Con Edison Development history

The newly formed Edison Electric Illuminating applied for and received its license--apparently with the help of liberal payments to New York's open-handed city government--and at 3 p.m. on September 4, 1881, current began to flow from the generators at 255-57 Pearl Street in lower Manhattan.

Although the latter had come under the managing direction of Edison's group in an 1884 proxy fight, its largest block was controlled by the interests of J.P. Morgan.

Consolidated Gas bought NYG&ELH&P in 1899, when Consolidated Gas decided to use its superior financial might to overcome a growing technological gap by buying up as many electricity companies as it could.

1901: The company merges with Edison's Illuminating Company to create the New York Edison Company.

The power of the legislature to fix rates of return for utilities was tested in a landmark court case arising out of its 1906 attempt to limit Consolidated Gas's price for its gas to 80 cents per 1,000 cubic feet.

1936: Consolidated Edison Company of New York is created from the combined holdings of New York Edison.

In 1955 Con Ed was among the first utilities to apply for permission from the Atomic Energy Commission to build and operate a private atomic power plant.

Charles Luce's decision to sell off two of the company's plants in 1974 made possible a renaissance at Con Ed.

Haupsburg retired in September 1990 without having had to request a single electric rate increase.

In 1992 Con Ed requested, and received, a rate hike, the first in almost ten years.

In 1997 the first phase of a five-year process of deregulation began, allowing some commercial and residential customers to choose their power supplier.

1999: Con Ed sells its generating plants for $1.65 billion and buys Orange & Rockland Utilities, Inc., for $790 million.

After numerous talks with regulators and consumer groups on how to divide the savings generated by the merger, the deal fell through in 2001.