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CONSOLIDATED EDISON INC

For the period ended Dec 31, 2024. Filed Feb 20, 2025.

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A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.

FY2024 · Filed Feb 20, 2025

ED$118.39-0.1%Stored close · as of Nov 9, 2026

Extracted filing text, with the paragraph anchors used by the comparison.

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Contents

Environmental Sustainability

Con Edison’s sustainability strategy, as it relates to the environment, provides that the company seeks, among other things, to reduce direct and indirect GHG emissions; enhance the efficiency of its water use; reduce its impact to natural ecosystems; focus on reducing, reusing and recycling to lower materials consumption and disposal; and design its work in consideration of climate projections.

Con Edison has adopted a Clean Energy Commitment whereby it commits to the transition to the clean energy future. Con Edison's Clean Energy Commitment is supported by five pillars:

Build the grid of the future

Empower Con Edison's customers to meet their climate goals

Reimagine the gas system

Lead by reducing Con Edison's carbon footprint

Partner with stakeholders

CECONY

Superfund

The Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 and similar state statutes (Superfund) impose joint and several liability, regardless of fault, upon generators of hazardous substances for investigation costs, remediation costs (which include costs of demolition, removal, disposal, storage, replacement, containment and monitoring) and natural resource damages. Liability under these laws can be material and may be imposed for contamination from past acts, even though such past acts may have been lawful at the time they occurred. The sites as to which CECONY has been asserted to have liability under Superfund include its and its predecessor companies’ former manufactured gas sites, its multi-purpose Astoria site, the Gowanus Canal site, the Newtown Creek site and other Superfund sites discussed below. There may be additional sites as to which assertions will be made that the company has liability. For a further discussion of claims and possible claims against the company under Superfund, estimated liability accrued for Superfund claims and recovery from customers of site investigation and remediation costs, see Note G to the financial statements in Item 8.

Manufactured Gas Sites

CECONY and its predecessors formerly owned and operated manufactured gas plants at 51 sites (MGP Sites) in New York City and Westchester County. Many of these sites have been subdivided and are now owned by parties other than CECONY and have been redeveloped for other uses, including schools, residential and commercial developments and hospitals. The NYSDEC is requiring CECONY to investigate, and if necessary, develop and implement remediation programs for the sites, including any neighboring areas to which contamination may have migrated.

CECONY has started remedial investigations at all 51 MGP Sites. After investigations, no MGP impacts have been detected at all or portions of 15 sites, and the NYSDEC has issued No Further Action (NFA) letters for these sites.

Coal tar or other MGP-related contaminants have been detected at the remaining 36 sites. Remedial actions have been completed at all or portions of 14 sites and the NYSDEC has issued NFA letters for these sites. In addition, remedial actions have been completed by property owners at all or portions of four sites under the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program and Certificates of Completion have been issued by the NYSDEC for these sites. Remedial design, planning or action is ongoing for the remaining sites or portions of sites; however, the information as to the extent of contamination and scope of the remediation likely to be required for many of these sites is incomplete. The company estimates that its undiscounted potential liability for the completion of the site investigation and cleanup of the known contamination on MGP sites (other than the Astoria site, which is discussed below) could range from $622 million to $2,432 million.

Astoria Site

CECONY is permitted by the NYSDEC to operate a hazardous waste storage facility on property owned by it in the Astoria section of Queens, New York. Portions of the property were formerly the location of a manufactured gas plant and also have been used or are being used for, among other things, electric generation operations, electric substation operations, the storage of fuel oil, the manufacture and storage of liquefied natural gas and the maintenance and storage of electric equipment. As a condition of its NYSDEC permit, the company is required to investigate the property and, where environmental contamination is found and action is necessary, to remediate the contamination. The company’s investigations are ongoing. The company has submitted reports to the NYSDEC and the New York State Department of Health and in the future will be submitting additional reports identifying the known areas of contamination. The company estimates that its undiscounted potential liability for the completion of the site investigation and cleanup of the known contamination on the property could range from $278 million to $929 million.

Gowanus Canal

In August 2009, CECONY received a notice of potential liability and request for information from the EPA about the operations of the company and its predecessors at sites adjacent to or near the 1.8 mile Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York. In March 2010, the EPA added the Gowanus Canal to its National Priorities List of Superfund sites. The canal’s adjacent waterfront is primarily commercial and industrial, currently consisting of concrete plants, warehouses and parking lots. The canal is near several residential neighborhoods. In September 2013, the EPA issued its record of decision for the site. The EPA concluded that there was significant contamination at the site, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, metals and volatile organic compounds. The EPA selected a remedy for the site that includes dredging and disposal of some contaminated sediments and stabilization and capping of contamination that will not be removed, and in 2013 the EPA estimated the cost of the selected remedy to be $506 million (and has indicated the actual cost could be significantly higher). The EPA has identified 39 potentially responsible parties (PRPs) with respect to the site, including CECONY (which the EPA indicated has facilities that may be a source of PCBs at the site). The EPA ordered the PRPs, including CECONY, to coordinate and cooperate with each other to perform and/or fund the remedial design for the selected remedy, which current estimates indicate could cost approximately $115 million. CECONY is funding its allocated share of the remedial design costs along with the other PRPs. In April 2019, the EPA issued an order that requires the PRPs, including CECONY, to: (1) design and perform bulkhead structural support work, including associated access dredging, along certain portions of the upper reaches of the canal, and (2) complete the design work for bulkhead structural support along certain portions of the middle part of the canal. The PRPs and CECONY are coordinating the implementation of this order.

In January 2020, the EPA issued an order that requires six PRPs, including CECONY, to initiate the remedial action work in the upper reaches of the canal following the completion of the bulkhead upgrades. Cleanup in other areas of the canal is not addressed by this order. In November 2020, the PRPs began implementation of the work required under this order. In August 2024, dredging and stabilization was completed in the upper segment of the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site at a cost of approximately $260 million.

In March 2024, CECONY received a notice that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the NYSDEC, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (collectively, the Trustees) published a Draft Natural Resource Assessment Plan, indicating that the Trustees are conducting a natural resource damage assessment to determine, among other things, the appropriate amount and type of projects needed to restore, replace, or acquire the equivalent of injured natural resources at the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site.

In June 2024, the EPA issued an order amending its January 2020 order and that requires six PRPs, including CECONY, to initiate remedial action work in the middle segment of the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site. The EPA estimated the cost of this work would be $369 million (although actual costs may be significantly higher) and has indicated the work would take several years to complete.

In October 2024, a PRP filed a lawsuit against the other PRPs, including CECONY, with respect to the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site. The plaintiff asserts claims pursuant to the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 and the New York Navigation Law for cleanup costs incurred, and to be incurred, by the plaintiff at the site. The plaintiff estimates the total cleanup costs at the site to be over $1,000 million.

CECONY is unable to estimate its total exposure to liability for the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site.

Newtown Creek

In June 2017, CECONY received a notice of potential liability from the EPA with respect to the Newtown Creek site that was listed in 2010 on the EPA’s National Priorities List of Superfund sites. The EPA identified 21 PRPs with respect to the site, including CECONY. Newtown Creek and its tributaries (collectively, Newtown Creek) form a 3.8 mile border between Brooklyn and Queens, New York. Currently, the predominant land use around Newtown Creek includes industrial, petroleum, recycling, manufacturing and distribution facilities and warehouses. Other uses include trucking, concrete manufacture, transportation infrastructure and a wastewater treatment plant. Newtown Creek is near several residential neighborhoods. Six PRPs, not including CECONY, pursuant to an administrative settlement agreement and order on consent the EPA issued to them in 2011, submitted a final remedial investigation report for the site to the EPA in 2023. The EPA indicated that sampling events have shown the sediments in Newtown Creek to be contaminated with a wide variety of hazardous substances including PCBs, metals, pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds. The EPA also indicated that it has reason to believe that hazardous substances have come to be released from CECONY facilities into Newtown Creek. The current schedule anticipates completion of a feasibility study for the site during 2027 and issuance of the EPA's record of decision selecting a remedy for the site thereafter. In January 2025, the EPA approved a potential early action remedy for the East Branch tributary of Newtown Creek, which the EPA estimates could cost approximately $250 million to implement. CECONY is unable to estimate its exposure to liability for the Newtown Creek site.

Other Superfund Sites

CECONY is a PRP at additional Superfund sites involving other PRPs and participates in PRP groups at those sites. The company generally is not managing the site investigation and remediation at these multiparty sites. Work at these sites is in various stages, and investigation, remediation and monitoring activities at some of these sites can be expected to continue over extended periods of time. The company believes that it is unlikely that monetary sanctions, such as penalties, will be imposed by any governmental authority with respect to these sites.

The following table lists each of the additional Superfund sites for which the company anticipates it may have liability. The table also shows for each such site its location, the year in which the company was designated or alleged to be a PRP or to otherwise have responsibilities for the site (shown in the table under “Start”), the name of the court or agency in which proceedings for the site are pending and CECONY’s estimated percentage of the total liability for each site. The company currently estimates that its potential liability for investigation, remediation, monitoring and environmental damages in aggregate for the sites below, other than the sites where the percentage of total liability has not been determined, is less than $2 million. Superfund liability is joint and several. The company’s estimate of its liability for each site was determined pursuant to consent decrees, settlement agreements or otherwise and in light of the financial condition of other PRPs. The company’s actual liability could differ substantially from amounts estimated.

SiteLocationStartCourt orAgency% of TotalLiability
Cortese LandfillNarrowsburg, NY1987EPA6.0%
Curcio Scrap MetalSaddle Brook, NJ1987EPA100.0%
Metal Bank of AmericaPhiladelphia, PA1987EPA1.0%
Global LandfillOld Bridge, NJ1988EPA0.4%
Borne ChemicalElizabeth, NJ1997NJDEP0.7%
Pure EarthVineland, NJ2018EPAto be determined
Berry's Creek Site (formerly referred to as Scientific Chemical Processing)Carlstadt, NJ2023EPAto be determined

Other Environmental Matters

In December 2024, New York State enacted the Climate Change Superfund Act (Act), which requires "responsible parties" to pay $75 billion over twenty-five years into a fund based on GHG emissions to finance infrastructure projects needed to address the impacts from climate change. Responsible parties are defined as entities engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel or refining crude oil and were responsible for more than one billion metric tons of GHG emissions from 2000 to 2018. Although the Utilities are not a responsible party under this definition, the NYSDEC is required to promulgate regulations implementing the Act by December 2025. In February 2025, a group of states brought a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Albany Division, challenging the Act as unconstitutional. As a result, the Companies are unable to predict the potential impact, if any, that the Act may have on them.

Following media reports, in July 2023, the EPA, NYSDEC, New York State Department of Health and NYSDPS began investigating the potential public health risks associated with lead-jacketed cables in the fixed-line telecommunications industry. The use of lead-jacketed electric cables began in the 1880s to protect conducting wires from exposure to the elements. All of the Utilities’ transmission cables that are in service and lead-jacketed are covered with an outer plastic layer and comprise less than 2 percent of CECONY’s transmission system and less than 5 percent of O&R’s transmission system. CECONY installed lead-jacketed cables without an outer plastic layer in its distribution system until the 1980’s. CECONY’s distribution cables that are in service and lead-jacketed may or may not have an outer plastic layer and may be located within a conduit and manhole system, directly buried or strung in the air between poles and comprise less than 14 percent of its distribution system. O&R’s distribution cables are not lead-jacketed. CECONY’s transmission and distribution systems also contain lead-jacketed cables that were retired in place. CECONY continues to replace lead-jacketed distribution cables, as needed, and recover the costs for cable replacements, pursuant to its electric rate plan. The Companies are unable to predict the impact on them, if any, resulting from potential developments to legal or public policy doctrines regarding cable that contains lead.

In July 2021, a CECONY feeder failure led to the discharge of thousands of gallons of dielectric fluid from a street manhole in New Rochelle, New York. Dielectric fluid reached nearby streets, properties and the New Rochelle Harbor. CECONY, the U.S. Coast Guard, the NYSDEC and other agencies responded to the incident. CECONY stopped the feeder leak on the same day the discharge occurred and has completed the spill recovery and associated cleanup operations. As a result of the discharge, CECONY received third-party damage claims. The costs associated with this matter are not expected to have a material adverse effect on CECONY’s financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. In connection with the incident, CECONY may incur monetary sanctions of more than $0.3 million for violations of certain provisions regulating the discharge of materials into, and for the protection of, the environment.

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