Copper thieves knock out power to 5,700 customers, RMP says

Copper thieves knock out power to 5,700 customers, RMP says

(Mary Richards/KSL NewsRadio)


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WEST JORDAN — A brazen thief got away with an estimated 80 feet of copper wire Thursday morning, which knocked out power to customers in three cities.

But both police and Rocky Mountain Power officials also say the person, or people, who committed the crime were also inches away from death.

"What happened here was very dangerous and a high chance this person could have been killed," said Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Paul Murphy.

Just after 7 a.m., someone cut the lock to the Jordan Parkway Substation, near 7200 South and 1100 West, and took out of the substation about 80 feet of copper wire that was in use, said West Jordan Police Sgt. Dan Roberts.

Power was knocked out to 5,765 Rocky Mountain Power customers in West Jordan, Midvale and Taylorsville. Crews started restoring power a little after 8:30 a.m. All customers had power restored by 9 a.m.

People depend on electricity for medical equipment, traffic signals and simply having their alarm clocks get them up in the morning, Murphy said.

But aside from the nuisance of not having power, stealing copper wire is extremely dangerous. The substation had 138,000 volts of electricity coming into it at the time of the theft and 12,500 volts going out, he said.

"These are high-voltage wires, (the thieves) apparently knew what they were doing," Murphy said. "I think any average Joe who tried this would get killed."

"It's very, very dangerous, and it's not uncommon across the country for people to be killed doing this stuff," Roberts added.

The copper wire that was stolen was replaced with steel wires, Roberts said. Replacing copper with steel wires is a growing trend across the country to combat copper thefts, he said.

Thieves take copper because they can get more money for it at metal recycling companies. Steel has virtually no value at recycling plants, Roberts said.

Anyone with information on the copper thieves, or anyone who saw something suspicious around the substation is asked to call police at 801-840-4000.

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