Copper theft is still a major issue for your co-op! More than 50,000 feet of copper was stolen from our poles over the last few months in Live Oak and Bee counties.

Yesterday, we had a member report seeing a bucket truck near the location of one theft. We believe these culprits know what they are doing, and may look like they are legitimately working on our poles when they are stealing copper.

Please be on the lookout and report any activity near our poles at night, whether you think it’s legitimate or not. Our employees can be identified by a SPEC logo on their uniform and truck. No one else is authorized to work on our utility poles overnight.

The thefts have happened overnight along secluded county roads that don’t see a lot of traffic. These thieves are cutting the neutral wire on our poles, and are removing as much copper as they can. They are also causing damage to the public by cutting through fences and accessing private property to get to copper wire.

While this theft has not caused any service issues for our members, it is a big expense for the cooperative to go back and replace all of the damaged wire. Copper theft results in thousands of dollars in damages, and there isn’t an insurance option to cover the cost of power line theft.

Copper is valuable as scrap and the profits can be tempting for thieves. Scrap dealers will pay nearly $3 per pound of copper. To fight back against this threat, SPEC has moved to using aluminum wire instead of copper over the last several years. It has a much lower scrap value and is less likely to be stolen.

However, there are still poles in our service territory with copper wire. And with nearly 3,200 miles of line, it’s impossible to monitor every mile.

Again, we ask for your help in catching these thieves. If you notice anything suspicious, or know anything about these crimes, please contact your local sheriff’s office.