New Yorkers can walk the streets--and their pets--with renewed confidence this winter. Con Ed is reporting that one's chance of electrocution via stray voltage is down more than 20%, based upon their most recent survey. Of course, being electrocuted while walking around is a very remote possibility, although it does happen, especially in winter, when salt water and slushy water become simultaneously a corrosive agent and an effective conductor of electricity. The utility recorded only 295 accounts of people being shocked last year, versus 378 the prior year. That's a 22% reduction.

The New York Post reports: "'All the shock numbers are going down,' said Alfonso Quiroz, a Con Ed spokesman." Indeed, Con Ed spent $100 million detecting and reducing stray voltage electrocutions by one out of every four. The electric company even paid livery cabs to park over suspected hot zones to protect the public. Now is no better time for Con Ed to get some good press. The utility is looking to hike revenues and customers' bills by $1.2 billion. Mayor Bloomberg half-heartedly supported a rate hike, saying that the utility was doing a decent job.

Con Ed: On It!, by joshbousel at flickr