Four top Con Edison executives have returned $614,400 in bonuses after Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for an investigation into why they were rewarded following what he has called woeful performance by utilities during Superstorm Sandy.

Cuomo asked state utility regulators to look into the payments to Con Ed Chairman and CEO Kevin Burke and the others, warning in a letter to the company Monday that ratepayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for the bonuses.

Burke quickly said he was returning the $314,000 he was awarded for what a proxy statement described as guiding the company through “significant challenges,” including Sandy.

A Con Ed spokesman says Tuesday the other executives also returned the bonuses. He says the company continues to cooperate with a state investigation of utility performance during Sandy.

(AP)