Consolidated Edison

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Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE: ED), also referred to as ConEdison or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States. Con Edison's principal business segments are Consolidated Edison Company of New York's regulated electric, gas and steam utility activities, Orange & Rockland Utilities' (O&R) regulated electric and gas utility activities, and Con Edison's "competitive energy businesses," which "include the operation of electric generation facilities, trading of electricity and fuel, sales of electricity to wholesale and retail customers, and sales of certain energy-related goods and services."[1]

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

Consolidated Edison, Inc. has been a corporate funder of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It became a corporate member of ALEC in 1979[2]. See ALEC Corporations for more.

About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

Negative tax rate

A 2011 analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, "Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers: 2008-10" found dozens of companies, including fossil fuels, used tax breaks and various tax dodging methods to have a negative tax balance between 2008 and 2010, while making billions in profits. The study found 32 companies in the fossil-fuel industry -- such as Peabody Energy, ConEd, and PG&E -- transformed a tax responsibility of $17.3 billion on $49.4 billion in pretax profits into a tax benefit of $6.5 billion, for a net gain of $24 billion.[3]

The companies that paid no tax for at least one year between 2008 and 2010 are the utilities Ameren, American Electric Power, CenterPoint Energy, CMS Energy, Consolidated Edison, DTE Energy, Duke Energy, Entergy, FirstEnergy, Integrys, NextEra Energy, NiSource, Pepco, PG&E, PPL, Progress Energy, Sempra Energy, Wisconsin Energy and Xcel Energy.[4]

In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign released a report criticizing ConEd for spending $1.8 million on lobbying and not paying any taxes during 2008-2010, instead getting $127 million in tax rebates, despite making a profit of $4.2 billion, and increasing executive pay by 82% to $17.4 million in 2010 for its top 5 executives.[5]

Lobbying

From 2008 to 2010, ConEd spent $1.8 million in lobbying.[6]

Corporate leadership

  • Kevin Burke, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
  • Craig S. Ivey, President
  • Robert Hoglund, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
  • Carole Sobin, Secretary
  • Robert Muccilo, Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer
  • Scott L. Sanders, Vice President and Treasurer
  • Elizabeth D. Moore, General Counsel

Board

Accessed June 2013: [7]

Contact

Web: http://www.conedison.com

Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch

Articles and resources

References

  1. "Consolidated Edison: Corporate Profile" Consolidated Edison Website, accessed January 2012.
  2. Kathleen Teague, Executive Director, American Legislative Exchange Council, Letter to Raymond Oliverio, Tobacco Institute, stating "Some of the major donors we have added this year are : Marathon Oil Company, the Spencer Olin Foundation, Cities Services Company, the Eli Lilly Company, Boise Cascade, Chevron USA, the John Olin Foundation, Ashland Oil, Perry Homes, Consolidated Edison of Illinois, Mountain Bell, the Illinois Manufacturers Association, Western Savings and Loan Association, the Noble Pbundation, the Champion Spark Plug Company, Allstate Insurance and the Williams Companies," December 28, 1979, archived in the Tobacco Library, accessed April 2012
  3. Brad Johnson, "Corporate Welfare For Energy Companies Means We Paid $24 Billion In Taxes To Them," Think Progress, Nov. 7, 2011.
  4. Robert S. McIntyre, Matthew Gardner, Rebecca J. Wilkins, Richard Phillips, "Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers: 2008-10" Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, November 2011 Report.
  5. Portero, Ashley. 30 Major U.S. Corporations Paid More to Lobby Congress Than Income Taxes, 2008-2010. International Business Times. Archived from the original on 26 December 2011. Retrieved on 26 December 2011.
  6. Public Interest Research Group and Citizens for Tax Justice, "Representation Without Taxation: Fortune 500 Companies that Spend Big on Lobbying and Avoid Taxes," Public Interest Research Group and Citizens for Tax Justice, January 2012 Report
  7. Con Edison New York Board, organizational web page, accessed June 1, 2013.

Related SourceWatch articles

References

Wikipedia also has an article on Consolidated Edison. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.