Invisible — outside city budget data
The Civic Issue
110,000 customers lost power during a June 2025 heat wave. 40% of NYC's underground electrical infrastructure predates 1941. ConEd is a private utility regulated by the state Public Service Commission — the city has limited leverage over grid investments. Outages disproportionately affect low-income neighborhoods and endanger elderly and medically vulnerable residents.
Headline Spending
$1.15B
identifiable in budget
Budget Lines (Adopted)
$1.13B
9 lines
Vendor Spending
$95.6M
1 vendor
| Line | Adopted | Spent |
|---|---|---|
INTRA CITY HEAT LIGHT AND POWER ENERGY MANAGEMENT - OTPS | $892.5M | $432.1M |
HEAT LIGHT AND POWER - HHC ENERGY MANAGEMENT - OTPS | $107.4M | $59.6M |
HEAT LIGHT AND POWER - CITY FUNDS ENERGY MANAGEMENT - OTPS | $26.5M | $16.1M |
Expense Retrofits - ExCEL ENERGY MANAGEMENT - OTPS | $52.1M | $2.8M |
Agency Energy Personnel ENERGY MANAGEMENT - OTPS | $9.7M | $1.7M |
Energy Efficiency Audits ENERGY MANAGEMENT - OTPS | $3.0M | $765.2K |
Clean Energy ENERGY MANAGEMENT - OTPS | $2.4M | -$1.5M |
Emergency Management PS DOEM - PS | $9.7M | $6.0M |
Support Services - COO DOEM - OTPS | $21.9M | $13.3M |
| CONSOLIDATED EDISON COMPANY OF NEW YORK INC (via DCAS) | $95.6M | 185 txns |
Total Identifiable Spending
$1.15B DCAS Energy Management (city's energy bills + efficiency programs) — but this is the city paying for electricity for its own buildings, not investing in grid infrastructure
DCAS Energy Management's $1.15B budget is the city's electricity/gas bill for all municipal buildings — schools, offices, hospitals, police precincts. ConEd alone received $95.6M from DCAS in FY2026. The city's energy efficiency programs (ExCEL retrofits $52M, energy audits $3M, clean energy $2.4M) reduce municipal energy demand but don't address the private grid. The Department of Emergency Management ($80.8M total) coordinates emergency response during outages but has no grid investment authority.
The power grid is owned and operated by Consolidated Edison (private, regulated by NYS PSC) and the Long Island Power Authority/PSEG for parts of the Rockaways. The city has no direct capital investment in the grid. ConEd's grid investment decisions, maintenance schedules, and reliability standards are set through state regulatory proceedings, not city budget processes. The city's leverage is limited to: (1) emergency response during outages (DOEM), (2) reducing city building energy load (DCAS), and (3) lobbying the PSC for stronger reliability standards. The $1.15B DCAS energy budget is consumption cost, not infrastructure investment.
Key Context
ConEd serves 3.4 million electric customers in NYC. The company spent $3.5B on infrastructure in 2023 alone — more than double the city's entire DCAS energy budget. NYC's power grid challenges are a state regulatory issue, not a city budget issue. The city's Climate Mobilization Act (Local Law 97) and building electrification mandates will increase grid demand, creating tension between climate goals and grid capacity. Mayor Adams has called for ConEd accountability after outages, but the city lacks direct budgetary or regulatory authority over the grid. DEP's "Hydro Electric OTPS" line ($1.85M) and "Co-Gen Power Plant" ($3.66M in DOE) are small city-owned power generation assets that operate independently of the ConEd grid.