Hello, and welcome to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Consolidated Edison Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Timothy Cauley, the President and CEO of CEI.
Good morning. Thank you for taking the time to join me virtually for our 2021 meeting of the stockholders of Consolidated Edison Inc. We are hosting our annual stockholders meeting online again this year due to COVID-nineteen related restrictions. Once we conclude the business of the meeting, I'll talk about our corporate priorities and share with you what we're doing to realize our bold clean energy commitment. This meeting will offer the same participation opportunities as an in person meeting.
Before we get started, Jan Childress, our Director of Investor Relations will cover some logistical information.
Thank you, Tim, and good morning. I call your attention to the rules of conduct for today's meeting. These rules have been made available to each stockholder online, so we hope that you have had the opportunity to review the information provided prior to today's meeting. If you need a copy of the annual report or the proxy statement, the links are also provided online. At today's meeting, we will discuss the business of the meeting, provide you with a report of the company and then answer any questions you may have.
You may submit questions or comments at any time by using the Ask a Question box on your screen. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting back over to Tim Kaufmann.
Thank you, Jan. I'll start with the business of the meeting. I'd like to acknowledge the members of our prestigious Board of Directors. Like you, each Board member is attending the Annual Meeting virtually today. Their broad set of skills, varied length of tenure and diverse from PricewaterhouseCoopers, our independent accountants Edlain Mesquita, Con Edison's General Auditor and Inspector of Election and Janet Moore from CompuShare, our Transfer Agent and Inspector of Election.
Also attending virtually are a number of our executive officers. The company's proxy statement along with notice of this meeting were mailed beginning on April 5 to all stockholders of record as of March 22. We have a quorum of the outstanding shares of the common stock of the company entitled to vote, and this meeting is officially convened. The polls are open. If you have not voted or wish to change your vote, you may do so now by clicking on the appropriate link provided online.
If you have already voted and do not wish to change your vote, you do not need to do anything. Votes were cast for 3 management proposals. Proposal 1 is to elect the company's directors. Proposal 2 is to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as independent accountants for 2021. And proposal 3 is to approve on an advisory basis named executive officer compensation.
The polls are now closed. The official record will include all valid votes cast during today's meeting. Our stockholders voted in favor of all 3 proposals as recommended by the Board. The voting results will be published later this week. That concludes today's official business.
What a year it's been. 2020 was like no other. We faced the triple challenges of the COVID-nineteen pandemic, a national reckoning with systemic racism and increasing havoc from climate change. And while our employees have risen to each challenge, it has taken a toll on us. Amongst the devastation was the loss of our own to the deadly virus.
Through it all, we've remained steadfast in our commitment to our 3 priorities: safety, operational excellence and providing our customers with the best experience possible. This commitment, coupled with the resiliency, dedication and innovation of our people, has been evident each day. In fact, last year our employees worked more safely than ever before. Our people have also continued to transform the business. They've created industry changing technologies like in home natural gas detectors and new designs that allow us to deliver the world class reliability that our customers expect and deserve.
We've remained keenly focused on the customer, offering services to make their lives better, whether those are smart meters, enhanced digital tools or easier rooftop solar hookups. But we realize we need to do more as the call to combat climate change has never been more urgent. Now is the time to think differently. Now is the time to reimagine what's possible. And now is the time to create the clean energy future every community deserves.
Our response to climate change focuses on 2 paths: reducing carbon emissions and making our energy systems more resilient to withstand more frequent and severe weather. We've developed a climate resiliency plan that will enhance how we design and operate our energy systems. Our clean energy commitment is our way forward. It will help our planet, our company and our communities remain sustainable and help spur the economy. We're taking bold actions.
Let me start with energy efficiency. We're spending more on programs that allow New Yorkers to make their homes and businesses more efficient, tripling our investments to more than $1, 500, 000, 000 by 2025. Here's another thing, we want to see 100 percent clean electricity by 2, 040. We're investing in clean energy solutions like battery storage. In 2020, we helped place the largest battery storage project in New York, right here in Queens.
We are the 2nd largest solar producer in North America and the 7th largest in the world. We want to use that expertise to develop, own and operate renewable generation here in New York. At the same time, we're constructing electric transmission in the region and beyond. These projects are critical to a clean energy future. Then there's electric vehicles.
We're going all in. Can you imagine a world with only electric powered vehicles? It's coming. And we're at the forefront of making it happen. We're connecting thousands of new charging stations.
And we're taking action internally too. We're transitioning our light duty fleet to electric and our first electric bucket truck will hit the streets of New York next year. Finally, we're offering customers incentives to adopt clean electric alternatives, including technologies like ground and air source heat pumps. Our people drive our success. Together, we're working to make sure every employee feels valued, respected and included.
Con Edison vows to uncover and address any barriers to equity in our workplace, wherever they may exist. We'll continue to transform our culture through ongoing dialogue and company wide training. We're also holding ourselves more accountable by tying executive compensation to diversity goals. When each of us can reach our full potential when we fully capture the tremendous value that diversity brings, we are at our strongest and our most successful. Despite all the year brought, we remain financially strong and stable.
As stockholders, you already know that our robust balance sheet and credit ratings give us tremendous stability. Our dividend grew again now for the 47th consecutive year, the longest streak of any energy company in the S and P 500. You're seeing a $0.04 increase over 2020 to $3.10 per share. I'm so grateful for the efforts of all our people, from the line workers and engineers on the streets of New York to those working from home. I'm also grateful for the incredible support from our union leaders at Local 12, Local 3 and Local 503.
They have been exceptional partners throughout. Together, we'll find the solutions that today's challenges demand. And together, we'll continue to create the clean energy future we all deserve. Thank you for your confidence and support. At this time, I'll now answer your questions.
Please refer to the rules of conduct posted on our virtual meeting site. Jan, please read the first question.
Tim, the first question comes from Mark Zaschin. And Mark, I hope I pronounced your last name correctly. But Mark asked the following, Tim, where is the standing of Con Edison in a bill in Congress to boost investment in renewable energy? Does this bill put Con Edison at a disadvantage compared to solar firms?
So Mark, good morning and thanks for the question. I'll start at the end and say it won't put us at a disadvantage. There's lots of legislation being considered that will push for carbon emissions reduction and a clean energy future. At Con Edison, we are committed and we have a clean energy commitment. We, through our clean energy business, are the 2nd largest solar producer in North America and the 7th largest in the world.
We have $6, 000, 000, 000 already invested. So in fact, we have a solar firm as part of our family of companies and they've been at it for a number of years and have done quite well. They have a deep pipeline, great expertise in developing, building and operating these assets. So any tax advantage or boost that Congress would push towards solar firms would benefit our clean energy businesses as well? Thanks for the question, Mark.
Tim, the second question comes from Joe Fournicola. And Joe Fournicola asked the following question. Bitcoin and cryptos in general as well as the blockchain are becoming more important. What is Con Edison's plan in this space? Do you have a subsidiary doing any kind of mining or investments in others?
So thanks for that question, Joe. So we do not have a subsidiary that's doing any kind of mining or investments in Bitcoin or cryptos. Blockchain technology is something we stay abreast of and keep an eye on. And as we move forward, would likely be introduced into a number of our processes as it becomes even more mainstream than it is today. So no on the Bitcoin and cryptos and blockchain is a technology that we'd leverage if it helps our processes and allows us to serve our customers better.
Thanks for the question, Joe.
Tim, we have a second question for Mark Zaschin. And Mark asked this following. Will Con Edison entertain share buybacks due to a Biden tax plan on dividends and capital gains? How has Con Edison thought about cybersecurity going forward and the experience in Texas?
So Mark, thanks for that question or those questions, compound question as well. I'll start at the back end with regard to Texas. And this really resulted the outage in Texas resulted from an extended cold snap that hit the region. And that cold snap caused 2 things to happen. 1, record demand for electricity, all new time highs in terms of demand for electric heating and decreased supply because a number of the generating units that meet that demand were out of service.
They weren't properly winterized to withstand that very cold weather. And that weather also hampered natural gas supplies and delivery to plants that would produce energy during these periods. Texas is also unique in that there are limited transmission ties to other regions. So very unlikely to happen here. Obviously, we winterize our equipment.
We have a number of strong transmission ties to the other states. In addition, New York has in its energy markets a capacity market that Texas does not have. And what the capacity market does is essentially pay generators to be on the ready. It keeps them economically incentivized to be ready to respond to these high demands. So the shorter answer is, while we have to prepare our systems for extreme heat and cold, what happened in Texas is very unlikely to happen here in New York.
Your next question goes to cybersecurity and that is something that we think a lot about, Mark, cyber attacks are a real threat. You see it in the news virtually every day and we are focused on it every day and we remain focused on it. We take a defense in-depth approach, really multiple layers of protection in our cybersecurity. We embedded into the programs we use. We have a smart meter program and the selection of the vendor really came down to who had cybersecurity measures built in rather than laid on top of the system.
We have a group of employees that monitor our networks 20 fourseven in an operations control center. We continue to develop strong relationships with government peers and utility government allies and utility peers to stay alert and unnoticed of any events that are unfolding. Cyber hygiene is a term we use and that's really about patching software and protecting passwords. Poor cyber hygiene is the leading cause of cyber attacks against businesses. And finally, if we were ever attacked, we have robust business continuity plans that we drill regularly.
So cybersecurity is top of mind for us. We continue to put more resource in it. It is a threat and we maintain vigilance against that threat. And your last question was whether we'd entertain share buybacks due to the Biden tax plan on dividends and capital gains. And right now, the answer is no.
Given ongoing capital needs to fund our capital programs, we invest about $3, 500, 000, 000 in our utilities each year. We don't plan to engage in any buybacks at this point. Thanks for your question, Mark.
Tim, all questions or comments pertinent to the annual meeting matters have been addressed. There are no further questions or comments.
Thanks, Jan. The 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is now adjourned.