Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo called on Tuesday for Consolidated Edison to freeze extra bonuses paid to senior executives for their response to Hurricane Sandy, other storms and a monthlong lockout of 8,000 workers last year.
The governor’s demand came five days after one of the company’s directors told The New York Times that the executives were given more than $600,000 for “exemplary†performance in handling several trying events. The company, New York City’s primary utility, said those events included the hurricane late last year that left hundreds of thousands of Con Edison customers without power for at least four days.
The governor appointed a panel, known as a Moreland Commission, to investigate how Con Edison and other utilities prepared for the hurricane and responded after it swept through the metropolitan region at the end of October.
On Monday, Mr. Cuomo sent a letter to Kevin Burke, the chairman and chief executive of Con Edison, stating that he would order utility regulators to look into the bonuses to ensure that they would not be charged to the company’s customers.
The governor followed up on Tuesday by announcing that he had asked Con Edison “to freeze the remaining executive bonuses until the Public Service Commission review is complete. I also urge Con Ed to fully cooperate with the Public Service Commission’s review so we can ensure ratepayers are protected.â€
A spokesman for the company said that Mr. Burke had already agreed to return the extra bonus of $315,000 that the board of directors awarded him. That bonus had raised his total compensation for the year to $7.4 million, according to the company’s proxy statement.
The spokesman said on Tuesday that three other senior executives who had received extra bonuses would return theirs, too.
Craig Ivey, the company’s president, received an extra bonus of $146,100, raising his total compensation for the year to more than $3 million.
Robert Hoglund, the chief financial officer, got an extra bonus of $82,900 that took his total compensation to about $2.3 million. And Elizabeth D. Moore, the general counsel, got an extra bonus of $70,000 and total pay of more than $1.7 million.
The bonuses were awarded at the discretion of the board’s compensation committee. The committee’s chairman, George Campbell Jr., said in an interview with The Times last week that in the committee’s judgment, “the company performed in exemplary fashion.â€
