Reward! Stop copper thieves

It’s definitely worth your while!

South Car­oli­na’s elec­tric coop­er­a­tives donat­ed $15,000 to Crime Stop­pers of South Car­oli­na to help offer rewards up to $1,000 for tips lead­ing to suc­cess­ful crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion of cop­per thieves.

If you missed our Octo­ber 2012 cov­er sto­ry in South Car­oli­na Liv­ing mag­a­zine, allow us to high­light again our pub­lic aware­ness cam­paign to com­bat cop­per theft in local com­mu­ni­ties: York Elec­tric and oth­er S.C. co-ops have part­nered with Crime Stop­pers of South Car­oli­na, a non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion that offers cash rewards for tips that solve active crimes. We’re out to alert peo­ple to the costs and dan­gers asso­ci­at­ed with cop­per theft.

The pos­si­bil­i­ty of earn­ing a reward isn’t the only way you can ben­e­fit: Cop­per theft loss­es and repair costs are ulti­mate­ly borne by co-op members—and they run into the thou­sands. Col­lec­tive­ly, S.C. elec­tric co-ops have spent more than $1 mil­lion on cop­per theft-relat­ed inci­dents since the start of 2011. Accord­ing to a 2010 study by the U.S. Depart­ment of Ener­gy, cop­per theft costs Amer­i­can util­i­ties $300 mil­lion a year.

The crime also endan­gers co-op linework­ers and mem­bers as well as their prop­er­ty. If a cop­per thief takes the ground wire at the meter, there’s less pro­tec­tion for the home against surges that light­ning strikes can cause. For the co-ops, cop­per theft at sub­sta­tions or oth­er facil­i­ties seri­ous­ly jeop­ar­dizes our oper­a­tions and endan­gers our employ­ees.

It’s hard to muster much sym­pa­thy for thieves—or would-be thieves, since there have been many inci­dents of peo­ple being elec­tro­cut­ed while attempt­ing to steal cop­per. If you think you may know some­one who is tempt­ed to try it, do him or her a favor and call 1–888-CRIMESC (274‑6372). You might save a life, includ­ing that of the inno­cent peo­ple who cop­per theft endan­gers.

Any­one who has any infor­ma­tion about cop­per thieves can call Crime Stop­pers and give us a chance to put these crim­i­nals where they belong. By doing your part, you’ll help hold down the cost of your elec­tric ser­vice while help­ing us keep it reli­able and safe.

Thank you!