Does switching electricity suppliers hurt ConEd? No. The answer is simpler than most people expect. When you switch, ConEd still delivers your electricity, and nothing changes for them on that side of the business. The concern is understandable, but it's based on a misunderstanding of how ConEd actually makes money.
ConEd runs two separate businesses
ConEd has two distinct operations. Most people don't know this.
Business 1: Delivery. ConEd owns the wires, transformers, poles, and substations that move electricity from the grid to your apartment. This part of the business is regulated: New York's utility regulator (the PSC) sets exactly how much ConEd is allowed to earn from delivery, and ConEd earns that amount regardless of who sells you the electricity. If you switch suppliers, ConEd still gets paid for every kilowatt-hour (kWh, the unit your meter counts) they deliver.
Business 2: Supply. ConEd also sells the electricity itself as a product. If you've never switched, that's what you're currently buying from them. New York lets you buy this from a different company instead.
When you switch suppliers, you stop buying electricity from ConEd and start buying it from a different company. ConEd still handles everything else: delivery, outage response, metering, billing infrastructure. None of that changes.
Ready to check your savings?
Compare current rates against ConEd in 2 minutes. Free. No signup required.
Check my savings →What actually changes when you switch
Exactly one thing changes: the company that sells you the electricity itself.
The wires are the same, the grid is the same, and the reliability is the same. Power outages are still reported to ConEd and fixed by ConEd crews. Your bill still comes from ConEd, and the line showing the cost of electricity itself simply shows your new supplier's name and rate instead of ConEd's.
If you're worried about physical infrastructure, nothing on the delivery side changes when you switch. The voltage is the same, the reliability is the same, and ConEd is still who you call when the lights go out.
Why ConEd can't lower its rate to compete
Here's something counterintuitive: ConEd can't offer you a better supply deal even if they wanted to.
ConEd's supply rate is not a business decision. It's a pass-through cost, set by the PSC based on what ConEd pays in New York's wholesale electricity market (called NYISO). NYISO is where electricity gets bought and sold in bulk, before it ever reaches your building. ConEd buys power there and passes that cost directly to customers.
There's no profit margin on ConEd's supply side for retail customers, and there's no room to negotiate. They pay wholesale, they charge you wholesale plus administrative costs, and the PSC sets the formula. ConEd has no ability to undercut a third-party supplier who buys power on the same wholesale market under different terms.
ConEd may actually prefer it when you switch
When you buy electricity from a third-party supplier, you take pricing risk off ConEd's books. If wholesale electricity prices spike, that's now the supplier's problem, not ConEd's. ConEd earns its fixed, regulator-approved return on delivery either way.
From a financial standpoint, having fewer customers on the supply side simplifies ConEd's books. It's not a stretch to say that the open market for electricity was designed partly with that in mind.
Nearly 30 years of this model
New York created this split system in 1996, making it nearly 30 years old. Delivery operates as a regulated utility, and the sale of electricity operates as an open market. The separation is not new, not experimental, and not fragile.
Millions of New York customers have switched suppliers over that period. The grid is still the grid, ConEd is still ConEd, and National Grid is still National Grid. The reliability of the delivery system has nothing to do with who sold you the electrons.
The model is also not unique to New York. More than 20 U.S. states have some form of retail electricity deregulation, including Texas, Illinois, Ohio, and Maryland. Same basic structure, different local rules.
Where things actually go wrong
The risk of switching is not that it hurts ConEd or the grid. The risk is a bad contract.
Specifically: variable-rate contracts. These let suppliers change your rate every month with no cap and no floor. During the 2014 polar vortex, variable-rate customers in New York paid over $1.00 per kWh, roughly 7x ConEd's rate at the time. The PSC documented this. The switching itself was fine. The variable rate was the problem.
Fixed-rate contracts from licensed suppliers don't have this problem. You lock in a rate, it holds for the contract term, and you know what you're paying. That's exactly what deregulation was designed to enable: a competitive market where consumers can choose better terms.
Read our full breakdown of fixed vs. variable rates before you sign anything.
Community solar: switching that also builds something
Community solar is a subscription to a local solar farm where your bill gets a credit for the energy it produces. Common Energy is one provider in New York. These subscriptions work through the same ConEd delivery infrastructure, and the credits show up directly on your ConEd bill. You save 5 to 15 percent off ConEd's rate.
What's different: your subscription directly funds solar farm construction in New York State. These aren't abstract carbon credits. The money goes toward real panels, real projects, and real jobs building more solar capacity in the grid.
ConEd still delivers everything, you still call them for outages, and the solar farm operator earns revenue from your subscription. The model is clean and transparent: fixed discount, no variable rate, no surprises.
Ready to check your savings?
Compare current rates against ConEd in 2 minutes. Free. No signup required.
Check my savings →