By Olivia Garber, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The latest in a spate of copper thefts left 3,800 Cranberry residents without power for most of the day Wednesday, when someone broke into a substation and removed copper wiring.
Penn Power spokesman Doug Colafella said that around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday, someone cut through a barbed wire fence surrounding a substation in northern Cranberry and removed all the copper ground wires, somehow making contact with the electrically charged equipment that triggered a minor explosion. The explosion damaged the transformer, causing the power outage.
Power was restored to most residents by 8 p.m., Mr. Colafella said.
It was the fourth time in the past week that Penn Power has had copper stolen. Substations in New Castle, Zelienople and Cranberry were all targeted, although Cranberry police Sgt. Chuck Mascellino said that it's too soon to say whether all the thefts are related. The amount of copper stolen is still unknown.
Although power was restored later Wednesday, repairing substations after a copper theft is an inconvenience, especially since electricity use peaks on hotter days, Mr. Colafella said. But these nuisances are happening more frequently.
As the price of copper rises, so does theft. In 2009, when thefts weren't as frequent, Mr. Colafella said, copper was sold for about $2 per pound. That number has since doubled, and people who take copper to scrap metal yards can get as much as $4 per pound.
Although Mr. Colafella didn't know how much the copper thief made off with, he said that the required repairs typically are more costly than the value of the stolen copper. He estimated that it can cost up to $6,000 to repair damage after someone steals about $100 worth of copper.
Sgt. Mascellino said police recovered several items of evidence and were checking area hospitals for anyone with flash burns. Mr. Colafella said there is a "distinct possibility that this person was injured because of the damage" done to the substation.
Penn Power isn't the only company affected by the growing trend of copper thefts.
Lee Gierczynski, a spokesman for Verizon, said the company has had about a dozen cases this year in southwestern Pennsylvania, and in 2010, more than 18,000 feet of copper cable was damaged or stolen.
Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania has warned its customers about the increased theft of copper piping from vacant homes, asking them to watch out for suspicious behavior.
Duquesne Light spokesman Joe Vallarian said higher copper prices generally mean more thefts for the company. He said the utility employs a variety of security measures to combat thefts, but declined to elaborate.
Some general security measures include making the wire distinctive to a particular company, such as painting it a certain color so scrap metal yards know what to watch for.
Sgt. Mascellino said that in the past, distinctive wires helped Cranberry police catch copper thieves.
Stealing copper from a substation carries a deadly risk. Mr. Vallarian said most Duquesne Light substations handle electrical lines that carry up to 138,000 volts. Touch the wrong thing, he said, and "it will kill you in a second."
Olivia Garber: 412-263-1985 or ogarber@post-gazette.com.
