National Grid Brings Natural Gas Pipeline To LI Village In Region First

EAST HILLS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island village is working with National Grid to install 14 miles of gas pipelines to improve gas heating access to residents.

East Village, of Nassau County, guaranteed a number of hook-ups in exchange for National Grid to complete the installations, CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported.

"The option to have gas service not only to fuel their homes, heat their homes, but also to be able to connect to generator can make the difference between being prepared in an emergency and not being prepared in an emergency," Senator Jack Martins, who helped facilitate the deal, said.

Jana Goldenberg is counting the days until she can cook and heat her house with natural gas.

"The oil companies were giving me a problem, you call one minute it's a dollar, the next minute its five dollars," Goldberg said.

Gas in East Hills has only been available in small clusters, with a hookup for one house costing up to tens of thousands of dollars.

Now, residents must pay for their own new gas boiler -- but for the first time, they will have a choice.

"The average person who does a conversion to gas will be able to pay for the system toady within four to six years," East Hills Deputy Mayor Manny Zuckeran said.

National Grid said connection fees will be waived for new customers, which will be covered by the company's expansion budget.

The deal has Long Island's Oil Heat Institute asking why the government is taking sides in the heated gas-versus-oil debate. The organization claims that with NY regulations, oil heat burns as clean as gas and upfront costs could take decades to recoup.

National Grid said crews are avoiding digging up streets for most of the work and expect to be finished by Memorial Day.