State regulators have told Consolidated Edison to go ahead with a $3 electric-bill credit to compensate residential customers who lost power during the last heat wave, many of whom went without service for more than a week last month.

Small businesses will get $6; large businesses, $250.

“We’re trying to do what we think is sort of reasonable from the customer’s point of view,” Con Ed’s chairman, president, and chief executive officer, Kevin Burke, said.

Politicians who represent the affected communities reacted with a mix of anger and laughter, saying the $3 rebate was anything but reasonable.

“Kevin Burke spent more on his morning coffee than he’s willing to give the people of Queens who have suffered greatly,” City Council Member Eric Gioia said. “This adds insult to injury.”

A venti iced Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks, to name one type of coffee, runs $4.35 before taxes.

Con Ed’s rebate covers the “delivery portion” of a customer’s bill, a spokeswoman, Elizabeth Clark, said, adding that the utility will also waive affected customers’ late penalties and meter-reading fees for a month.

Together with other local elected officials, Mr. Gioia has suggested Con Ed give affected customers three free months of electricity.

The officials and their constituents were already angry at Con Ed’s offer to reimburse residential customers only up to $350 for spoiled goods and businesses up to $7,000. They say many suffered damages far exceeding what the utility is willing to pay.

During almost three hours of testimony before a state Assembly committee — during which members intensely questioned the utility’s chief about reimbursement, his decisions during the blackout, and the stability of the citywide electricity grid during a citywide heat emergency — Mr. Burke defended Con Ed’s compensation initiatives, noting that the utility had eased its usual requirements that residential customers show receipts and product UPCs.

In addition, he said, the company has decided to lift its usual $10 million cap on total reimbursements for blackouts.

The concessions didn’t please committee members, who pressed Mr. Burke not only to boost the reimbursement limit but to repay businesses that don’t carry perishables but nevertheless lost sales during the blackout.

Court rulings have allowed affected customers to recoup further costs from utilities only if they can prove gross negligence on the part of the utility.

While adamant that the company is intransigent on its reimbursement levels — more than 4,000 checks have already been sent out, he said — Mr. Burke said the utility’s economic development team would be willing to talk to business owners who claim damages exceed Con Ed’s $7,000 reimbursement cap.

“I’m not sure what we can do to help them,” Mr. Burke said after the Assembly hearing.

Meanwhile, more than six dozen fuming locals attended a Public Service Commission hearing last night and told regulators they believed Con Ed kept them in the dark during the July outages.