New York utility Con Edison has invested $2.35bn in its electric delivery system since last summer to help ensure reliable, resilient service this summer when customers’ need for power is greatest.

The company is preparing for the increased demand for power as New Yorkers rely on their air conditioners to keep their homes and business cool and comfortable. Con Edison’s meteorologists are forecasting a particularly humid summer, which can drive air conditioning usage.

Con Edison has multiple tools, from overhead switches that help limit outages to smart meters that provide the user and the company’s operators information in near real time, as well as sensors in manholes that notify the company when a cable may be getting hot.

In addition, the company is committed to helping customers manage their energy usage as temperatures rise. Conserving energy during peak demand times – typically the afternoon and early evening hours on the hottest days of summer – helps the utility maintain reliable service and saves money for customers.

Con Edison also offers energy efficiency programmes (www.coned.com/en/save-money/rebates-incentives-tax-credits) and incentives, including rebates for smart thermostats and up to $4000 for home upgrades such as sealing and insulation to help manage costs.

“Our ongoing investments help ensure safe and reliable service, even as the days get hotter for longer and the demand for air conditioning and high temperatures can stress our equipment,” said Matthew Ketschke, president of Con Edison. “We use data and technology to pinpoint where upgrades will benefit our customers the most, and our highly skilled workforce brings those improvements to life.”

The company powers vital transportation networks, including a round-the-clock subway system, hospitals, government institutions and thousands of small neighbourhood businesses.

Infrastructure upgrades to date that help keep the region energised include the installation of substation equipment, 46 underground and 79 overhead transformers, 342 spans of underground and overhead feeder cables, 259 spans of open wire, and 113 poles. These projects benefit residents and businesses from the northernmost part of Con Edison’s service area in Westchester County to Staten Island’s South Shore.

The demand for power for Con Edison customers last year reached 11,822MW on July 16. For 2025, the company forecasts a peak of 12,610MW. The record is 13,322MW during a heat wave on July 19, 2013. The demand for power has not approached that amount since then, largely due to the company’s energy efficiency and smart usage programmes and customer adoption of solar energy and other distributed resources.

Con Edison has technologies and procedures to keep service reliable during the summer months when the need for air conditioning increases, potentially placing stress on electric delivery infrastructure. Under extreme conditions, the company’s operators can open switches on 4kV overhead systems in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx to prevent power from shifting from failed cables onto cables that remain in service. That prevents the cables still in service from becoming overloaded.

Operators can use the smart meter system to shut off the flow of power in a targeted way when delivery equipment in an area is under stress. The emergency shutoff would affect residential users served by the isolated equipment. These temporary interruptions would prevent larger outages that would take longer to restore. In this scenario, most commercial users would remain in service.

Critical users such as hospitals, fire stations and police stations would also remain in service. These interruptions would not affect households that have registered as having a resident who depends on life-support equipment.

Con Edison can also lower voltage to an area by five or eight per cent to take stress of the electric delivery equipment.

Con Edison (conEd.com) is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, one of the USA’s largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $15bn in annual revenues and $71bin in assets. The utility delivers electricity, natural gas and steam, and serves 3.7 million customers in New York and Westchester County.