employees, Con Edison delivered in 2003. For the second straight year, PA Consulting named Con Edison Company of New York, which serves New York City and Westchester County, the most reliable electric utility in North America. substations destroyed there on September 11, 2001. A number of factors contributed to the lower earnings in 2003 — lingering softness in the local economy, cool summer weather, rising health insurance and pension costs, and weak energy and telecom markets. We offset some of the higher costs through productivity improvements. But we were not willing to take short- term measures that, while perhaps enhancing our bottom line in 2003, could have had a negative effect on our operating strength and flexibility. Our two regulated businesses, Consolidated Edison of New York and Orange and Rockland Utilities (O&R), deliver energy to approximately 3.4 million electric customers, and serve more than 1.1 million gas customers and 1,800 steam customers. In recent years, as our industry restructured, we have made limited investments in several unregulated businesses in areas that are closely related to our core expertise — Con Edison Development, Con Edison Energy, Con Edison Solutions, and Con Edison Communications. As a result of adverse conditions in the telecom and energy markets, we recognized after-tax impairment charges in 2003 of $84 million on our telecom investment and $10 million on certain of our energy investments. We continue to have confidence in the long-term potential of the markets served by our unregulated businesses. We invested $1.2 billion in our regulated businesses in 2003, of which more than $700 million was aimed at improving electric transmission and delivery networks and maintaining our industry-leading reliability. These investments yielded many tangible results: upgrades to existing substations, the construc- tion of new substations, and the installation of transmission facilities to handle energy from new power sources. In November, we installed three electrical transformers at the new World Trade Center substation, a demonstration of our commitment to rebuild the two 2 Con Edison Annual Report 2003 Financial Results Reflecting our continued confidence in the company’ long-term financial and operating strength, we increased our dividend in January 2004 for the 30th consecutive year, to an annualized $2.26 per share. Net income for common stock in 2003 was $528 million, or $2.39 per share. As shown on the Financial Highlights page of this report, earnings from ongoing operations in 2003 were $624 million, or $2.83 per share — 31 cents per shar lower than in 2002. At the same time, we’r e completing the installation of new steam/electric generating units as part of the East River Repowering Project. Our capital needs re flect the vibrancy of our service area and the underlying strength of the local economy. Our regulated capital pr ogram for 2004 includes a number of significant projects. For the first time in more than thre decades, we have three major substations under construction simultaneously, with all three schedul- ed to begin service in the same year.