Rise in value brings increase in theft of utilities' copper wire

The increasing theft of copper wire used in electrical lines is putting Snohomish County PUD workers and the public in danger, officials say.

Global copper prices have more than doubled during the past three years and thieves are looking everywhere for the hot commodity. Increasingly utilities across the nation have been the target of these thieves, including the Snohomish County Public Utility District.

PUD officials say they began noticing an increase in the theft of copper wire last year. During 2005, about $6,800 worth of wire was stolen during four incidents. This year, more than $11,000 in wire has been lost in a dozen thefts.

There have been some arrests related to the thefts, but none of the copper wire has been recovered.

Thieves have taken the copper wire from storage grounds, the back of trucks and active high-voltage lines. Two weeks ago, a thief stole several thousand feet of copper wire from a live line taken down during the snowstorm, said PUD officials.

On Nov. 1, while attempting to steal cable from an abandoned industrial site near Maltby, a thief cut into an energized 12,000-volt cable. The PUD suspects the person must have suffered severe flash burns, and the agency sent out alerts to local hospitals hoping to catch the culprit.

Such thefts put the suspects at great risk, as well as the crews who then must replace the line, said David Behar, the PUD's senior manager for security and emergency management.

"The people doing this have no idea how much danger they are exposing themselves to," Behar said. "It's surprising that we haven't had any reported fatalities yet, but beyond putting themselves at risk, they put the public and our employees at risk because they create significant electrical hazards by stealing wire and cable."

Across the nation, there have been about 10 electrocutions reported this year during copper-wire thefts. In Washington, a man died in October while attempting to steal copper grounding wire from a Clark County regulator station.

Officials there say the man cut into the station, and while attempting to remove the grounding wire, brushed against a live component of the system and was electrocuted.

"These are fenced areas with barbed wire, danger and high-voltage signs," said Clark Public Utilities spokesman Mick Shutt. "Clearly, these are places you don't just wander into."

If the thief had been successful, any employee then touching the regulator without the grounding wire could have been seriously hurt or killed, Shutt said.

Thieves most likely are selling the wire to scrap-metal dealers, where there are few laws protecting the market from stolen goods. Copper is selling for more than $3 a pound these days, compared with less than $1.25 in January 2004.

Unlike the pawn-broker business, there are few rules in the scrap-metal industry to prevent the quick sale of stolen goods.

"Under the state's pawnbroker statute, it requires a name, address and license number of anyone bringing something in for sale to prevent theft," said Dave Warren, government-relations director for the Washington Public Utility Districts Association. "But there's an exemption for scrap metal."

The association hopes to close that loophole next year as it prepares draft legislation for state lawmakers to consider.

Under the draft legislation being passed among legislators, anyone selling scrap metal such as copper wire would need to provide information similar to what is required of someone selling to a pawnbroker. Warren said the legislation, if approved, also could impose a waiting period before the metal could be sold or before a seller would be paid. Utilities also want sellers to sign affidavits that the material is not stolen.

But utilities can't afford to wait for a new law and are taking steps to prevent such thefts. At the Snohomish County PUD, they've taken steps to doubly secure materials or make them less attractive targets.

The PUD also has created a poster with pictures of the different kinds of wire and materials it routinely uses and sent them to metal recyclers. The hope is that they'll spot stolen wire and call police.

At the Bonneville Power Administration, which supplies electricity throughout the Northwest, officials even have offered up to a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. This year, Bonneville has had about 50 thefts of copper wire at various facilities and stations, including an incident in King County last week.

There, thieves stole about $4,250 worth of copper wire from two maintenance trucks located at Bonneville's Covington substation.

For utilities, it's not just a safety issue, but a financial one. While the cost of replacing copper lines increases, the cost of repairing damage to substations and lines is a larger problem.

"In most cases, the damage done during the course of the theft is 10 times the value of the metal stolen," Behar said. "Often, there's so much damage in cutting and hacking that for $5 worth of copper, we have $50 in repairs."

Bonneville officials report about $150,000 in materials and wire has been lost this year to thieves, but the cost of repairs has been nearly $1 million.

Christopher Schwarzen: 425-783-0577 or cschwarzen@seattletimes.com