 12 substations and complete 33 transmission upgrades by 2035.

Matt Ketschke, president of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, said New York City is expected to need 125 megawatts of new capacity by 2033, rising to 675 MW by 2036 and 2,275 MW by 2045. The company’s reliability contingency plan includes potential market-based solutions such as transmission- and distribution-connected battery storage and procurements for clean, non-emitting technologies.

Con Edison said it also uses non-wires alternatives, including battery storage, demand management, energy efficiency and customer-sited distributed resources, to defer or avoid higher-cost grid investments where possible.

Reliability, Resilience and Transmission

Cawley said 70% of Con Edison’s electric grid is underground, making it the nation’s largest underground system. Ketschke said 72% of the CECONY electric grid is underground and that 65 of its 84 networks are designed with double redundancy, enabling the company to maintain service during peak summer conditions even if two supply feeders are out of service.

CECONY received the 2025 ReliabilityOne national reliability award, according to Cawley. He said the utility’s resiliency investments since Superstorm Sandy have helped avoid an estimated 1.3 million weather-related customer outages.

Orange & Rockland President and CEO Michele O’Connell said the company expects to invest nearly $800 million in resilience initiatives from 2026 through 2030. Its climate studies project more high-heat days, more intense storms and greater sea-level rise by 2050, she said. The utility is incorporating those findings into asset designs, flood standards, selective undergrounding and reinforcement of overhead lines.

Con Edison Transmission expects to invest more than $1 billion over the next five to 10 years in projects intended to connect renewable generation to demand centers. The company has a 41.7% interest in New York Transco’s share of the $3.3 billion Propel NY Energy project. New York Transco’s portion of the project totals $2.2 billion.

Policy, Affordability and Customer Programs

Jen Hensley, senior vice president of corporate affairs, said recent amendments to New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act added feasibility, cost-effectiveness and affordability considerations. The amendments delayed regulations such as cap-and-invest until 2028 and changed the interim emissions-reduction milestone into a 2040 target of a 60% reduction from 1990 levels, while retaining the state’s 2050 net-zero objective.

The state’s goals of reaching 70% renewable electricity by 2030 and 100% by 2040 remain unchanged, Hensley said. Con Edison and other New York utilities have proposed that utilities be permitted to develop and own land-based wind and solar projects, with the group proposing 1 gigawatt of clean resources annually. Cawley said Con Edison’s potential share would be roughly 45% of that annual investment, based on load share, if the proposal proceeds.

Hensley said local taxes on energy infrastructure are expected to exceed $3.2 billion in 2026. The company plans to separately show these taxes on customer bills later this year. As of August 2026, approximately 494,000 customers across CECONY and O&R were enrolled in energy-affordability programs, while more than 25,000 customers had been approved for the enhanced affordability program launched earlier this year.

Financial Framework and Regulatory Outcomes

Chief Financial Officer Kirk Andrews said the company’s earnings base is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 8.7% over five years, slightly below the prior 8.8% figure. Cawley said the revision reflected capital investment included in the proposed CECONY steam-rate settlement.

The company’s 2026 CECONY electric and gas rate plans provide for a 9.4% return on equity, a 48% equity ratio and approximately $17 billion in new capital investment. O&R’s current electric and gas plans allow a 9.75% return on equity and a 48% equity ratio. The recently approved Rockland Electric rate plan in New Jersey provides a 9.6% return on equity and a 48.5% equity ratio.

Andrews said the proposed three-year CECONY steam settlement, which remains subject to Public Service Commission approval, would provide a 9.5% return on equity and a 48% equity ratio. He added that the company has increased its dividend for 52 consecutive years and aims over time to align dividend growth more closely with earnings growth while retaining capital for its investment plans.

About Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED)

Consolidated Edison, Inc is an energy delivery company headquartered in New York. Through its principal subsidiary, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc, the company provides electric, natural gas and steam service to customers in New York City and Westchester County.

Consolidated Edison also owns Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc, which delivers electricity and natural gas in parts of southeastern New York, northern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania. Its utility operations include the generation, transmission, distribution and delivery of energy, as well as the operation and maintenance of related infrastructure.

With roots tracing to the New York Gas Light Company, established in 1823, Consolidated Edison has developed into one of the United States' largest investor-owned energy-delivery companies.

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