Gov. Andrew Cuomo is threatening to revoke National Grid’s certificate to offer natural gas service in downstate New York.

Cuomo sent a letter to National Grid on Tuesday giving the company 14 days to respond. State utility regulators this fall took aim at National Grid for denying natural gas service to more than 1,100 customers in Queens and Brooklyn since May. The company blamed New York’s rejection of an application for a $1 billion pipeline to bring natural gas from Pennsylvania’s shale gas fields.

An investigation by the state Public Service Commission found that many of the 1,100 customers were existing customers whose natural gas service hadn’t been used in 24 months because buildings or homes were in the midst of extensive renovations. The Public Service Commission also found that restoring service to those customers wouldn’t increase the peak load on National Grid’s system by enough to be a serious problem for the company or for customers.

National Grid then reversed course and began connecting customers, though Cuomo now claims National Grid took advantage of the public by not preparing for a way to bring gas to New York City and Long Island unless a new pipeline is built.

“The bottom line here is National Grid is a franchisee,” Cuomo told Kristen Shaughnessy of NY1 on Tuesday. “They are licensed by the state to provide service to the consumers of the state. What they have said is if they do not get this new pipeline approved, which as you said is a pipeline that goes from Pennsylvania to New York, which means New Jersey has to approve it and it has to be built. If they do not get this new gas pipeline then they cannot provide any new gas service and they enacted what they call a moratorium. And it has disastrous consequences, literally people who had turned off their gas for a short period of time to remodel their home cannot get their gas. There can’t be any new development. I do not accept the premise that if there is no pipeline there is no gas. Their job was to provide a plan for future supply. That is one of their essential responsibilities. To say, well, we were hoping to get this pipeline and we really want a pipeline. And even though it could be stopped by other states and it could take a long time to build, that was our only plan. I think that was irresponsible and reckless. And there have to be alternatives to bring gas to New York City and Long Island. You can truck gas, you can barge gas, you can go to alternative energy supplies. So that is their job to do that and if they cannot do their job then we should get someone else.”

A National Grid spokeswoman says the company’s reviewing Cuomo’s letter. During the October meeting of the state Public Service Commission, commission members upheld a one-commissioner order that forced National Grid to reconnect the customers. During that discussion, commission members voiced displeasure with the way National Grid handled the situation, including confusing communications with customers that even National Grid officials admitted should have been handled better.

Commission members also discussed the fact that there could be issues with natural gas supply for the downstate region of New York state. John Sano, Public Service Commission utility supervisor in the Gas, Rates and Supply section of the Office of Electric, Gas and Water, presented the commission’s annual review into the readiness of the state’s natural gas utilities for the coming year. That review noted that Enbridge, the owner of the Texas Eastern and Algonquin pipelines, is reducing pressure on both pipelines as part of a corrective action order from the federal government.

“The capacity reductions that result from this action, will impact deliveries in to the downstate Goethals and south Manhattan gate stations,” Sano said. “This creates an immediate reliability challenge in the downstate New York region and is an example of how a single point of failure on the Interstate Pipeline System, can impact operations in New York.”

Commissioner Diane Burman said she is concerned about the commission’s policy of limiting new natural gas while customers struggle to find other fuels when gas is not available. It is important for the commission to address constraint issues in the supply of natural gas in the wake of the public’s demand for gas, evidenced by National Grid’s issues with new hookups.

“In a sense, we’re also acknowledging the need for gas,” Burman said. “We’re acknowledging the need that customers have a right to demand whatever it is, whether it’s gas, whether it’s electric, whether it’s heat pumps, that customers have the right to demand what they want.”