Consolidated Edison, Inc. (ED) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and thank you for joining us. I'm Jan Childress, Director of Investor Relations for Consolidated Edison. We're happy to be here today for our 2025 webinar, delivering reliable and resilient energy for the future. This presentation includes information on Con Edison's strategy to achieve goals set forth in clean energy and climate-related laws and regulations as well as our strategy to strengthen and modernize our energy delivery systems. The presentation also contains forward-looking statements of future expectations and not facts that are intended to qualify for the safe harbor provisions of federal securities laws. Actual results or developments may differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements because of various factors identified in the presentation and in our public filings. [Operator Instructions]. Now I will turn this over to Con Edison's Chairman and CEO, Tim Cawley.

Thanks, Jan. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us to hear how we're honing our focus on delivering safe, reliable and affordable service as New York's energy landscape transitions to cleaner energy. I'm really happy to be here to discuss the progress we continue to make and where we're going. Today, you'll learn about our strategy for expanding, strengthening and modernizing our energy delivery systems as our local economy grows and our customers increasingly adopt energy alternatives that contribute to a cleaner, healthier environment. We'll take you through the steps we're following to harden our systems against extreme weather events that are more frequent and more severe. We'll also highlight the many measures we're taking to lessen bill pressures for customers as our systems expand and modernize. Con Ed is among the nation's largest investor-owned utilities. Through Con Edison of New York and Orange & Rockland, we provide electric, gas and steam service to millions of people. Most of our systems are underground. In fact, 70% of our electric grid is underground, making it the largest underground system in the U.S. We have best-in-class reliability and grid resiliency initiatives. We also operate the largest steam system in the U.S. And as you'll hear, that gives us some unique opportunities as we look to decarbonize. And Con Ed Transmission will continue to invest and develop electric transmission projects in the Northeast. We've been providing energy to New York City for more than 200 years. Over that time, we faced and overcome many challenges. The geography of our service territory, the sheer building density and the proximity to major waterways underscores the varied hurdles we face today from the threat of sea-level rise to meeting city and state mandates to deliver cleaner renewable energy to 10 million residents safely, reliably and affordably. The housing stock in our service territory ranges from newly constructed single-family homes in Rockland County and Staten Island to high-rise apartments built in the late 1800s. The range of commercial buildings is just as wide from the iconic Flatiron Building built in 1901 to JPMorgan's new all-electric headquarters. We need to find ways to help these buildings, old and new alike, comply with local laws aimed at improving air quality for all New Yorkers. At the same time, we must maintain our world-class reliability even as our grid expands. Over our two centuries and operations, each new challenge has called for innovative solutions. Today is no different. Con Edison is at the forefront of our industry, tackling big complex problems like extreme weather events, leveraging technology at scale and achieving real benefits for our customers. During the late June heat wave in New York City, for instance, we deployed our Fox Hills energy storage system to help meet peak electric needs of the Rosebank neighborhood of Staten Island. The 7.5 megawatt battery provides enough energy to power 3,000 homes for 4 hours. The solutions to our challenges are not all technical like battery storage but include new approaches like proactive planning, the first proceeding of its kind at the New York State Public Service Commission, which we'll discuss later in the presentation. That ability to meet these challenges begins with our people and the culture that binds us all to the company's values. At Con Edison, nothing is more important than the safety of our employees and the public. We value operational excellence, which shows up in all our work and helps us earn our reputation for reliability. We know our customers count on us, and we work every day to maintain that trust. We invest in the customer experience. This year, we successfully completed 2 reliable clean cities projects that will enhance reliability in Brooklyn and Staten Island. Both projects were completed on schedule and under budget. Con Edison is committed to excellence in equity across our company and across our service territory. Meaningful onboarding and career development programs help us attract and retain bright new talent that will grow Con Edison for decades to come. And we focus on our shareholders, prudently managing our company through economic cycles so that we deliver long-term value for our investors. Our investors include thousands of retirees who maintain investments in our company and rely on Con Edison for stable, reliable performance. In all we do and for everyone we serve, we remain intensely focused on our mission to lead the nation's energy sector and we'll leverage these values to help deliver a reliable, efficient, affordable and equitable transition to a clean energy future. So when it comes to reliability, Con Edison is in a class by itself. We have made it synonymous with our culture. Reliability is non-negotiable. We energized New York City, the engine of the New York -- of the U.S. economy, a vertical city of 9 million people with a vast underground transportation system that moves 1.2 billion subway riders a year. Electricity is this city's lifeline. Con Ed's reliability performance has guarded industry recognition, such as the 2024 ReliabilityOne National Reliability Award. CECONY is 9x more reliable than the national average. Our system design, which Matt Ketschke will discuss later as well as ongoing strategic investments contribute to our unparalleled reliability. Our resiliency investments since 2013 following Superstorm Sandy have enabled us to avoid an estimated 1.2 million weather-related customer outages to date, thanks in large part to our skilled and talented workforce. Resiliency is another area where Con Edison leads. Our climate vulnerability studies are valuable tools that guide us as we continue to shore up the grid across both utilities in the face of more frequent and severe weather. We're working to mitigate rising flood risks and installing smart switches to reduce the impact of storms and speed restoration. We've seen an evolution of our business since our founding in 1823 as the New York Gas Light Company that use manufactured gas derived from whale-oil and coal to illuminate New York City. Thomas Edison's revolutionary incandescent bulb in the early 1880s prompted a shift to using gas for cooking and heating instead of lighting. At about the same time, our steam business was established. Later in that same decade, The Blizzard of 1888 hit the region leading the city to mandate undergrounding. That decade of the 1880s represented a crossroads for our energy production and delivery in our service area that profoundly impacted all 3 commodities, electricity, gas and steam. Today, we're at a similar inflection point that's impacting each of our energy delivery businesses. First, following nearly 2 decades without growth, electricity use is rising. That growth is a result of both economic vitality in our region and state and local policies spurring electrification of building space heating and transportation. On both the gas and steam sides of our business, we're reimagining operations to adopt carbon-free alternatives, also spurred by state and local policy. And extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy have driven initiatives to further harden our grid including more undergrounding to protect against storms and other climate-related phenomena. Innovating to meet our customers' evolving needs as part of our DNA and our value of continuous improvement will enable us to navigate this latest transitional period. And now I'll turn it over to Jen Hensley, our Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, to talk about how our business helps power the city and state economy while supporting clean energy goals. Over to you, Jen.

Thanks so much, Tim. Great to be with everybody today. The energy transition, Tim has been talking about, is taking place in a vibrant economy. New York City's population increased for the second consecutive year in 2024, showing a resurgence after the pandemic-related declines. And despite our relatively small geographic footprint, CECONY and O&R together deliver about 41% of New York State's electricity. Our economic impact on the state and local economy is also disproportionately large. $24.3 billion in economic output or 1% of the state's GDP in 2024. Every dollar our company spends fuels the dynamic economies of New York City and New York State and helps New Yorkers thrive. The $4.8 billion in taxes and fees we paid in New York State in 2024 includes $3.3 billion paid to the City of New York, of which $2.5 billion was for New York City property taxes. That's 8% of all property taxes paid to New York City and our customers' tax contributions to Westchester County amounted to $251 million. Like the people we serve, the employees of our company are New Yorkers. We live here, we go to school here, build our lives and raise our families here. 81% of our employees are New York State residents. And for every person we employ, we generate another 1.7 jobs in the economy, a bigger multiplying effect than other similar industries and 4 to 5x that of government or education. We spent $2 billion on contracts with businesses in New York City and New York State in 2024 with more than half going to businesses in all 5 boroughs and Westchester County. So our impact and the impact of our operations extends far beyond just powering the nation's greatest city and surrounding areas. New York State and New York City have distinguished themselves as leaders in the effort to provide healthier air quality for people who live here and harden energy delivery systems against extreme weather. While state and city elected officials have set target for transitioning to a clean energy economy, the New York State Public Service Commission has developed corresponding policies and proceedings to enable these targets. The New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the CLCPA is the major legislation addressing this transition with statewide targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions and adoption of clean energy alternatives for buildings and transportation. One requirement of the CLCPA is a biannual progress review and the 2024 review acknowledge that this state is not on track to achieve its goal of 70% renewables by 2030. Considering the shortfall, the New York City Public Service Commission has an ongoing proceeding to explore the option of utility-owned renewables as a potential avenue to achieving these targets. The New York State PSC determined that there is value in exploring this as an option to help achieve the state's goals. The PSC has required staff to file a report within 1 year that addresses renewable energy procurement structure, including recommendations on potential utility ownership of large-scale renewables. And the next biannual review will occur in 2026. Clean energy targets and policies have also been codified under various laws at the city level. New York City has a set of local laws that phase out #6 and #4 oil in all buildings and establish energy efficiency mandates and emissions reductions in buildings greater than 25,000 square feet. Another local law that began in 2024 phases in clean energy mandates for new buildings under 7 stories. Requirements for larger buildings will take effect in 2027. And the state has similar mandates that take effect 2 years following the city's effective dates. So that's 2026 for new smaller buildings and 2029 for larger buildings. And also like the state, New York City has electric vehicle targets. Other state mandates include the creation of innovative utility thermal energy networks and initiatives aimed at grid modernization and accelerating customer adoption of clean energy alternatives. The elimination of utility subsidies for customers installing new gas service, the so-called 100-foot rule, is also being considered for approval. We have aligned our investment plans to conform to policies at the state and city levels including New Jersey, where Rockland Electric serves about 76,000 customers. At CECONY, we forecast investments of $72 billion over the next decade to maintain the safety and reliability of our system and to manage growth as more customers electrify their heating and transportation. And also to fortify our grid against extreme weather events that data shows are occurring more frequently and with greater severity. And now Matt Ketschke, President of Con Edison of New York, will talk more about how research is informing our long-term planning as we build the grid of the future. Matt?

Thank you, Jen. Tim talked about how Con Edison has evolved in response to events and technological shifts. Regulation in our state has evolved similarly. The New York independent system operator is a prime example. Unlike most jurisdictions in the U.S., the NYISO as we call it, is a single-state independent system operator that evolved from the New York Power Pool. That group along with the group that became the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, all formed in response to the November 9, 1965 Northeast Blackout. In the 1990s, the public energy sector was deregulated to promote competitive opportunities in the electric and gas supply industries. Today, Con Edison and other utilities in state procure power for our customers through the NYISO, which include statewide capacity requirements with reserve margins. In addition, the NYISO sets locational minimally installed capacity requirements in markets such as New York City, Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley. For Con Edison, New York, for instance, the majority of our projected peak electric capacity needs must come from plants located within the city or in the case of 1 nearby plant electrically connected to the city. The NYISO plans transmission lines that cross service territories and solutions are competitively solicited. The recent Long Island public policy transmission need solicitation awarded to New York Transco's Propel New York project is one example. Our FERC regulated subsidiary, Con Edison Transmission, has a 42% equity interest in that project. Designed to upgrade the grid on Long Island, enable power movement within the rest of New York State. On the gas side, the restructuring of the 1990s create a marketplace where more than half of our customers today purchased their commodity from a third-party supplier, and we deliver it through our distribution system. Con Edison is regulated by the New York State Public Service Commission, a body of 7 members appointed by the governor and then confirmed by the State Senate. The last time we anticipated this much growth in our electric business through the advent of air conditioning in the 1950s. That's when Con Edison went from being a winter peaking utility to a summer peaking one. We project that we will return to be a winter peaking utility in 2040s, driven primarily by electrification of building heating and transportation across our region. Achieving decarbonization requires significant rebalancing of the types of energy we deliver to our customers as well as access to a growing supply of carbon-neutral energy. CECONY's current forecast reflects a projected level of technology adoption based on legal and policy frameworks in place today. This baseline projection incorporates important first steps such as targeting new construction for fossil-free alternatives. We have identified two potential representative pathways to net-zero, hybrid and deep electrification to compare with our current forecast. The two pathways vary based on the speed at which customers electrify and adopt clean technologies as well as the rate at which carbon-neutral electric generation comes online. Each pathway satisfies customers' energy needs safely and reliably and leads to a distinctly different gas system profile. The hybrid pathway incorporates both clean electricity and low carbon fuels to help meet economy-wide reduction goals. The hybrid pathway also projects gas volumes declining by 52% from today's levels. Depending on location, customers that require high levels of intervention to electrify and high conversion costs will have an option to connect to the steam system or retain a gas connection where low to zero carbon alternatives will help meet the 2050 GHG emissions reduction goal. The hybrid pathway will help achieve the state's economy-wide emission reduction goals, assuming technology advances to allow for the adoption at scale and that there is sufficient regulatory and policy support to enable the transition, including the ability to transfer customers off of the gas system. The deep electrification pathway incorporates the assumptions of the New York State Energy Research Development authorities integration analysis and conforms the state's economy-wide GHG emissions reduction goals. In this pathway, we project that gas delivery will decline by 97% by 2050 to serve only a select set of customers that require high levels of intervention to electrify. Energy needs will likely be met almost fully through electrification and decarbonization of the steam system. This pathway also requires substantial technological advancements, statutory and regulatory changes, and the expeditious customer adoption of fossil fuel-free heating. The energy transition in New York is taking place in our territory, where a growing population and employment. About 2/3 of new large customer projects in New York are choosing to go all electric. Overall, new customer request for electric capacity are 25% higher than what we've traditionally seen. One strength of CECONY system is that it incorporates redundancies that help prevent outages. In addition, our system is deliberately designed in the networks with switches and sensors to prevent problems in one network from cascading across the system to another, enhancing overall reliability. Con Edison New York system is comprised of 84 networks, each served by a substation. As the network grows beyond the capacity of the substation serving it, we divide that network and build a new substation to serve the new divided network. But that's not before we exhaust our toolkit of non-wire solutions, including demand management, battery storage and a host of other measures to avoid costly infrastructure investments. Given the growth that we anticipate, we are planning 5 substations in addition to the 4 that are currently in construction. These investments are part of investment plan reflecting our current, and I anticipate our future rate filings. This map shows the various major capital investment projects to meet CECONY's growing demand for our customers through 2035. Orange & Rockland also anticipates major capital investments to meet customer needs for their electricity. These projects will help meet growing demand for residential and commercial energy, modernize the electric system to fortify our grid and strengthen the system to protect the grants in increasingly harsh weather threats. By 2033, we are planning to install 13 new substations and have planned major upgrade at 27 other stations. Here again, we use energy efficiency, demand management and distributor energy resources to defer major investments for the sake of customers' bills. So let me explain a little more about how our grid design contributes to our unparalleled reliability. Because 72% of CECONY's grid is underground, is largely protected from wind, storms, wildfires and other events that are problematic for overhead systems. The largest single category of our investment plan currently before the New York State Public Service Commission is for risk reduction. That category investment across our 84 networks is comprised of risk mitigating switches and sensors. What truly sets CECONY apart from the rest of the U.S. is the double redundancy of our networks. Our second contingent design criteria means that any two supply distribution feeders can go out of service on a peak summer day, and we can still maintain full load and full service to all of our customers. We have 65 second contingency underground networks across New York City, which is most of our system. That greatly enhances our performance, making our electric reliability 9x better than both the New York State and national averages. We conduct a top-down, bottom-up economic analysis to forecast low growth for electric uses in each network. And -- if the design criteria of a substation exceeded, we work to address that growth and usage to defer the need to invest in new substations or if a nearby network has excess capacity, we may be able to share that capacity to meet needs. When the growth exceeds our mitigation efforts, we must invest. So let's look at that in the context of a specific network. The shaded region in this diagram, both solid and stripe is the existing Jamaica network in Queens, which serves the surrounding neighborhoods in commercial zones as well as John F. Kennedy International Airport. The existing Jamaica distribution substation serving that network is forecast to exceed design capability by 6 megawatts in 2026 and 51 megawatts in 2032, due to projected economic growth as well as vehicle electrification, particularly at JFK Airport, which in the throes of a massive modernization that will electrify most of the airport services. The scale of the airport modernization is too large to mitigate. So the solution is to split the network into two, a new Idlewild distribution area substation will serve the Springfield network and the existing Jamaica substation will handle load in the solid shaded area. A new Eastern Queen transmission substation will be needed to serve the Idlewild distribution substation. The resulting Reliable Clean City, Eastern Queens/Idlewild project approved by the New York PSC in January 2024 will cost $1.2 billion. The project improves the reliability in both networks and will support the state's electrification and CLCPA goals by facilitating 170 megawatts of future growth in the Jamaica network and 176 megawatts of future growth in the Springfield network. The project will also make available new points of interconnection for clean energy and energy storage projects. With future expansion, the projects will also mitigate reliability concerns expected to arise in 2039 and 2040 in the Corona distribution area substation and the Rego Park and Flushing networks. The project has an in-service date of May 2028. This chart tracks substation construction over the past 75 years. You can see the growth of electric usage in the 1950s, fueled by the advent of air conditioning. The implementation of energy efficiency measures began in the early 1970s following price spikes that resulted from the Arab oil embargo. Our energy efficiency programs become more robust over the ensuing years. After building only 2 substations since 2011, we are now forecasting the need to build greater capacity into our grid despite amping up our energy efficiency programs and non-wire solutions to meet customer demands for electrification of buildings and for transportation. Between now and 2034, CECONY forecasts the need for 9 new substations to meet growing demand for electricity. Orange & Rockland is also seeing a resurgence in the need for substations. For more about the opportunities at O&R, I'm pleased to introduce Michelle O'Connell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Orange & Rockland Utilities.

Thank you, Matt. O&R serves Orange, Rockland and Sullivan Counties in New York and Rockland Electric, the smaller service area in Northern New Jersey. Like Con Edison of New York, we are also fortifying our grid to meet the growing demands of our customers, increase reliability and mitigate the risk of extreme weather. In March, the New York State Public Service Commission approved the Orange & Rockland joint proposal for new electric and gas rate plans. The new investment plans focus on the ongoing development of O&R's clean and resilient energy projects, additional storm hardening programs and the continuation of the company's energy affordability programs. Additionally, our June filing for new rates at Rockland Electric, our first since May of 2021, includes many investments such as a $7.6 million project to underground 14,200 feet of overhead lines to improve reliability in the territory. Being outside the dense urban environment of New York City, we are seeing growth in demand from data centers as well as electrification from heating and transportation. As is the case of CECONY, that dictates the need for new substations. We are with the threshold of the most robust infrastructure cycle in our recent history. Between now and 2034, we forecast the need for 13 new substations to meet growing demand for electricity. Our plans also include upgrades to existing infrastructure. O&R is building today to be ready for the future. And in 2024, we will bring -- we brought on 2 new substations online, the Lovett substation in Stony Point, a project over 10 years in the making, now enables us to provide even more reliable and resilient electric service to around 50,000 customers in Rockland County. Similarly, the Blooming Grove substation helps us to continue delivering dependable electric service to over 6,000 customers and offers future capacity to support local growth. Rockland Electric has pledged to invest $55 million between 2025 and 2027 in clean energy programs that align with New Jersey's goals and support energy affordability. We use the findings of our science-based climate studies to develop new and upgrade existing infrastructure. Our industry-leading studies, which includes follow-up to our initial study completed in 2019 in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, we're done in partnership with Columbia University in New York State. These more recent studies show more severe climate impacts to our service area by 2050 than our initial study. The findings show that Con Edison service areas will experience rising temperatures and increasingly frequent intense heat waves. By 2030, New York will experience up to 17 days a year with temperatures reaching 95 degrees, an estimate previously not expected until 2040. Historically, we have only had 4 days above 95 degrees. And by 2050, they will be up to 35 days reaching 95 degrees, where our initial study predicted a rise to 23 days by 2050. Heat waves of 3 straight days, above 90 degrees are expected to increase more than fourfold and sea levels will rise 16 inches by 2050, increasing the risk of flooding. As a reference point, since 1992, sea levels have risen approximately 5 inches. By 2050, New York is expected to experience 5 days a year with rain exceeding 2 inches compared to the historical norm of 3 days per year. More intense storms will carry stronger wind gusts with the maximum annual wind speed in New York City, increasing up to 60 miles per hour in the next 10 to 15 years, and that compares to approximately 50 miles per hour historically. There is potential for events with ice building on overhead lines to increase in intensity in the winter months. These projections show the annual radial icing in New York City could total 1 inch in 2040 compared to 0.2 inches in 2025. And hurricanes will be more intense and more likely to track toward the Northeast. Informed by these climate studies, Con Edison of New York and O&R submitted climate change resiliency plans to our regulators, providing a road map of infrastructure investments to prepare for future climate impacts. Our plans build on more than $1 billion in post-Sandy storm hardening investments that we have made, which have helped avoid nearly 1.2 million outages. We proposed further investments over the next 20 years to strengthen the electric system against these climate threats. In December 2024, the New York State Public Service Commission approved with modifications or resiliency plans. CECONY has proposed $645 million over 5 years, which is subject to approval by the PSC and our regular rate case proceedings. The PSC asked us to do more studies on wind and ice, which are also expected to increase in the next 10 to 15 years. Similarly, O&R's plan to invest roughly $184 million over 5 years in resiliency projects. And some key elements of these plans include grid resilience, including hardening of our substation and enclosing key components, shoreline erosion reinforcement to reduce flooding and the deployment of distribution automation devices to isolate circuit faults and reduce the number of customers impacted by severe weather. The plans also include storm hardening measures, including undergrounding of select overhead lines and enhancing overhead lines with reinforced cabling systems to mitigate exposure to tree contact. Focusing now on the customer, increasing customer demand is driving much of our investment plan. I'll turn now to Vicki Kuo, Senior Vice President of Customer Energy Solutions, who will share how we're working with customers to meet their needs for clean energy solutions and manage bill impacts.

Thank you, Michele. Throughout our service territories, customers are participating in our energy efficiency and building electrification programs. From 2020 to 2024, CECONY completed more than 74,000 energy efficiency and building electrification projects. In the short period of time, the portfolio has evolved from predominantly lighting technologies to heat pump additions accounting for more than 50% of those projects. These programs have historically been driven in large part by our residential and multifamily customers. However, we're starting to see more commercial buildings participate in these programs as city and state emissions reduction laws for buildings go into effect. As a result, we're seeing a new paradigm in construction in our service area. Existing buildings are installing electric vehicle chargers and new buildings are opting to go all or nearly all electric. This 44-story rental building is the first all-electric residential tower in New York City and is one of several all-electric buildings under construction in downtown Brooklyn. The fully electric boiler for hot water production and all-electric heating and cooling systems are powered by 3.4 megawatts of locally sourced renewable community solar to ensure carbon-neutral operation all year long. These buildings were constructed as passive houses. A European energy efficiency standard that involves an airtight building envelope and a lot of installation. The resulting construction consumes a fraction of electricity to similar buildings. This fall, JPMorgan Chase is scheduled to open its new corporate headquarters, reflecting the growing need for healthy and sustainable buildings. The 1,388 foot 60-story skyscraper is Manhattan's first all-electric tower with net-zero operational emissions. This building is emblematic of the approaching shift from summer peaking electric service to winter peaking. We're also seeing the shift to electricity in large multi-use projects in our service area. The all-electric Willets Point project will create 2,500 new affordable homes. The largest 100% affordable new construction housing project in New York City in decades. The plan will also bring New York City's first soccer stadium along with public open space, a hotel and neighborhood serving ground floor retail shops. Two all-electric residential towers reaching 37 and 20 storey along Brooklyn's Greenpoint waterfront will utilize geothermal technology. Upon completion in 2026, 1 Java Street with 834 rental units will be the largest residential geothermal building in New York State and among the largest geothermal residential buildings in the U.S. The project's vertical closed-loop geoexchange system will reduce annual carbon emissions by 53% compared to typical residential systems. In the East New York section of Brooklyn, Alafia is a wellness-focused, mixed-use development project that is part of New York State's Vital Brooklyn initiative and aims to address long-standing social, economic and health disparities in underserved communities. We're working with the developer to maximize energy efficiency in the building. A state-of-the-art wastewater energy recovery system that captures and reduces thermal energy already in the building is one of several efficiency measures. The wastewater heat recovery technology can recover 90% of the domestic hot water thermal energy, which would have otherwise been lost as waste heat. Installation of EV chargers is a key piece of this new paradigm shaping construction and low growth in our service area. Existing homes and commercial buildings are installing charges as well. To give you a better idea of how this driving demand, let me put the impact of EV chargers into perspective. One fast charger is the equivalent load of a 50-unit apartment building or 10 Level 2 chargers is also the equivalent of a 50-unit apartment building assuming their power level is about 1/10 of the fast charger. The short lead time developers need to install charges, coupled with the demands of these devices have on our grid has called for a new thinking about the planning process at the New York State Public Service Commission level. At the urging of the state's utilities, last year, the commission initiated a proactive planning process to enable us to build infrastructure in anticipation of fleet conversions to electric vehicles. 5 of our 9 proposed urgent projects were approved, totaling a roughly $440 million in infrastructure investment. Proactive planning dovetails with our e-mobility initiatives. Since 2020, CECONY and O&R have been deploying incentives to support growing electrical -- to support growing vehicle electrification. We're currently deploying from collective authorization of over $1 billion across our PowerReady, SmartCharge and demonstration programs. These programs provide incentives to support the build-out of EV charging infrastructure and great beneficial charging behavior. PowerReady programs target light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles. These incentives help to offset the electrical infrastructure cost that customers face when installing chargers. We also have a program to support safe micro mobility charging infrastructure, for example, battery charging solutions for e-bikes. The SmartCharge program supports the integration of EV charging with incentives for managed charging and load management technology. This can help us manage the impact of EV charging demand on the grid and provide operating cost relief for customers who are electrifying their vehicles. Through our e-mobility programs, we also provide customers, education and support. Interested customers can receive pre-application guidance on potential charging sites. On the R&D side, CECONY has 3 active demo projects on transportation electrification. Curbside or street parking charging demo with the New York City Department of Transportation, demo testing cost-effective EV charging stations for fleets and school bus vehicle to grid integration demonstration. We work with third parties to spur the installation of EV chargers. Through our collaboration with the developer in NewTech Energy, our PowerReady program, and SmartCharge program incentivize the installation of 424 new Level 2 chargers in a mixed-use building in Flushing, Queens, making a New York state's largest public EV charging installation to date. Increasing access to public charging infrastructure in this New York State designated disadvantaged community helps drive adoption, improve the air quality and community health and supports the state's climate goals. Another productive partnership has been with EV fast charging company, Revel. We've been working with them since 2020 through the PowerReady program to energize a total of 7 sites with 111 fast charging plugs including a 24-plus fast charging site at JFK Airport. This project is particularly significant because the charging sites at and around JFK are some of the highest utilized sites in the country. The growing availability of EV charging helps encourage customers to adopt emission-free transportation. In turn, third-party developers are interested in building charging stations in our service area. O&R's PowerReady program offers incentives that covers up to 100% of the electric infrastructure cost for installing EV chargers. A recent project, O&R's largest, installed 120 Level 2 chargers at the Gardens at Palisades Condominium complex in Pomona, New York. O&R plans to energize an additional 754 contracted Level 2 chargers by 2026 across various locations, including in disadvantaged communities. Once EV chargers are energize, enrolling them in managed charging helps to ensure they're safe, reliable and affordable operations. Managed charging optimizes when and how EV charge to benefit both the driver and the grid. Today, at O&R, the number of participants enrolling O&R's managed charging program is equivalent to half of the registered in the company's territory. I've been telling you about investment in the electric side of our business, but we also serve gas customers in both CECONY and O&R. To discuss our approach to gas infrastructure, I introduce Mary Kelly, Senior Vice President of Gas Operations at Con Edison.

Thanks, Vicki. Tim underscored the lessons history teaches us, and that's particularly applicable to our gas business, which began over 200 years ago and which you've seen changes in fuel sourcing as well as competition across our commodities over the years. So we view the effects of our support for a clean energy economy is just another transition. It means reducing natural gas use and exploring new ways to use our existing resilient gas infrastructure to serve future needs. We see this transition as the beginning of an exciting new era for the business. If you consider that CECONY and O&R serve 1.2 million gas customers and 4 million electric customers, the implication is that there are nearly 3 million customers in our service territory being served by another gas distribution company, or that heat with another fossil fuel, of course, with the exception of the increasing number of customers who are opting for electricity. As these overlapping customers move off fossil fuels, the net effect on our companies is positive, customers electrifying their heating systems will become bigger users of the grid. We expect firm customer gas volume on our system to shrink as existing gas customers migrate to electricity and we've been saying throughout this presentation sometime around the mid-2040s, we expect to be a winter-peaking electric utility again. Both Con Edison and O&R have developed long-range gas strategies in support of New York State and city policies promoting electrification and reduced reliance on natural gas. Vicki illustrated the trend toward all-electric for new buildings in New York City, we're actively assisting customers in developing alternatives to natural gas while keeping safety and reliability top of mind. Our non-pipe alternatives program incentivizes customers to replace gas appliances with electric alternatives that includes developing utility thermal energy networks that provide district energy alternatives to natural gas. Our long-term plan continues to prioritize safety and reliability and identifies the need to continue to replace leak-prone gas main, helping to reduce methane emissions and enhancing safety. Under our plan, we are exploring low-carbon fuel alternatives like renewable natural gas and hydrogen. We're participating in demonstration projects to assess the viability of long-term storage for low-carbon fuels and their integration into our electric and steam generation assets. Earlier, Tim cited the wide-ranging age of the building stock in our service area and Matt highlighted the challenges of addressing customers that require a high level of intervention to electrify that may include expanding our steam business to provide lower carbon alternatives to natural gas heating. Our approach focuses on the customer as well as on our system. We offer incentives for building envelope improvements such as upgrading insulation and sealing air leaks to reduce gas use and to help customers save on their energy bills. We assist customers in replacing gas space heating and water heating appliances with high-efficiency electric appliances. Our non-pipe alternatives program provide incentives to customers to combine these measures to more efficiently electrify their fossil fuel end uses and disconnect from the gas system. Our non-pipe alternative program for main replacement is called Electric Advantage. This is an electrify everything all at once solution. We start by conducting a benefit cost analysis on gas mains and services that will need replacement. Program selection considers the number of customers, the length of main to be replaced and gas usage. Our objective is to invest in high-efficiency electric appliances instead of incurring the cost of gas main replacement. To be successful, this program requires customer-specific in-person outreach. Building electrification costs can be highly variable, and so the program is highly individualized. It's also critical to monitor the post-electrification customer experience. This work is both challenging and exciting. We cannot do it alone. We need to continue building our partnerships with customers, stakeholders and communities to enable the clean energy transition. While we pursue the transition, safety and reliability remain at the forefront of our efforts. We are installing revolutionary new natural gas detectors that we developed in partnership with our smart meter manufacturer and the maker of the detectors. They not only provide continuous methane monitoring and improved safety through early detection, but they use our AMI network to alert our gas emergency response center when a leak is detected. By the end of 2024, customers elected to have us install them on more than 70% of CECONY Gas services with more being installed every single day. O&R expects to be 40% complete by 2027 and 100% complete by 2030. The goal is to maintain our best-in-class response to gas leaks. In 2024, CECONY responded to 98.2% of reported gas leaks within 30 minutes, leading New York State once again. O&R reported an 88% response rate within 30 minutes, ranking third out of all New York State utilities in 2024. CECONY conducts mobile leak surveys for gas distribution mains while conducting walking surveys on gas distribution services annually in business districts and every 3 years in non-business districts. To discuss our steam operations and improving air quality through company emissions reductions, I introduce Steve Parisi, our Senior Vice President of Central Operations.

Thank you, Mary. Safety, reliability, quality of life, these are indeed behind much of what we do day-to-day at Con Edison. We have been reducing our greenhouse gas emissions for over 20 years, realizing a 55% reduction since 2005. We are aiming for net-zero direct or Scope 1 emissions for electric cogeneration from our steam system by 2040. We have also set our sights on achieving an 85% reduction in fugitive methane emissions from our natural gas delivery system by 2040. Our building portfolio comprises approximately 4 million square feet of office space and service center locations. We are pursuing energy efficiency projects that will reduce our carbon footprint in our existing facilities. All newly constructed company-owned facilities will be 100% electric, including 2 new service centers and 1 operation center scheduled to begin construction by 2026. As Mary mentioned, we are taking steps to transition our steam operations to a carbon-neutral system. We serve approximately 1,500 customers in Manhattan, including many of the city's oldest and most iconic buildings, think Grand Central Station and the Empire State Building. Lowering emissions at the source, our steam production facilities is an economically sound solution to Local Law 97, which mandates 40% emission reductions by 2030 and net-zero by 2050 for buildings greater than 25,000 square feet. We recently filed a $332 million proposal with the New York State Public Service Commission to pursue 4 pilot programs to help transform our system. We are taking a varied approach that includes electric boilers, thermal energy storage, industrial heat pumps, digital optimization solutions and low-carbon fuel sources. We are committed to electrifying our light-duty fleet by 2035. Currently, we are about halfway there. We are also pursuing electrification of our medium and heavy-duty vehicles, including first of its kind, all-electric bucket truck already in use. Partnerships are going to be critical as we have seen in the case of EV chargers with Revel and in the pursuit of non-pipe alternatives. To talk about some of the partnerships we are cultivating, I introduce Bob Sanchez, President of Shared Services, Con Edison Company of New York.

Thank you, Steve. I want to begin with our customers and the ways that we're helping to make bills more affordable for them as we move through the energy transition. Energy efficiency helps our customers use less energy, which reduces customers' costs and emissions. Our energy efficiency programs provide our customers with information and financial incentives to help them use less energy and electrify their homes and buildings. Through these programs, we've provided customers with over $1.5 billion in incentives in the last 5 years and over $400 million in customer incentives are planned for this year and more opportunities are planned in the future. Nearly $93 million of the $1.5 billion, which more than 160,000 low-to-moderate income customers. As the focus to energy efficiency shifts from simple measures such as LEDs to more involved strategies like building envelope improvements, ground source heat pumps and waste heat recovery, we're also educating our customers, contractors, municipalities and real estate community about these offerings. We also partnered with local contractors to do the associated work. And at present, our network is nearly 300 contractors strong. Smart meters have played already -- excuse me, smart meters have already resulted in significant environmental, operational and customer benefits. Our largest utility investment to date, smart meters are projected to result in $3.2 billion in net savings over the life of the equipment. Smart meters provide both CECONY and O&R with insights into our outage restoration to help improve our response. Through the end of 2024, smart meters helped us avoid over 84,000 unnecessary truck rolls, eliminating tailpipe emissions and reducing restoration times. As previously mentioned, we worked with the manufacturers to develop methane detectors that use the smart meter communication network to alert our gas control center as well as alerting on-site customers allowing us to immediately dispatch crews to investigate. These innovative devices are now being adopted and deployed by utilities across the country. Smart meters also put controls into the hands of our customers. With our updated website and digital customer experience, customers can see their energy usage in near real time to make smarter, more informed decisions about their energy usage, controlling costs and helping the environment. We have partnerships throughout our supply chain that have proven especially valuable during the pandemic and through supply constraints brought on by the renewed growth in electric demand in the U.S. Our supply chain resiliency initiatives are designed to increase our supplier pool and mitigate supplier risk and each of our new vendors undergoes a third-party risk assessment. Other strategies include expanding our vendor base, leveraging existing partnerships, securing long-term agreements with key suppliers and building enhanced inventory capabilities. To better respond to outages, we've increased the number of emergency retainer contracts. We've also created an emergency stockpile of equipment materials above and beyond the normal inventory levels that are used, and this will be reserved for emergencies. We uphold strict ethical standards for our suppliers requiring adherence to our vendor standards of business conduct and statement on human rights. In 2024, more than half of our vendors completed our sustainability due diligence process, demonstrating alignment with our values on environmental responsibility, fair labor practices and human rights. Through responsible sourcing, supplier accountability and continuous innovation, we remain committed to driving sustainable, inclusive and resilient supply chain. We also partner with stakeholders through the grassroot community engagement. And to tell you more about this effort, I introduce Venetia Lannon, Vice President of Environmental Health and Safety at Con Edison & Company of New York.

Thank you, Bob. By working with our communities, we aim to minimize our environmental impact for the benefit of our broad array of stakeholders. A big part of that is our commitment to promoting and supporting biodiversity in our region. We've set an ambitious goal of focusing on improving biodiversity on our properties and in the design of our facilities and by strengthening ecological resilience and reducing our impact on local ecosystems. We are working with local researchers to create a biodiversity baseline assessment on our 6,000 acres of transmission right of way. Future research will build on these findings to explore ways to improve vegetation management, protect and enhance pollinator habitat, regulate the growth of invasive species and increase biodiversity where we can. Over the next 5 years, we plan to create a mitigation hierarchy to help our project designers prioritize impact avoidance, mitigation and biodiversity enhancement activities at our project sites, incorporate nature-based "living shorelines" in select waterfront construction projects and establish more native habitat enhancements, improving water and carbon sequestration by removing conventional lawns and replacing them with wildflower meadows at our facilities, including our urban unit substation sites. Improving the sustainability of our communities also means reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. SF6 is one of the most potent greenhouse gases and is primarily released by electric power transmission and distribution equipment. We've reduced our SF6 emissions from their baseline 96 -- by over 98% and are committed to doing more. We established a 5-year plan at the start of 2020 to reduce our target SF6 emissions by 500 pounds annually. This rate exceeds the 5% annual target established in 1999 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. We've achieved our targeted reduction plan every year since 2020. Since there are currently no direct replacement gases for SF6, we are researching alternatives. We're exploring SF6-free breakers with the Electric Power Research Institute. The focus is on accelerating the reliability of 3 new SF6-free breakers under varying system conditions and temperatures. We kicked off the research last year and expect to complete the testing by the end of 2026. Finally, I want to discuss our strategic partnerships with the communities we serve. Since 2022, our charitable giving has nearly doubled, increasing from $12 million in 2022 to an anticipated $23 million in 2025. With a focus on supporting New York State's clean energy goals, our community investments help address adaptation and mitigation against extreme weather, improved community resiliency and increased access to green jobs. The programs we support will foster a new generation of worker by providing access to education, skill training, hiring and career advancement. We're preparing more New Yorkers for well-paying jobs in emerging and in-demand industries, including clean energy and technology. Through Con Edison's matching gift program, we support causes that our employees care about. When employees contribute to local nonprofit organizations, we offer a company match. In 2024, the company matched more than 400,000 to benefit communities in our service territory. While our primary job is to keep energy flowing, our people do much more on their own time. Through volunteerism, our people power the communities where they live and work. In 2024, more than 300 Con Edison employees dedicated 2,500 hours of their own time to nonprofit organizations across our service territory. All of our work that we have presented here today is made possible by Con Edison's strong financial underpinnings. Steering that financial strength is our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Kirk Andrews.

Thank you, Venetia. As you heard throughout Con Edison is focused on building and maintaining safe, reliable regulated energy infrastructure to support New York's ambitious clean energy goals and meet our customers' energy demands. As we approach our responsibilities with sharp focus on customer affordability, here you see the electric bill for a typical residential customer using 280-kilowatt hours per month. The bill is comprised of 3 major components: supply charges, delivery and taxes. The supply charge is a pass-through. We do not generate the power that is delivered to our customers, except for the small amount that is produced as a byproduct from our steam system. The energy suppliers charge us for the power and gas we deliver to our customers and we collect that charge from customers on behalf of the supplier. Next, the delivery charge includes the cost to build, maintain and operate our infrastructure and is based on the amount of energy our customers use. Each customer pays their share of what it takes for us to deliver safe and reliable energy. Our robust energy efficiency programs enable customers to use less commodity supply. That is good for the overall bill and good for air quality. On the delivery side of the bill, cost optimization initiatives help us manage costs. For instance, our smart meter deployment will achieve $3.2 billion in net savings over the life of those meters. Lastly, our taxes. In addition to the fees and local state and federal taxes customers see on the bill, there are also local taxes on the energy infrastructure to deliver our services to customers. These local taxes on energy infrastructure, property taxes are not listed separately on a customer bill, but account for about 27% of the electric revenue increase and 14.5% of the gas revenue increase in Con Edison Company of New York's current rate request. In 2026, we expect our customers will pay more than $3.2 billion in local property taxes on energy infrastructure in their bill. This money goes to the local general fund to pay for things like police or teachers. We continue to work with policymakers to use a portion of these property taxes to reduce customer bills. Managing perhaps the world's most sophisticated machine under the streets of New York City is a costly endeavor. But from an affordability perspective, looking at the average annual residential bill as a percentage of median annual income, New York State is better positioned than many other states. Customer electricity rates at CECONY are high in terms of unit cost expressed as cost per kilowatt hour when compared to the national average. This aligns with electric rates tending to be above national average in coastal states and the Northeast, but rates don't tell the full story. Given lower than peer average consumption, total customer bills are below average for CECONY. In fact, average usage at CECONY is among the lowest in the country, driven by typical apartment sizes in the city. For O&R, not broken out here, the same approach brings us to within $15 of the peer average bill and better affordability than peer average on a percentage of income basis. Our robust energy efficiency programs also give customers incentives to use less energy. In 2024, CECONY's energy efficiency program supported customer upgrades that reduced electrical usage by 184,000 megawatt hours and saved 3.7 million dekatherms of gas. For perspective, that is more electricity than total residential use in the city of Palo Alto, California in 2024. Additionally, last year, O&R reduced electrical usage by nearly 100,000 megawatt hours and saved over 145,000 dekatherms of gas. Cost cautiousness figures into how we plan and manage our day-to-day operations. Non-wires and non-pipe alternatives that implement clean energy solutions enable us to avoid costly infrastructure investments and continued deployment of sensors and integration of predictive algorithms on underground equipment provide early detection of issues before they become costly problems. In New York State, customers in our energy affordability programs receive assistance that caps their energy bills at 6% of income. We have approximately 459,000 customers enrolled in these programs or about 14% of our combined customer base. In 2024, we provided $333 million of assistance to these customers who can least afford higher bills. CECONY has requested more funding for the energy affordability program and its current investment plan that is subject to approval by the New York State Public Service Commission. Additionally, this past July, the New York Public Service Commission issued in order to expand the energy affordability program to provide bill discounts to income qualified low and moderate income residential customers who are not previously eligible. As you've heard throughout, Con Edison is focused on building and maintaining safe, reliable regulated energy infrastructure to support New York's ambitious clean energy goals. Maintaining our financial strength is essential to our continued success. The New York regulatory environment where we predominantly operate generally provides reconciliation of major costs like pension and property taxes, a formulaic approach to return on equity, current recovery of the investments necessary to maintain safe, reliable and resilient system and in recent years, a degree of revenue certainty through revenue decoupling and weather normalization at our New York utilities. While we are delivering energy to customers, we are also partnering with our peer utilities in the state to provide transmission solutions that complement the state's focus on reliability. Con Edison Transmission is an equity partner in New York Transco, which has completed the New York Energy Solutions project in Upstate New York and is now embarking on the $3.2 billion Propel New York project to upgrade the transmission system on Long Island. Con Edison Transmission has a 41.7% equity ownership in that project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2030. We have built a track record of increased dividends through 6 recessions. What goes into building a track record like this? Ability over time to integrate our core values of safety, reliability and customer focus with long-term shareholder value. Sound governance and management practices as well as strong succession planning, sound financial management that provides a simplified balance sheet and the New York regulatory environment. Our continued focus on shareholder value is the reason for 51 straight years of dividend increases. We have built a simplified business model with straightforward financials. We have, for instance, no long-term holding company debt. Our disciplined investment strategy, operational excellence continue to deliver sustainable value for customers, communities and shareholders. This does not happen without financial discipline, executing on plan and overcoming challenges throughout our 200-year history, and we're poised to take on this next phase of the new energy future. With that, I'll turn it back over to Tim for closing remarks and to take questions.

Thanks, Kirk, and thank you all. Our Board of Directors has a strong set of skills, background, leadership, experience and perspectives to guide and oversee our business. We leverage their knowledge to improve our operations, incorporate best practices and help us grow. The Board's wide variety of perspectives and viewpoints best serves both the stewardship of the company and long-term interest of shareholders. Our 15,000-plus employees are at the center of everything we do. And as we face this transition in energy delivery, we continue to train and develop the workforce to meet that challenge. Our people and culture strategy is designed to offer opportunities to all current and potential employees and establish the foundation for an environment where everyone feels valued and respected. We focus on merit-based recruitment, continuous learning, professional development and advancement and providing equal access to training, mentorship and resources for career growth. By fostering an environment where all individuals contributions are valued, we're able to fully tap into the variety of experience, skills, backgrounds and perspectives of our team. These practices not only create a workplace where everyone can thrive but also enhance our bottom line by leveraging a wide range of talent and ideas for better business outcomes. Devising ways to improve the delivery of energy safely and reliably and enhancing the customer experience, that's been our hallmark for our very long history. As you heard again and again, we were a winter peaking utility up until 1957. And sometime in the mid 2040s, we'll transition back to a winter peaking utility. Throughout our history, we faced the changing landscape with the work ethos that integrates long-range planning with a focus on safety, reliability and improving the quality of life in our communities. The future for Con Edison is bright and exciting as we work to meet the needs of our service area, our customers and our shareholders. We'll invest prudently and strategically to maintain our world-class reliability, enhanced safety and help enable New York's growth as the state and city move toward their clean energy goals. And we'll maintain our focus on making the transition affordable, especially for the region's most vulnerable populations. We have a rich history from which to draw lessons and a wonderfully skilled and imaginative workforce to succeed in our mission. Thank you all for joining us. I'd be happy to take any questions.

The first question reads as follows. The New York's independent system operator expects winter peak in the mid-2030s, earlier than the mid 2040 stated. Is Con Edison's view different?

Thanks for the question, Jan. I appreciate it. So a little bit of context. We are really focused on reliability. You saw that earlier in the deck. And a key component of that is to ensure we have capacity on the system to meet rising demand. We worked very closely with the New York ISO, the New York Independent System Operator, near-term, mid-term and long-term plans. The NYISO's load forecasting really looks at a state-wide basis. And right now, they're saying early to mid-2040s -- we are saying early mid-2040s. They're saying more in the '30s. A lot of that has to do with forecasted adoption rates of things like electrification of heating and various usage patterns. So the big picture is we will move from a summer peaking state and CECONY [indiscernible] region to a winter peaking. And we're going to have to continue to evaluate forecast update as the trends continue. It's a dynamic world out there in our space. And so we'll need to stay close to it, ensuring we have the capacity to meet the demand when it comes in.

Great. Next question. There has been an accelerated funding in the innovation of hydrogen that will have an impact on our steam system as demonstrated in our steam long-range plan. Are we planning to incorporate hydrogen as one of our services as we push for utility ownership and development of new renewables?

A lot there, Jan. So maybe I'll take it in two parts. First, I'll cover utility ownership of large-scale renewables and currently is a proceeding where our regulator is considering such ownership. The short context is our regulator took a look at progress toward the very aggressive New York state goals of 70% renewable by 2030 and recognize that we're not on pace to achieve that goal. And one of the alternatives being considered is to allow utilities to own some of those renewables. We think we're ideally positioned for that. We know the energy space and we build and deliver on large infrastructure projects. So we've got the skills and expertise. When we do the analysis, we think we can deliver that renewables in a cost-effective way for our customers and it will really help New York State close the gap and achieve their very ambitious renewable goals. So that proceeding is happening now. We are all in and feel like we're well positioned from all of those fronts for all of the stakeholders. I'll switch gears to a minute to hydrogen. And we had mentioned it in our steam long range plan, and it can be, over time, a potential component in reducing carbon emissions from steam production if we include it in our fuel mix. Right now, we're very focused on electric boilers and heat pumps and maybe renewable natural gas as the primary source is to decarbonize but we'll continue to look at and potentially pilot hydrogen as it develops into a more firm alternative moving forward.

Great. The next question. When mentioning our net-zero or reduction goals, why do we specifically mention Scope 1? To be truly net-zero, shouldn't we have goals for Scope 3 emissions as well?

Really great question. So we do have a very specific goal for Scope 1, and those are the emissions that are directly attributed to our operations, think steam production and our fleet. We've got direct control over those things, and we're really going to focus and exercise that control as we move out over the next few decades. We are doing a lot of work to focus and help our customers on Scope 3 and to a certain extent, Scope 2 as well. Vicki covered a lot of those initiatives. Energy efficiency, we have broad programs there where we invest lots of dollars and expertise in helping customers use less energy. We're encouraging electrification of heating and transportation so that customers can reduce their carbon emissions. So while the goal is explicit on Scope 1 because we've got sort of the full control over that, we are doing a lot to influence the behavior of our customers, recognizing that we want to get all the carbon emissions down.

Great. Next question goes back to utility ownership of renewables. You talked about the potential for regulated utilities owning generation in the state. What might that look like? Would it be solar, storage, gas or nuclear? And when might that actually happen in terms of decisions, spending and potential in-service dates?

Yes. So right now, Jan, we are focused really on land-based solar, of course, land-based and wind and we're working on comments with the joint utilities to sort of put forth our plan in that space. The proceeding that I mentioned earlier runs its course, and we believe we're going to hear something about this. The next milestone might be May of '26. And so think solar and land-based wind throughout the state, helping to achieve New York state goals. New York state needs lots of renewables moving forward to achieve these ambitious goals. Right now, the goal is 70% renewable by 2030. And we're at about 30% now, Jan, and the second goal is emissions-free by 2040. So we'll run past 2030 with still much work to do. So we expect to hear more in that proceeding in May of '26.

Great. Next question. You highlighted usage of a 7.5-megawatt battery energy storage system out in Fox Hills, in Staten Island. The questionnaire says, congratulations on that. Can you describe Con Edison's plans for developing more distributed scale utility-owned battery energy storage systems that support grid reliability. In addition, utility-owned renewable generation, which you just talked about.

Yes. So I've covered renewable generation. On battery storage, we see it in the right places as a great tool for the grid. It can help balance load. And effectively, if the peak demand is not there on the overnight, which it typically isn't, we can charge the batteries up and release them during the day, during the peak. And Staten Island really helped us this last summer, a fair amount of solar -- rooftop solar in Staten Island. So that augmentation at our substation really helped us get through in a cost-effective way. There are a number of state proceedings that look to engage developers in storage, and we're actively engaged Vicki Kuo's team in particular. And so I see more storage coming on. The state has very ambitious goals in the storage space. And for us, as we work through it, we just want to make sure that the storage is situated in a place that is beneficial to the grid and so strategically placing that is really important and we're working with developers now on that.

Tim, that looks like the end of the questions.

Jan, thank you, and thanks all who listened in. Hopefully, you got something out of it. We appreciate your attention to us and to these issues. Have a wonderful day.