Firelands Electric Cooperative
victim of copper theft – offers $500 reward!

Many electric utilities are reporting theft of wire and equipment, and Firelands Electric Cooperative also was hit recently by thieves stealing copper wire from poles and even some underground cable.

Firelands Electric is offering a $500 reward to anyone providing information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for tampering with or stealing Firelands’ wire, cable, or other electrical equipment. Call (800) 533-8658 – 24 hours a day – to report suspicious activity.

The price of copper has risen dramatically in the past year and this has created an incentive for thieves. On Wednesday, a price quote from Milliron Industries in Mansfield was $2.60 per pound for #1 copper. That price is much higher than the less-than-a-dollar prices from a couple of years ago; but even at today’s high prices, utility employees are puzzled that anyone would go to the trouble to steal wire.

“There is a lot of work and risk involved,” said Firelands’ Line Superintendent Don Englet, “Six or eight feet of copper wire off a power pole is worth about $1.50 or less, and to risk jail time or electrocution for $1.50 is nuts! If you hit fifty poles, you could get maybe about $75 – if the copper was #1 condition.” Englet continued, “Firelands Electric’s cost to repair the damage to those 50 poles would be over $1000!”

Thieves also stole a section of Firelands’ live primary underground cable carrying 7,200 volts of electricity. “The end of the cable burned when they cut it,” said Englet, “and they could have been killed instantly.” Ironically, underground cable has very little value because it contains about 90% plastic insulation with a relatively small aluminum conductor and a very small amount of copper. “Most scrap dealers don’t want underground primary cable because it is too expensive to recover the metal,” said Englet.

Recently, the Huron County Sheriff arrested a thief in the act of stealing wire from Firelands Electric’s poles. When questioned, the thief said, “Everyone’s doing it.” Apparently, recent news stories of electrocution deaths in Ohio related to the theft of wire from electric utility poles and substations have had little effect on the general population.

Please contact Firelands at (800) 533-8658 – 24 hours a day – to report suspicious activity.