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Spring Season Means: Stay Safe and Call 8-1-1 Before You Dig

  • Con Edison Media Relations

  • New York – April 24, 2018 -- 01:00 PM

Violators Face Fines and Repair Costs

Con Edison reminds contractors and anyone else starting a digging or excavation project to protect everyone’s safety by following state law and dialing 8-1-1 before you dig.

The 2018 planting and warm-weather season is here and excavation work could range from landscaping, underground swimming pool installations, to deck and patio construction.

A customer is carefully digging in a spring garden.

“It’s vital to call 8-1-1 before you dig,” said Peter Corredor, Con Edison Senior Specialist in the Construction-Facilities Protection Group. “That way, you will make sure utility representatives can identify the facilities they own and operate and the dig does not strike any underground gas lines, electric cables and other utility infrastructures.”

He added that the “Call 8-1-1 Before You Dig” program sends a technician to the location to mark and identify utility-owned lines with stakes, flags, or paint to clearly mark areas to avoid. “It’s simple, fast, free and it’s the law,” he said.

Excavators who damage underground facilities because they did not follow the 8-1-1 regulations are subject to hefty fines and repair costs.

Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. [NYSE: ED], one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues and $48 billion in assets. The utility provides electric, gas and steam service to more than three million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York.