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Con Edison Tree Trimming and Hazardous Tree Removal Programs are in Full Swing in Advance of Hurricane Season

NOAA Increases the Average Number of Named Storms Expected this Season to 14

Con Edison’s professional contractors are pruning limbs and removing dead, dying, and diseased, ‘hazardous’ trees close to its overhead power lines and equipment to help reduce storm-related damage that causes customers to lose power. Hurricane season officially begins on June 1.

Con Edison’s storm hardening work is conducted year-round.

This year the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is increasing the average number of named storms from 12 to 14 and hurricanes from six to seven. The average number of major hurricanes remain at three.

“With the vast majority of storm-related outages caused by downed trees and limbs, tree trimming and hazardous tree removal are an important part of hardening the grid,” said Patrick McHugh, vice president of Engineering and Planning. “Removing hazardous trees before they fall on power lines helps protect homeowners, the public, first responders and Con Edison crews.”

Crews have removed over 2,700 hazardous trees with the written permission of the homeowner or municipality, free-of-charge.

The tree trimming and hazardous tree removal programs are among the many resiliency projects Con Edison has undertaken to improve safety, reduce storm-related outages and the time it takes to make repairs caused by extreme weather events.

The company has adopted one of the most forward-looking approaches to system resiliency in the industry with its Climate Change Implementation Plan.

With about 37,000 miles of overhead distribution wires and 198,000 poles in the Con Edison service territory, tree trimming is an integral and ongoing effort to maintaining safe distances between overhead equipment and trees, branches, and limbs to help reduce storm-related outages.

In addition to the vegetation management program, Con Edison is helping homeowners and municipalities identify and remove hazardous trees located near power lines or other company equipment. Certified arborists have inspected over 3,900 trees and identified over 3,400 of them as imminent hazards.

Con Edison conducts storm hardening work year-round including installing miles of cables, and thousands of poles and switches. It also continues to improve storm response with more efficient communication with customers, via texts, emails and social media. A mobile app to report storm damage helps enhance site safety and reduce outage time.

Con Edison’s Climate Change Vulnerability Study provides an improved understanding of projected climate changes across the New York area — including increasing temperatures, heavier precipitation events, sea-level rise, and extreme weather — to identify system vulnerabilities, prioritize investments, and strengthen infrastructure. The company’s Climate Change Implementation Plan, is putting those findings into action. To hear more about Con Edison’s steps to counter climate change click here.

This year, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center announced that it is increasing the average number of storms and hurricanes on data collected from 1991 to 2020.

NOAA will announce this year’s hurricane season prediction of above-, near-, below-average season in late May.

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 $62 billion in assets. The utility delivers electricity, natural gas and steam, and serves 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County. Through Consolidated Edison Inc.’s subsidiary, Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses, the company is the second-largest solar developer in the United States and the seventh-largest worldwide. For financial, operations and customer service information, visit conEd.com. For energy efficiency information, visit coned.com/energyefficiency. Also, visit us on Twitter and Facebook.