Press Release

Phase two of the Retail Choice Program offered by Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc. (Con Edison) attracted nearly 22,000 customers, according to enrollment figures at the end of the sign-up period, which recently concluded.

Con Edison officials report that the target goal of 2,000 megawatts of electricity supplied by energy services companies (ESCOs) for the first two phases of the program was reached during the enrollment period, which was open since January 4 to small and large commercial customers, as well as residential electric customers.

"We’ve seen a steady stream of interest from our customers in this program since we opened the enrollment," said Marilyn Caselli, Con Edison vice president, customer operations. "During phase two, we continued to notice a broad interest in the program from every segment of our customer profile," she added.

Con Edison will continue to accept small customers into the program on an ongoing basis and encourages small customers who are interested in participating in the Retail Choice Program to contact energy service companies serving Con Edison customers in order to enroll. The names and phone numbers of the participating ESCOs can be obtained by calling the Competition Line at 1-800-780-2884.

The new enrollments for phase two include nearly 16,000 small customers, bringing residential, religious and small commercial customer participation in both phases up to about 59,000 customers. There are now more than 68,000 Con Edison customers from all customer classes enrolled in the Retail Choice Program.

Retail Choice was first introduced into Con Edison’s electricity market last year. The program offers customers the opportunity to select an alternate electricity supplier from among ESCOs currently registered with the New York State Public Service Commission. A total of 31 ESCOs signed agreements to participate in phase two of the program, with 15 of them actively enrolling customers.

Retail Choice will be completely phased in over the next several years, making the company’s entire electric load available to alternate suppliers by no later than year-end 2001. Con Edison will continue to deliver the electricity to all customers over its transmission and distribution networks.

Con Edison is one of the nation’s largest utility companies, with more than $7 billion in annual revenues and approximately $14 billion in assets. The company, a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison Inc., provides electric, gas and steam service to more than three million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York.