Posted on 11/25/2019 10:26:36 AM PST by karpov
For months, the utility that provides gas to Long Island and parts of New York City refused to activate gas hookups for both new and returning customers, casting some real estate developments into limbo.
The utility’s moratorium triggered a political standoff that intensified this month, when Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo issued a threat: either the company, National Grid, turn the gas on for all its potential customers, or the state would pull its license to operate in southern New York.
The threat apparently worked. On Monday, the governor and National Grid announced an agreement that would restore gas service to customers and applicants the utility had previously rejected.
Under the deal, National Grid will lift its moratorium immediately. It will have 30 days to contact all residential customers and small businesses who seek gas hookups, and 45 days to start the process of restoring service to larger commercial projects, officials said.
The utility also agreed to pay $36 million in penalties, with $7 million meant to directly compensate people who were affected by the moratorium.
“This agreement is a victory for customers,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. “National Grid will pay a significant penalty for its failure to address the supply issue, its abuse of its customers, and the adverse economic impact they have caused.”
The standoff between National Grid and Mr. Cuomo’s administration began in May, after New York regulators blocked the construction of a much-disputed $1 billion pipeline that would have run 37 miles from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and New York.
At the time, National Grid, which provides gas to 1.8 million customers in New York City and on Long Island, said the pipeline was crucial to meeting a rising demand for natural gas amid booming development in southern New York.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I see low gas pressures, pilot lights not staying on and the entire gas grid freezing up.
Sounds like National Grid doesn’t have the capacity without the new pipeline.
When I really want to know how something works...I ask a Politician.....NOT
I hope they get a nice cold snap that stresses the system. This is akin to legislating that Pi = 3. You can do it, but you might not like the results.
Who pays the penalty?
Venezuela just needs Cuomo to take charge, and all will be well.
You see - there is no contradiction at all between limiting supply, increasing supply costs with ridiculous politically/enviro regulations, and getting utilities to actually supply the goods.
These lousy capitalists are always holding out on good social-justice causes, the proper marxist response is just to squeeze them harder!!
Coumo is going to make National Grid the next PG&E. Bankrupt from lawsuits.
So, they settle for low/no gas pressure ‘in the system’ when demand is high ... thanks, Mario - I mean Andrew!
Only in America! ?????
No longer the America I thought I grew up in.
re: “Who pays the penalty?”
Ahhh you, if you’re in National Grid’s service area ...
Democrats are NOT impressed with reality...
National Grid will be trucking compressed gas to NY to make up for any shortfalls in the pipeline supply.
I thought the same thing watching the politicized PG&E drama before this National Grid dispute with Cuomo came about. Investors think that utility stocks are for "widows and orphans." That's about to change drastically, certainly for utilities in places like CA, IL, NY and NJ. Utilities are in direct conflict with the political schemes of socialist politicians.
Here is another thing:
“The utility also agreed to pay $36 million in penalties, with $7 million meant to directly compensate people who were affected by the moratorium.”
Those financial charges will eventually be passed on to National Grid customers or will come in the form of reduced service. Meanwhile the money from the fine will fund Democrat wet dreams.
And then demands the UTILITY PAY the STATE 36 million dollars in penalties for the “privilege” of not being able supply enough gas through the pipeline network that STATE deliberately restricted.
National Grid should just shut itself down for one week, citing “crucial maintenance issues” related to aging infrastructure.
If the customers didn't get hooked up, they would have to find alternatives anyway.
The northeast is a disaster waiting to happen, as large as California and their fires.
There will come a time when a polar vortex will hit the northeast, everyone will need heat and power, and the grid will go down for an extended period. Solar panels won't work covered with snow, and they stop windmills from operating in snow. This will be a life or death situation, and people in the northeast need to prepare themselves.
This is going to be very expensive. It is like picking up cargo at a port and instead of loading whole containers onto a train that is pulling hundreds of containers, taking a few boxes at a time and driving them across the country with the boxes in the back of your pickup.
Not to mention the results when one of those trucks crashes.
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