Press Release

NEW YORK, May 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., (Con Edison) announced today that three of the company's organizations have been certified by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for the ISO 14000 series certification of the prestigious International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Certification with the ISO, based in Geneva, Switzerland, verifies that a company has a comprehensive environmental management system in place that is being properly implemented and that meets strict international standards.

Con Edison's Environment, Health and Safety program, its Gas Operations organization, and its Steam Distribution operation join the company's Transportation and Stores group, which received ISO 14000 series certification in 1998. The company's Environment, Health and Safety program is the first corporate environmental department in the country to receive such certification.

"This recognition is the result of years of hard work and attention to detail at every level of the company. Con Edison can be justly proud of the environmental, health and safety performance we have achieved," said M. Peter Lanahan, vice president of environment, health and safety for Con Edison.

Over the past several years, Con Edison has successfully improved its environmental performance by dramatically reducing chemical releases, dielectric fluid leakage from high pressure feeders, opacity (smoke) events, and other environmental incidents.

"We are proud of the progress we have made toward environmental excellence in recent years, and we intend to continuously improve our performance by setting stringent goals for ourselves," added Lanahan.

To help meet those goals, Con Edison has adopted an environmental policy that calls for going beyond compliance to achieve environmental excellence. With this objective in mind, the company has placed trained and responsible environmental managers in every operating organization in the company and has also developed a complete staff of subject-matter experts, covering every aspect of environmental performance and compliance. In addition, Con Edison employees are expected to be knowledgeable about the corporate environmental, health and safety requirements that apply to their assigned responsibilities, and to use this information in planning and completing their work.

The certification for ISO 14000 series was granted by ANSI after an intensive two-part audit by an accredited third-party registrar, which documented Con Edison's commitment to sound environmental policy and practice.

Certification requires an environmental policy that identifies major environmental concerns and verifies that operational controls for those concerns are in place. In addition, the criteria call for target objectives, top-management commitment, training programs, and a rigorous self-audit and corrective-action program.

Con Edison is one of the nation's largest utility companies, with approximately $7 billion in annual revenues and approximately $14 billion in assets. The company, a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE: ED), provides electric, gas and steam service to more than three million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York. For additional financial, operations and customer service information, visit Con Edison's web site at www.coned.com. SOURCE Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.

CONTACT: Joseph Petta of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., 212-460-4111/