National Grid crews continue to demonstrate tremendous progress re-lighting natural gas at homes and businesses across New York City and on Long Island, including many of the communities that were hardest-hit by Hurricane Sandy.

On Sunday, all New York City customers who could safely accept natural gas were restored, and National Grid expected to complete restoration by Tuesday for Long Island customers who can safely accept gas service at their homes and businesses.

Sixty-four percent of the properties requiring safety inspections have been re-lit on Long Island and the Rockaways and 90 percent have been restored in New York City.Crews are continuing to work around the clock to complete safety inspections, relight customers, and rebuild parts of the natural gas system that were severely damaged or completely destroyed by the hurricane.

For example, in the New Dorp Beach area of Staten Island, 500 feet of new gas main has been installed. In addition to work crews, National Grid continues to deploy hundreds of community liaisons throughout the service area, who are working side-by-side with state and local government officials, first responders, and relief agencies to provide information, updates and supplies in order to return customers to their homes and businesses as soon as possible.

Throughout the restoration process, National Grid wants customers and municipalities to know that it is prepared with mutual aid in the form of materials in addition to work crews, so the 24/7 efforts will continue uninterrupted.

If customers smell natural gas they should call National Grid as soon as possible at the following numbers:

Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island: 718-643-4050

On Long Island and the Rockaways: 1-800-490-0045

If you do not smell natural gas but have no gas service please call:

Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island: 718-643-4050

On Long Island and the Rockaways: 1-800-930-5003

National Grid (LSE: NG; NYSE:NGG) is an electricity and gas company that connects consumers to energy sources through its networks. The company is at the heart of one of the greatest challenges facing our society - to create new, sustainable energy solutions for the future and develop an energy system that underpins economic prosperity in the 21st century.

National Grid holds a vital position at the center of the energy system and it ‘joins everything up.’

In the northeast U.S., National Grid connects more than seven million gas and electric customers to vital energy sources, essential for our modern lifestyles. In Great Britain, it runs the gas and electricity systems that our society is built on, delivering gas and electricity across the country.

National Grid delivers electricity to more than 3 million customers in Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island. It manages the electricity network on Long Island under an agreement with the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), and owns over 4,000 megawatts of contracted electricity generation, providing power to over one million LIPA customers. It is the largest distributor of natural gas in the northeastern United States, serving more than 3 million customers in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.