The chief executive of Consolidated Edison, Kevin Burke, is drawing criticism from politicians and some observers for his decision not to attend today’s City Council hearing on the steam pipe explosion that killed a woman and injured dozens last month.

“I think that as the head of the utility he should be there,” the chairman of the Consumer Affairs Committee, Council Member Leroy Comrie Jr., a Democrat of Queens, said. “He is doing customers a disservice by not coming to explain himself.”

Mr. Burke, 56, has become the focal point for critics of Consolidated Edison since he was appointed in 2005, a period that has seen several failures of infrastructure.

Parts of Queens went dark for nine days in July 2006 after feeder cables failed, leaving 100,000 people to cope with triple-digit heat without air-conditioning or refrigeration. On July 18 of this year, a steam pipe erupted in a 12-story geyser of water, concrete, and mud on Lexington Avenue near the intersection of 41st Street during rush hour.

A human resources executive, Lois Baumerich, 51, died of a heart attack and a 21-year-old truck driver, Gregory McCullough, is in serious condition with burns over the majority of his body after the explosion.

A spokesman for Con Edison, Christopher Olert, yesterday declined to say why Mr. Burke was not attending the hearing.

The company is instead sending its senior vice president for central operations, William Longhi, Mr. Olert said. Mr. Longhi was one of the company’s spokesmen at the scene after the steam incident. Mr. Burke declined to be interviewed for this article.

Several council members of Manhattan and Queens said in interviews that Mr. Burke was likely unwilling to face their questions after getting berated about the Queens blackouts during a three-hour hearing July 31, 2006.

“A 12-year-old on a bike could have estimated damage better than your multimillion-dollar company did,” Council Member Peter Vallone, a Democrat of Queens, told Mr. Burke at the time, according to published reports. Council Member Eric Gioia, a Democrat of Queens, said Mr. Burke “was utterly unprepared” last year.

Assemblyman Michael Giannaris, a Democrat of Astoria, said Mr. Burke’s decision not to attend today’s hearing was indicative of his leadership style.

“He comes across very defensive and self-protective,” he said.

Mr. Burke’s supporters say his leadership style comes from a precise, scientific mindset that is backed up by 34 years of working for Consolidated Edison and half a dozen degrees.

Mr. Burke, a native of the Glendale section of Queens, began his career at the company in 1973 after receiving a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Cooper Union and a master’s degree in electrical power engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He later obtained a law degree from Fordham Law School, a master’s degree in business policy from Columbia University, and he completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University.

On his way to the top, he held positions in the engineering, corporate planning, nuclear power, legal, and construction departments.

As president, chief executive officer, and chairman of Consolidated Edison, he earns a salary of $1 million. With benefits and stock options he received about $4.7 million in 2006, according to company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He owns several hundred thousand shares of stock, which are worth several more million dollars. He is married with two children and is an avid amateur pilot. He has donated money to Rep. Charles Rangel, Senator Clinton, and President Bush, according to campaign filings.

“He’s not the most glamorous type of external figure,” the vice president of governmental affairs for Entergy Nuclear Northeast, Kenneth Theobalds, said. “But is that relative to the core issue of what needs to be done? He is an engineer and an attorney with a 360-degree view of his organization.”

Perhaps one of the most public supporters of Mr. Burke is Mayor Bloomberg, who stood beside him during the power outages and the steam pipe explosion. Last summer, he said New Yorkers owed Mr. Burke a round of thanks for working hard to get the power system back online.

“The mayor is a good businessman and an excellent manager,” Mr. Theobalds said. “There must be something he sees, objective reality” to support his endorsement of Mr. Burke, he said.

The chairman of the Energy Committee of the New York Building Congress, Richard Anderson, said the more pressing question is whether the city and state are preparing adequately for the estimated 1 million new residents projected to move to New York by 2030,
“The focus has to be on the age of our infrastructure — that doesn’t depend on who is in charge of Con Edison,” Mr. Anderson, also the chief executive of Rudin Management Company, said. “I’m trying to stay focused on the supply and demand issue. … In terms of operation of the grid, I think I’m feeling pretty good.”

Compared with the six other major power companies in the state, Consolidated Edison had the lowest rate of customers affected by interruptions per the number of customers served in 2005, according to a report by the New York State Department of Public Service Office of Electricity and Environment. When the power did go out, however, Consolidated Edison was the second slowest to restore it, the report says.

Investors haven’t shied away from the company’s either. Its stock price has stayed in the $40-range since the late 1990s.

“It’s been solid,” a managing director at BMO Financial who tracks energy companies, Michael Worms, said. “More people are using more electricity.”

The company posted a 24% increase in earnings on Thursday compared with the second quarter of last year. It took in $154 million, or 58 cents a share, compared with $124 million, or 50 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2006.

Still, consumers demand a high-level of performance from the power grid, the former chief executive of Nashville Electric and professor of management at Long Island University, Matthew Cordaro, said.

Of Mr. Burke, he said: “His job is to make sure proper procedures are followed and antiquated equipment is fixed before problems develop.”

If the system fails, “someone has to take the responsibility,” he said.