Earlier this year, it was announced Con Ed would give refunds of $100 to residents and $350 to businesses who were struck by the 2006 blackout in Queens and now the state Public Service Commission has approved the compensation plan. Oh, and customers will also get a "formal apology." Assemblyman Michael Gianaris slammed the PSC, "Whether it is blackouts, steampipe explosions, stray voltage electrocutions, or record rate hikes in the face of multi-million dollar executive......

Photo courtesy Occipital Lobe. Those high natural gas and oil prices have raised the prices for wholesale electricity that Con Ed buys from power-generating companies, and naturally the company is passing those expenses along to us. The company says that residential customers will pay 22% more for electricity this year than they did last summer – almost a quarter of that spike is due to a Bloomberg-approved rate hike. Harlem flea market vendor Cruz Reyes,......

Though the clock ticked past last night's midnight deadline for contract negotiations between Con Ed and the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2, the two sides kept working and have worked out a tentative deal to avert a strike of about 9,000 members. Union spokesman Joe Flaherty, who had called Con Ed's previous offer insulting and "asinine," said though the talks were "extremely contentious," they came to an agreement about wage, safety, health care......

Tonight, if midnight strikes without a new contract from Con Ed, the 9,000 workers represented by the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2 could go on strike (unless Governor Paterson intervenes again, of course). The two sides are resuming their talks today at a NJ hotel. Union spokesman Joe Flaherty said the two sides are still fare apart, with Con Ed only offering a 0.5% raise for the first year, and 1% raises in......

Con Ed and the union representing 9,000 members agreed to extend their contract negotiations for another three days, after Governor David Paterson intervened late yesterday. The governor's spokesman Errol Cockfield said Paterson "expressed his concern that there should be no disruption in services and asked them to agree to a...cooling-off period. The governor suggested this time would allow tempers to subside and then both parties could return to the bargaining table in a more measured......

Thousands of Con Ed employees may be striking tomorrow, if the utility keeps up their act. Joe Flaherty, spokesman for the Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers Union of America, said of Con Ed's 0.5% base raise, "They want us to strike, no doubt about it. Half a percent, followed by 1% in the years after that, is just asinine." Flaherty says the union made their wage proposal on June 18, "After 12 today (noon......

Con Ed and about 9,000 workers are locked in a contract battle that may threaten the city's power come Sunday. According to Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2, the utility and workers are "miles and miles apart." Union spokesman Joe Flaherty explained the union wants better wages and medical cost coverage, benefits for workers retired on worker's comp, and advancement in job titles. But Flaherty blasted Con Ed, "It's basically the Nancy Reagan school......

Two months ago, Con Ed admitted that the former power plant on Kent Avenue would be demolished (when asked earlier about all the activity at the site, the utility claimed it was just "spring cleaning"), and now it looks like the beautiful, century-old building's final days are here. Photographer Nathan Kensinger, who currently has an exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library documenting Brooklyn's fading waterfront, took these exclusive photographs of the Powerhouse. From the looks......

The beloved 24-hour French diner Florent will be closing on Saturday with a big send-off, and lines have often been out the door as the end approaches. Today is no exception, as Eater reports, with the restaurant still packed despite the fact that the gas has been shut off. Reached today (his birthday) by phone at his lake house in New Jersey, owner Florent Morellet tells us that the gas was shut off over a......

Con Ed has been working to restore power to customers in Brooklyn, Queens and Westchester County who are still without power after last night's storms (thousands were without power all over the region, served by various utilities). And recently, Con Ed has been sharing a website that maps power outages with the public. According to the NY Times, the map is "updated every 30 minutes" and "based on information called in by customers, emergency workers......

Map from the NY Times With the unusually hot weather (20 degrees above normal) baking the city over the past few days, Con Ed has been trying to keep the power on. The NY Times has taken information from Con Ed showing the change in peak electricity demand between last week and this past Monday and mapped it. An important thing to note is that the jump looks lowest in many midtown and lower......

The heat is on all across the Eastern Seaboard, and temperatures in New York City reached 96 degrees yesterday (just missing a record)--and it felt like even more with its densely-packed buildings and people. There were scattered power outages: Outages for 1,400 customers were reported by Con Ed, 788 by Long Island Power Authority (which had thousands on Monday), and 75,700 by PSE&G in NJ's Essex County. ...

The NY Post reports that one of their own, Denise Buffa, is suing Con Ed. Buffa, a Post reporter, told the heartbreaking tale of her dog being shocked last June; the 100-pound Italian mastiff died after his encounter with the electrified light pole in Marcus Garvey Park. Regarding the negligence suit against them, a Con Ed spokeswoman told The Post that they "weren't involved because the city owns the light poles," and the DoT declined......

Photograph of last night's summer lightning in Brooklyn by dietrich on Flickr Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the this week's heat wave. Temperatures are expected to go over the 100-degree mark (though there are some predictions of of 97-degrees), and with the humidity, it may feel like it's 105 degrees. The heat advisory is in effect until 7 p.m. tonight and city cooling centers are open in all five boroughs......

Photograph of a makeshift stop sign, since traffic lights were out, at Bergen St. and Flatbush Ave. by steuben on Flickr Yesterday afternoon, a few manhole fires caused a load of problems for Brooklyn residents in the middle of a sweltering weekend. One fire, at Smith and Dean Streets in Boerum Hill, seriously compromised subway service for the G, F, and 4 lines, not to mention affected the 2 and 3 lines. WNBC explained......

Photoby Raymond Haddad at flickr Figuring that the best legal defense is to be offensive, ConEd is suing NYC for the 2007 midtown Manhattan steam pipe explosion that killed one woman and horribly burned two other people. Dozens more were injured in the blast that made 41st and Lexington Ave. look like an erupting volcano, as a plume of steam shot high into the air. ConEd is on the receiving end of dozens of......

Earlier there was news of a luxury condo leveling a church and digging up graves, now word is in that the South Williamsburg power plant on Kent Avenue will meet the same fate. The Brooklyn Paper reports that Con Edison has finally admitted its plan to demolish the defunct power plant and neighborhood landmark.Neighbors of the abandoned Kent Avenue power plant knew something was up back in March, when workers started tearing holes into the......

Two weeks ago, it was reported Con Ed would offer victims of the 2006 blackout--which affected businesses and homeowners in Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside, and Woodside, Queens for many sweltering summer days--$100 each. Now it's confirmed Con Ed will be giving the money--$100 to residents, $350 to some businesses--in the form of a "credit on their monthly bill, which will also include a brief apology from the company." That makes everything all better! While......

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......

Last night a gunman on the run in the Bronx got stuck in Yankees' post-game gridlock after stealing a Con Ed van. Then he took his own life before police could apprehend him. Yesterday's game went down to the wire, and it was 9:44 p.m. when Mariano Rivera threw the last pitch (the batter grounded into a game-ending throw to first base). As fans filtered out of Yankee Stadium to either hop on a train......

With pedestrians and puppies getting electrocuted all over the city, a website has finally launched mapping hot zones. InfraShock hosts tips (bikers: don't chain your bike up to anything electrical) and an up to date map of dangerous areas (though currently the map only has six spots listed). They also have news on the latest efforts by the city and Con Ed to stop these stray voltage accidents. Earlier this year the father of......

At the southeast corner of Lafayette and Spring in the SoHo-Nolita area, some sort of event (explosion?) occurred to knock off the heavy grates off the surface. The FDNY and NYPD closed down the street; it didn't look like a steampipe explosion or water main break (no water) - it looks more like an underground transformer vault (if anyone knows what these are, let us know in comments) explosion. The 6 line does run......

taxi, by Runs With Scissors at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: an amputation on Hudson St. in Manhattan, an under-a-train fatality at Lenox Ave. and Central Park North in Manhattan, and a stabbing on 34th St. in Queens. Auvryn Scarlett, the sanitation truck driver who mowed down a pair of British tourists as they strolled down a midtown sidewalk, was arraigned on manslaughter charges yesterday. Saturday Night Live will attempt to make up for......

Georgia, the runaway subway cat rescued by a Con Ed meter reader and two determined MTA track workers, is resting up not just from her 25 days in the subway tunnels, but from surgery yesterday to repair a fractured leg. The doctors at Fifth Avenue Veterinary Specialists waited until yesterday to perform the surgery because Georgia was dehydrated at the time of her rescue and they wanted her stabilized before they performed the procedure. The......

Georgia's been on a lot of people's minds since news of her disappearance became public in January, but she is now safe at home. The black cat escaped owner Ashley Phillips' pet carrier while they were waiting on the platform at 59th St. for a 6 train, on their way home from the Humane Society where Georgia had just been spayed. She survived 25 days in the subway tunnels before being found and rescued. The......

Only in Albany can you be nominated to head the Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities, and start doing work for the government - while still working for a private sector energy company! The state inspector general released a report explaining how this actually happened with former PSC nominee Angela Sparks-Beddoe last year. Sparks-Beddoe was President for Energy East, a utility in Saratoga Springs, when Spitzer nominated her early last year. She was still working......

Bronx snowfall, by Somebody Shouted McIntyre at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: person under a train fatality at Lafayette and Classon Aves. in Brooklyn, another person under a train at 53rd St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan, and yet another person under a train at Lincoln Ave. and N. Railroad on Staten Island. The giant apple will be popping up every time a Mets player hits a home run at the new Citi Field......

Patrick Venetek, the cop whose service weapon wound up shooting through the ceiling of his downstairs neighbors' apartment and striking an 18-month-old's arm, gave further details on how the incident occurred. Perhaps to the relief of Porcellini's six brothers and sisters, Venetek has been stripped of his badge and gun at this time and is on modified duty. Apparently, Ventek was going to start cleaning his 9 mm semi-automatic pistol in the dwindling natural light......

Photographs by SilvaAzniv on Flickr (left, right); the steam in the right photo is from Con Ed - not a fire At West End Avenue and West 59th Street, a water main broke, flooding the Amtrak tracks. The FDNY is pumping out the water and a number of other city agencies, including the Office of Emergency Management and Department of Environmental Protection are on the scene. According to other reports, a new building (an......

A family had been living in its Mill Basin, Brooklyn apartment for less than a week, when their 18-month-old toddler was struck by a bullet that passed through its ceiling from an upstairs apartment Thursday afternoon. Their upstairs neighbor is 24-year-old police officer, an Army veteran assigned to Manhattan's 1st Precinct, named Patrick Venetek. Venetek rushed downstairs to explain what had happened. Per WCBS News, he claims he had been cleaning his gun when it......