Con Edison outlines $140 million thermal energy pilot for Mount Vernon, files with PSC July 9

Greg Kamulus of Con Edison told the Mount Vernon City Council on Monday that Con Edison will file its stage‑2 submission with the Public Service Commission on July 9 for a thermal energy network pilot in Mount Vernon, and that the company is aiming to advance to construction if the commission approves stage 3.

The project Con Edison described would connect 42 existing buildings plus one new Energy Center building and use four ground bore fields sited on city property. Kamulus said the company currently estimates the project cost at about $140,000,000 “with contingencies” and that design work and customer assessments have been completed for the buildings included in the pilot. He said the company has been inside each of the 42 buildings to design customized retrofit solutions and has engaged with customers about participation.

Con Edison outlined where the bore fields would be located. Kamulus said one test borehole was originally drilled at the Dole Center but that planned construction there (a building with a sub‑basement basketball court) now prevents use of that bore field; the company moved that bore field conceptually to the Fourth Street playground and said it is coordinating with the group New City Park. He also identified a parking lot for the Dole Center, a small playground on Seventh Street, and Purdy’s basketball courts on South Ninth as locations under consideration. Kamulus said the company intends to avoid impacts to any newly rehabilitated park and will share final drawings with the city and any park engineers so projects can be designed around each other.

Kamulus described site work at the fire station where an old buried oil tank was discovered during geotechnical borings. He said the buried tank was removed and tested clean and that a temporary above‑ground tank remains in the station parking lot feeding oil today. “We have started the process” of converting the fire station systems to natural gas, Kamulus said, adding that the conversion process is “somewhat a lengthy, timely process,” but that design work is underway.

Because bore fields reduce the ability to construct sub‑basements on affected parcels, Kamulus said the company is obtaining third‑party appraisals to value the easement impact on the four bore‑field sites and the Energy Center parcel. He said the city will have an option to accept compensation in cash or trade the value of the easement against the incremental cost of an additional second floor in the Energy Center (space the city could occupy during the pilot). Kamulus said appraisals are being shared with the city council and city attorneys when available.

On customer cost and protections, Kamulus said Con Edison is designing a new “thermal” commodity rate and customer protections intended to prevent any customer from paying more for energy after connecting. He said residential customers (1–4 family) would be placed on a flat monthly thermal fee — Con Edison is finalizing the rates, but Kamulus estimated the residential fee at about $20 per month for pilot participants and said roughly 26 single‑family residential accounts are part of the pilot cohort. Commercial customers would pay a flat monthly fee scaled by capacity; Kamulus estimated commercial fees could range from about $30 to $1,000 per month depending on load and said public buildings such as the fire station and the Dole Center would likely fall in the “couple hundred dollars a month” range.

Kamulus explained the protections in detail. For residential customers Con Edison said it will look at each customer’s total energy bills from the prior three years and cap charges for the pilot at the lowest of those three years, so “for the pilot, you’re not going to pay more” than the historical low annual spend. Customers may also leave the program if Con Edison fails to meet service guarantees; if the system is working as promised a customer may opt out after three years and Con Edison said it would cover the cost to return the customer to their prior system. Kamulus added that Con Edison will not change how heating cost responsibilities are allocated between landlords and tenants compared with existing lease arrangements.

Kamulus said Con Edison will place customers on a fixed monthly bill and, if a customer uses less than that fixed amount, the company will issue a credit at year‑end rather than send an additional charge. He said the protections and full technical details will be included in the materials the company files with the Public Service Commission and that those documents will be public.

On outreach and readiness, Kamulus said Con Edison has gathered letters of interest from potential participants using paper and electronic forms; he reported about 30% of prospective customers had signed nonbinding letters of interest and that the company will continue sign‑ups in the coming weeks, including a planned round for commercial customers and the two city buildings included in the pilot.

Kamulus described the anticipated regulatory and construction timeline: Con Edison will file the stage‑2 submission on July 9; the Public Service Commission process includes a 60‑day public comment period and additional time for technical review. Kamulus said the company does not expect a final PSC approval before the end of 2025 and that, if approved, construction would likely take 12–18 months followed by a five‑year pilot that would extend toward the end of 2032.

Council members asked about the appraisal and the possibility that the incremental cost of a second floor for the Energy Center could exceed the easement valuation, in which case the city could pay the difference. Kamulus said appraisers will assess the dollar value of the land use restriction and that the city could decline to grant easements, which would mean no project on city property.

Kamulus said Con Edison has coordinated local workforce outreach and contractor engagement and reported a recent workforce event with the mayor and local representatives. He encouraged public comment in the PSC proceeding and said the company will return to Mount Vernon if the project advances.

No formal vote or council action was taken at the June 9 work session. Con Edison’s filing with the Public Service Commission on July 9 and the PSC’s subsequent review will determine whether the project moves to construction.