Hey Queens residents, about that blackout two years ago that left thousands of you without electricity or hot water for nine sweltering days? Con Ed is sorry! Also, here's one hundred dollars off your next Con Ed bill. Happy? Don't do anything rash like switch to a different electric company, okay? (Hahaha!) City Room reports that Con Ed is finally sending out letters of apology for the disruption, which the company agreed to do as......

Around 4:10 p.m. on August 14, 2003, electrical transmission lines running through Ohio disconnected--thanks to toppled trees that forced Cleveland area power lines to draw more energy--and blackouts started to cascade across the system. NYC was left, along with other parts of the Northeast, Midwest, and Canada, without electrical power. Power did come back about 30 hours later, but not after New York residents were trapped in elevators and subways, unable to make cell phone......

Photograph of a closed bodega in Astoria, on day 5 of the 2006 blackout, by Dan Dickinson on Flickr Typical: Con Ed has decided to offer victims of the 2006 blackout a measly $100 each. To businesses, such as restaurants and markets, that lost thousands of dollars of merchandise, it's an insult. Mezzo Mezzo restaurant owner Charlie Kourakos told the Daily News, "We lost, I can say, around $50,000. It's ridiculous for them to......

Rufus Wainwright is calling for a self-imposed blackout. The musician proposes that we all set our sundials to noon on June 21st to signal a group shut down of all electric lights, appliances and anything else that plugs in...for 12 hours. His hope is to call attention to global warming and energy conservation. In order to promote the day, called Blackout Sabbath, he'll be holding an intimate, acoustic, candlelit concert at the Angel Orensanz Foundation.......

Notwithstanding a massive steam explosion that horribly burned some New Yorkers and shut down a large section of midtown Manhattan for weeks, neighborhood blackouts that have left thousands in the dark and without air conditioning in the heat of summer, and occasional stray voltage leaks that have electrocuted people and pets, Mayor Bloomberg feels that Con Ed is doing a decent job and customers should be willing to pay extra each month to the utility.......

The State Public Service Commission is fining Con Ed $18 million for failing to meet reliability standards during the nine-day Queens blackout last year. PSC Chairwoman Patricia Acampora said, "Hopefully, this order today will send a message to Con Ed that they must be diligent in their efforts to maintain a reliable network, or they will face financial consequences." As far as we're concerned, it seems like Con Ed got off easy. Especially when they......