Gas Restoration

National Grid's gas system is fully restored and ready to bring natural gas to customers in the wake of the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy.  But, thousands of customer across the service areas in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island suffered extensive damage to furnaces, boilers, water heaters and other gas-fired equipment that prevents reconnection with the larger system, especially in the coastal flood zone areas on Staten Island, Brooklyn, the Rockaway peninsula in Queens and along the south shore areas of Long Island.  We expect that most of those customers will require at minimum a detailed safety inspection prior to reconnection, but more likely extensive repairs and/or replacement of heating equipment and other gas appliances.

National Grid is reaching out to help customers most seriously impacted by the storm and is implementing an Emergency Residential Customer Assistance program to assist residential customers re-establish their natural gas service and restore heating to their homes.  National Grid is doing direct outreach to potentially eligible customers in those hard hit areas.  National Grid will continue to offer various levels of assistance to help cover the cost of inspections, repairs or replacement, with higher levels available to the most vulnerable, low-income customers:

• Tier 1:  Immediate assistance in the form of a $150 check to customers who live within the affected storm area and for whom National Grid has placed a warning tag on a furnace, boiler water heater, meaning that the equipment is unsafe for relight and operation until repair or replacement is made.

• Tier 2:  For our most vulnerable customers who receive benefits under HEAP, National Grid will pay to replace energy equipment – boilers, furnaces, hot water heaters -- to help retain these customers in our community

• In addition, National Grid is facilitating a network of plumbers, scheduling inspection appointments, and funding the cost of the inspection and maintenance.  Since time is of the essence, we have begun this phase even though it is beyond the scope of our regulated business under normal conditions.

Program eligibility will include customers residing within National Grid’s service areas on Long Island and in New York City with homes that have not been declared uninhabitable by the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA), are located in a county within an area declared a “State of Emergency” by New York State and/or the Federal government, and have heating equipment that has been tagged and deemed unsafe for re-light and operation until repair or replacement is made.

National Grid continues to urge any customer whose equipment was at all touched by flood waters to have their equipment inspected by a qualified plumber, even if that equipment is currently operating.  Flood damage is not always readily apparent, and can create operational and safety concerns weeks or months after the initial event.

Further, customers who are removing damaged equipment or other debris from homes in the flood zones are cautioned to do so carefully, as gas may be present in their equipment and pipes and to avoid further damage to the gas delivery system.  Any appliance connected to natural gas service should be fully shut off and properly disconnected, with adequate ventilation, before removal.