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Overcast National Grid waives fees for Sandy victims
Reverses decision to charge residents who are rebuilding, elevating
National Grid announced last week that it would cease charging fees to Hurricane Sandy victims who are in the process of demolishing or elevating their homes for disconnecting and reconnecting their natural gas lines.
The news comes just weeks after State Assemblyman Todd Kaminksy called on the utility to continue providing relief for homeowners and announced that he planned to hold a rally at the company’s Island Park location to protest the fees.
In the wake of the storm, National Grid waived its gas service line alteration fees and associated reconnection fees for Sandy-damaged homes. But beginning on June 15, those homeowners began receiving bills for $700 to disconnect their gas. In some cases, Kaminksy said, others who were ready to reconnect their gas lines were charged more than $2,000. The waiver has been reinstated through March 31 and Kaminsky urged all residents to pursue the process of elevating their homes so that they can take advantage of the window.
A hotline has been set up for homeowners who were charged a disconnection fee this summer. Residents who wish to be reimbursed should call (800) 930-5003. Kaminsky said that National Grid considers the waiver a regional offer, and that anyone raising a home in an area that was inundated with flooding during Sandy qualifies for it.
“I am very pleased that National Grid will discontinue charging storm victims and fund the costs associated with these required infrastructure improvements,” Kaminsky said. “Storm victims have been through so much — an additional charge, which would have cost already beleaguered families thousands of dollars, was the last thing that they needed.”
He added that county legislator Denise Ford and Island Park Mayor Michael McGinty also pushed for the relief. According to Kaminsky, the June 15 cutoff was not publicized in advance, and many residents still struggling to get back into their homes were caught off guard.
“The people that are just going through things now are the worst off,” he said. “These are the people that have been living somewhere else or are in deep debt. And they need to be treated with the most amount of respect.”
