O&R's Annual Drive Raises Over $115,000 for Orange United Way

PEARL RIVER, NY March 6, 2008 — Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. raised $116,668 in its just-completed 2007-2008 United Way campaign to help fund the work of a variety of Orange County health and human services activities.

That's over 40 percent of the nearly $275,000 O&R raised in this year's United Way annual fundraising drive, breaking the Company's all-time campaign record for the second year in a row.

The allocation to Orange County was set by O&R employee contributors, many of whom live in Orange County, who designated Orange County as the destination for their contributions. The rest of O&R's United Way contributions were allocated by contributors mainly among counties within O&R's service territory.

The dynamic fund-raising drive partnership between the Company and its bargaining unit, IBEW Local 503 — with a dollar-for-dollar match from the shareholders of Consolidated Edison, Inc., O&R's parent company — raised $274,884. The average O&R employee donation this year was $197.47.

O&R Campaign Chairmen Kevin Pfeil and Brian McPartland made the announcement today, completing the Company's drive for this year.

O&R adopted "doing well by doing good" as one of its guiding principals many years ago and since then has put those words into action every day through the Company's strong support for community-based programs that make the communities it serves stronger, more vibrant, more successful community.

By the very nature of its business as an energy delivery company, O&R thrives when the community flourishes. The more attractive the community is to growth and development, new businesses and new homes, the more successful O&R and its employees.

That's just one reason why, over the past 10 years, O&R and its employees have donated more than $5 million to enrich the quality of life in the communities they serve.

Since 1993, O&R and Local 503 have donated over $2 million in employee contributions and shareholder matches to the United Way.

O&R President and CEO John D. McMahon said, "O&R is enormously proud to once again break its own record. We are proud of the deep and continuing connection to the communities we serve. We believe that there is no purer expression of that dedication to a community's ideals than this remarkable achievement."

He added, "Our employees worked hard to make this a truly Company-wide effort. The result is a testament to selfless giving by O&R employees for the benefit of their communities."

O&R employs approximately 1040 people, almost all of whom also are O&R customers.