Westchester Resident Wins Con Edison's Top Honor

MOUNT VERNON, NY — The way he has approached a career of serving the public has earned a Mount Vernon man a place in the annals of a storied utility company with ties to the very origins of the modern power grid.

Con Edison announced that one of their employees, who has spent 36 years making sure customers in Westchester County and the Bronx have safe, reliable power, has won the company’s highest honor for always making the extra effort.

Mount Vernon resident Alejandro Lopez earned a "Living Our Values" Award, which is reserved for top-performing employees who exemplify the company's priorities: safety, operational excellence and providing exceptional customer service.

Colleagues know Lopez for his habit of going beyond the requirements of his job to keep fellow workers and members of the public safe.

"The best part of my job is knowing that every day is an opportunity to help my colleagues and fellow residents of the region," Lopez said. "I get my satisfaction out of helping make people’s days a little brighter and I try to carry that ideal over to my life outside of work."

Most of the work Lopez does involves overhead and underground service lines, which are the wires that run from Con Edison’s wire in the street to the customer’s home or business.

Following a storm this year, Lopez went to a customer’s property to re-connect a wire that had fallen from the side of the house. After finishing his assigned task, he noticed children playing near a tree that the storm had knocked to the ground.

To protect the kids from tripping on the trunk or branches, he cut back several branches and removed them from the yard. He also placed yellow caution tape around the tree.

"Everybody trusts Alex to be thorough and relentless in his efforts to ensure safety and serve our customers," said Patrick Burke, Con Edison’s VP for Bronx-Westchester Electric Operations. "He brings great integrity, knowledge and skill to his job, which has earned him the respect of his peers."

Originally from the Dominican Republic, Lopez and his family came to the U.S. when he was nine years old. Coming from a family of 15 siblings helped him develop a nurturing nature, Lopez said.

Lopez has volunteered at several charitable organizations. He and his sister-in-law, a cardiologist, have gathered supplies and provided donations to various humanitarian causes, including medical organizations internationally.

Lopez wins people’s trust with his modest approach. Once while on an assignment in the Bronx, he spoke to an elderly customer in her first language, which was Spanish. He learned that the customer’s neighbor was reluctant to allow Con Edison on her property to perform some work. He calmly spoke to the neighbor and got her to agree to the work.

On his way to a customer appointment recently, Lopez noticed that an overhead power line was sagging. He feared that a truck could bring down the cable and pole. He pulled over, made the right notifications to Con Edison operators and fixed the line.

On another occasion, he was making a repair at a hair-braiding salon that would have required an outage of about four hours. That meant the salon owner would have to cancel appointments and lose money. However, Lopez found a way to safely run a 65-foot extension cord from his truck to the salon, so that essential lights and tools remained in service.

Lopez has won Con Edison honors before. In 2021, he was awarded the Safety leadership Award.