New York City commercial energy: Con Edison

Two rate areas under one utility: NYC and Westchester

Con Edison's retail electric tariff divides its territory into two rate areas: Zone 1, New York City, covering Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, and Zone 2, Westchester County. The split is a retail tariff distinction, not a separate NYISO transmission zone. Energy, delivery and demand components carry separate rates and separate adjustment factors in each area, so two accounts with identical load can bill differently depending on which side of the line the service address sits. The physical service address, not the mailing or billing address, controls which rate area applies, and the tariff's own provisions are what settle it.

• Con Edison's electric tariff is PSC No. 10 - Electricity, filed with the New York State Public Service Commission.
• Zone 1 is New York City (all five boroughs); Zone 2 is Westchester County.
• Energy, delivery and demand rates and adjustment factors differ between the two rate areas.
• The service address, not the billing address, determines the applicable rate area.

The service classification decides how you are billed

Within a rate area, the service classification decides whether an account is billed on energy alone or on measured demand as well. Con Edison's general commercial classes run from SC 2, General-Small, generally where measured or contracted demand does not exceed 10 kilowatts, up to SC 5, General-Large, typically above that level at secondary voltage, and SC 9, General-Large High Tension, for service taken at primary or high voltage. A separate time-of-day option, SC 13, is available to smaller customers that meet its metering conditions. The tariff's own Applicability and Character of Service provisions, rather than a nickname or a previous bill, settle which class an account belongs in, and a change of class changes which charges apply. Other classes turn on building use rather than a commercial demand threshold - SC 3 and SC 8 cover multiple dwellings, and SC 12 covers multiple-dwelling space heating - so a mixed-use building's class follows its use as well as its load.

• SC 2 - General-Small, generally at or under 10 kW of measured or contracted demand.
• SC 5 - General-Large, typically above 10 kW at secondary voltage.
• SC 9 - General-Large High Tension, for primary or high-voltage service.
• SC 13 - a demand-billed time-of-day option for eligible smaller customers.
• Demand-billed classes carry minimum monthly charges under the tariff.

NYISO Zone J: why capacity is a city cost driver

Con Edison's New York City territory is NYISO load Zone J. NYISO treats Zone J as a locality with its own locational capacity requirement, because transmission into the city is constrained: capacity to serve the zone must be procurable within or deliverable to it under the ISO's rules. Westchester, by contrast, sits in the lower Hudson Valley zone rather than Zone J. For a buyer, the practical effect is that the capacity component of an all-in supply price is set by the city's own capacity market rather than the state's, and that the value of shaving peak demand differs from upstate. A quote should state whether it prices capacity at Zone J or at a broader zone. The same NYISO obligation document names Zone J as its own locality and reports Con Edison's forecast peak load against the zone, which is the figure a capacity obligation is built from.

• Con Edison's NYC territory is NYISO Zone J; Westchester is in the Hudson Valley zone.
• Zone J is a constrained locality with its own locational capacity requirement.
• Capacity is set by the city's own market, so peak reduction is worth more there.
• Ask a supplier whether a quote prices capacity at Zone J or a broader zone.

Demand billing and power factor in dense buildings

For demand-billed classes the charge is set by the highest demand in kilowatts recorded during the billing period, not by total consumption, so two accounts with identical kilowatt-hours can bill very differently if one concentrates its load. Con Edison's general commercial tariff does not impose one universal ratchet across every class; whether a ratchet, a minimum demand or a contract demand applies depends on the classification and the tariff leaf, which is why it should be read rather than assumed. The tariff also provides a reactive-power demand charge for specified classes when metering can record reactive power - Con Edison identifies SCs 5, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 13 - which is why power-factor correction can change a bill in a building with heavy motor, chiller and lift load. The charge is not applied to every commercial customer: it attaches to the classes named above, and only where the installed metering is capable of measuring and recording reactive power.

• Demand is billed on the highest kW recorded in the period, not on kWh.
• There is no single citywide ratchet; the applicable class provisions control.
• Reactive-power demand charges apply to specified classes where metering measures reactive power.
• Interval data shows what actually set the monthly peak.
• Coincident start-up of lifts, chillers and kitchen lines raises the peak.

District steam is a separate service under its own tariff

Con Edison is also the regulated steam utility in New York City, and steam is governed by a separate schedule, P.S.C. No. 4 - Steam. The system serves more than 1,700 buildings in Manhattan, making it one of the largest district-steam systems in the world, and it is supplied by six gas- and oil-fired facilities in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens that can together produce more than 10 million pounds of steam an hour. Some of those facilities cogenerate steam with electricity, while others raise steam in dedicated boilers, and the city computes district-steam carbon intensity by weighting emissions from each fuel by the steam generated from it. Steam is metered and billed by mass - pounds, or Mlb, meaning a thousand pounds - under service classifications including SC 1 General Service, SC 2 Annual Power and SC 3 Apartment House, rather than as a flat per-therm commodity. Steam pricing correlates with natural gas, which is one of its principal fuels, but is not one-for-one: the tariff, the plant fuel mix and the service class all intervene.

• Steam is tariffed separately, under Schedule P.S.C. No. 4 - Steam.
• More than 1,700 Manhattan buildings take Con Edison steam.
• Steam is billed by mass (Mlb), not as a per-therm commodity.
• Service classifications include SC 1 General Service, SC 2 Annual Power and SC 3 Apartment House.
• Fuels are natural gas, No. 4 oil and No. 2 oil; steam is correlated with, not equal to, gas.

Supply choice under the Uniform Business Practices

A commercial account in Con Edison territory may buy supply from an authorised energy services company or take Con Edison's own supply; delivery, metering and outage response stay with Con Edison either way. ESCOs are governed by the Commission's Uniform Business Practices and must apply to the Department of Public Service, satisfy its eligibility requirements and complete electronic-data-interchange testing with a utility before enrolling customers. A standard enrollment protection is a three-business-day rescission period after the customer receives the agreement and disclosure materials, during which the contract can be cancelled without an early-termination charge. New York City itself does not run a citywide community choice aggregation programme, so a city account's default remains utility supply rather than a municipal opt-out.

• Supply is competitive; delivery stays regulated and stays with Con Edison.
• ESCOs are authorised by the Department of Public Service under the Uniform Business Practices.
• The standard rescission window is three business days after the agreement and disclosures.
• There is no citywide New York City aggregation programme; the default is utility supply.
• Registered brokers and ESCO agreements are the two routes to a deliberate supply decision.

Building rules that touch the energy account

Two city laws make the energy account a compliance file as well as a cost centre. Local Law 84 requires annual energy and water benchmarking, generally for buildings over 25,000 gross square feet and for two or more buildings on one tax lot totalling more than 100,000, reported to the Department of Buildings by 1 May for the prior year, with benchmarking run through the EPA's ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager; a missed primary deadline leaves quarterly catch-up windows on 1 August, 1 November and 1 February and a notice of violation that a late filing does not necessarily clear. Local Law 97 sets greenhouse-gas limits for covered buildings, began with the 2024-2029 compliance period and tightens from 1 January 2030. Those limits are building-specific, set by occupancy group, so the applicable figure comes from the building rather than from any single citywide threshold.

• Local Law 84 benchmarking generally applies above 25,000 gross square feet.
• The benchmarking report is due to the Department of Buildings by 1 May.
• Local Law 97 limits began with the 2024-2029 period and tighten from 1 January 2030.
• LL97 limits are building-specific by occupancy; there is no single citywide number.
• Benchmarking data is the same meter data an energy review already needs.

What to gather before a New York City quote

A New York City request answers three questions before anyone can price it: whether the premises is master-metered, whether the building takes district steam alongside electricity, and who controls the utility account. Twelve months of consumption from that meter is the rest of it, in the unit each charge is billed in - kilowatt-hours and peak kW for electricity, Mlb for steam if the building takes it. One eligibility caveat applies to every energy page on this site: competitive supply depends on the service address, the meter and the utility territory, and municipal utilities, cooperatives and some jurisdictions have no choice at all. HighGround may receive compensation from providers on completed purchases, and an inquiry places no order and switches no supplier.

• Twelve months of kWh from the account's own meter, with kW demand where the bills show it.
• Confirmation that delivery is Con Edison, plus the account and meter numbers, and the rate area.
• Whether the premises is master-metered, and who holds the utility account if not the tenant.
• Whether district steam forms part of the building's supply, since it is priced separately.
• Submitting an inquiry places no order and switches no supplier.

The adjustment lines on a Con Edison bill

A Con Edison commercial bill separates delivery from supply and then layers on tariffed adjustments. Beyond the delivery service charge, the usage charge and the demand charge, the bill carries public-policy and cost-recovery clauses approved by the Public Service Commission: the System Benefits Charge that funds energy-efficiency and clean-energy programmes, the Clean Energy Standard charge that supports the state's clean-energy procurement, a legacy Renewable Portfolio Standard adjustment, and a temporary state assessment set by statute rather than by the utility. Cost-recovery clauses can also appear, including a Merchant Function Charge for the cost of the utility's own supply function, a MACET component, and a revenue-decoupling adjustment. These are not optional add-ons; they are filed tariff clauses, and some of them follow the commodity rather than the delivery section, which is why a full-service customer and an ESCO customer can show a different set of lines on the same usage. When two quotes for the same meter appear to differ, the adjustment stack is one of the places the difference lives.

• The System Benefits Charge funds energy-efficiency and clean-energy programmes.
• The Clean Energy Standard charge supports the state's clean-energy requirements.
• A legacy Renewable Portfolio Standard adjustment still appears on the bill.
• A temporary state assessment is set by statute rather than by Con Edison.
• Merchant Function Charge, MACET and revenue-decoupling lines can also appear.
• Presentation differs between a full-service customer and an ESCO customer.

How the SC 5 and SC 9 class lines move

Class assignment is not permanent, and the tariff states the tests. A customer whose metered maximum demand exceeds 10 kilowatts in two consecutive months is moved out of SC 2, General-Small, into the applicable larger classification; returning to SC 2 requires maximum demand at or below 5 kilowatts for twelve consecutive months. The two sides of that movement are deliberately asymmetric, so a site that crosses the line once should not assume it drops back the following month. Within the demand-billed classes there is no single citywide ratchet: whether a billing-demand floor, a minimum demand or a contract-demand rule applies depends on the SC 5 or SC 9 rate and rate option in the tariff leaf actually in force, and standby-service provisions can impose floors of their own. That is why the tariff leaf, not a remembered percentage, is what answers whether a demand floor applies to a given account.

• Exceeding 10 kW of maximum demand in two consecutive months moves a site out of SC 2.
• Returning to SC 2 requires 5 kW or less for twelve consecutive months.
• The entry and exit thresholds are deliberately asymmetric.
• There is no single citywide ratchet across the demand-billed classes.
• Any billing-demand floor depends on the SC 5 or SC 9 rate and tariff leaf in force.

Local Law 154 and the end of gas in new buildings

The energy decision for a new or substantially rebuilt New York City building is now constrained by Local Law 154 of 2021, which prohibits onsite combustion of fuels emitting more than 25 kilograms of carbon dioxide per million Btu in covered new construction. The prohibition is phased in by the date of the initial general construction filing: one- and two-family homes and all other occupancies under seven stories from 1 January 2024, School Construction Authority projects from 31 December 2024, affordable housing under seven stories from 31 December 2025, all occupancies including service hot water from 2 July 2027, and affordable housing of seven stories or more from 31 December 2027. Regulated utility electricity and steam generation, and certain manufacturing, laboratory, laundry, hospital, crematorium and commercial-kitchen uses, are exempt. The practical effect for a commercial fit-out is that space heating and, from the later dates, service hot water have to be electric, which moves load onto the electric meter the business may be shopping and makes the service capacity and demand profile part of the design rather than an afterthought.

• Local Law 154 bars onsite combustion above 25 kg of CO2 per million Btu in covered new construction.
• The phase-in runs by initial construction filing date, from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2027.
• Space heating and, from the later dates, service hot water are the systems being phased off gas.
• Regulated utility generation plus certain industrial, laboratory and hospital uses are exempt.
• Electrification moves load onto the electric service, so capacity and demand shape the design.

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