ohio – Copper Theft and Substation Safety – Cresatech

Copper theft blamed for another fatality in Cleveland Ohio

Mark Cowan — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 09:41:14 +0000

Copper theft has been blamed for another fatality.

by Mark Cowan

Copper theft has been blamed for another fatality.

A 47-year-old Cleveland resident is thought to have died from electrocution after cutting into a live power wire in an abandoned building.

Former Goodwill building on East 55th Street in Cleveland (Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com)

Police investigators told local media outlets copper theft was likely involved.

An online report from Cleveland.com indicates the electrocuted man’s body was found at an abandoned building on the city’s east side. According to the media report, as of Jan. 31, 2018, the medical examiner’s office had not yet determined an official cause of death, but police reports indicate he appeared to die of electrocution.
That same police report indicates the victim’s body was found by another individual who admitted he had entered the same building to look for potential scrap metal. The police document also states the dead man was found inside a room that had a “high voltage” sign on the door.

The Cleveland.com report indicates the victim, who was named on the website, had previously “been convicted several times for breaking into buildings in order to steal items, including scrap metal, according to court records,” and it recounts a series of arrests dating back to 2005.

In late December 2017, the bodies of two electrocuted men were found inside a Detroit electrical substation, with police also making an initial determination that copper wire and cable theft was involved.

Content by recyclingtoday.com

Tags: Cleveland, copper theft, ohio

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Electric Vehicles drive copper price and theft to new heights

Mark Cowan — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 15:57:00 +0000

Electric Vehicles drive copper price and theft to new heights

by Mark Cowan

As we start the new year, the indications are that copper theft will continue to be a challenging and accelerating problem in 2018.

A recent report from the US National Insurance Crime Bureau (NIBC) states that 28,040 metal theft claims were processed from 2014 through 2016, with over 98 percent of these instances relating to copper.

Tesla Canary Wharf

The NICB report also confirms what the industry has suspected for some time – “When the number of metal theft claims and copper prices are compared, a statistically significant positive correlation was found to exist.”

Ohio is the metal theft capital of the United States with 3,060 metal theft claims. Other states in the top five were New Jersey (2,661), Pennsylvania (2,435), New York (2,005) and Illinois (1,448). However, anecdotal evidence suggests this is just the tip of the iceberg, as the majority of thefts are not ever claimed or reported.

Substation Safety

For utility companies, the safe operation of electricity distribution infrastructure is paramount, and the theft of copper jeopardizes the safety of utility employees and the public, not to mention the thieves themselves; and all for a few bucks in scrap metal cost. Metal plays a vital part in the Electricity transmission and distribution system. One wrong cut of copper on a substation can cause a grounded component to become energized at thousands of volts, leading to death or severe injury, potential supply outages and damage to expensive equipment that customers ultimately pay for.

Demand for Copper

Last year saw the price of copper surge 40 percent to its highest level in four years. According to Bloomberg, COMEX copper prices reached their highest peak of $3.69 per pound on 4th January 2013. Now, after a short dip they are again rising to similar levels, closing at $3.23 a pound on 5th January 2018. According to analysis from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, global economic growth and demand from China in particular, means that copper will continue to remain in high demand and at a high price. In addition, the seemingly unstoppable move towards electric vehicles (EV’s) and increased investment in renewable energy will create significant further demand.

Electric Vehicles

Take autos; according to the Financial Times, today’s conventional internal combustion engine cars contain about 20kg of copper. Hybrids use about 40kg and an average pure battery powered electric car requires about 80kg – four times the amount used in a conventional vehicle. Building the EV fleet will use about 11m tonnes of copper. Subtract the amount that would have been used in the conventional vehicles ‘displaced’ by EVs, and that still results in about 8.5m tonnes of genuine new demand, equivalent to more than a third of total global copper demand today. Such additional demand can only drive copper prices up to new highs over the next few years.

Cresatech CuTS®

To combat the growing risk and ensure electricity substation safety and they are kept operational, utility companies are increasingly investing in monitoring the critical copper grounding infrastructure. Cresatech’s low cost CuTS® solution permanently and automatically monitors metal grounding and transformer neutrals on electricity substations for integrity, alerting in real time for disconnection, theft or damage.

If you want to learn more, meet Cresatech at the CEATI conference March 6th to 7th in Tucson http://www.ceati.com/SPRING2018/

or contact Cresatech directly at any time.

Tags: copper theft, Electric Vehicles, NICB, ohio, Substation Safety

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Copper Metal Thefts Still a Problem according to NICB

Mark Cowan — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 10:17:06 +0000

Copper Metal Thefts Still a Problem according to NICB

by Mark Cowan

Insurance claims for metal theft continue to fall, but the problem is far from over for electric cooperatives and others, a new report shows. The National Insurance Crime Bureau said 28,040 claims were processed from 2014 through 2016. That’s down 22 percent from the period of 2013 through 2015.

Throughout all four years, copper accounted for 98 percent of the metals reported stolen and, for the most part, copper prices fell over that time—meaning thieves got less for their efforts.
According to the NICB report “When the number of metal theft claims and copper prices are compared, a statistically significant positive correlation was found to exist.”

Copper prices
According to Bloomberg, COMEX copper prices went from $3.69 per pound on Jan. 4, 2013, to $2.50 per pound on Dec. 30, 2016. However, prices have been rising this year, and on Nov. 24, 2017, copper closed at $3.19 a pound.

NICB
NICB also said laws targeting metal theft have helped, including measures requiring sellers to show identification and receive payments by checks. “Some states and local governments have increased the penalties associated with metal theft or are charging thieves with additional crimes if the theft caused damage to infrastructure or created a hazard to the public,” the report noted. As co-ops can testify, fixing the damage is often far more expensive than replacing the copper.

Laws aren’t a foolproof solution. “Identifying stolen metal is not always possible, and opposition to these laws has made it difficult to get effective measures passed in some areas. Even in areas where such laws exist, some unscrupulous scrap dealers may not abide by them, and enforcement of the laws has not always been a major priority until recent years when increases in metal thefts brought more attention to the problem.” And it is a problem, because as the report points out, “thieves have been willing to go to almost any length to obtain the metal.”

Co-ops are among the victims, with NICB noting that “electrical substations are frequently targeted, and some thieves have been electrocuted trying to steal live electrical wiring.”

It’s something Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives knows all too well. NICB said Ohio had 3,060 metal theft claims from 2014 through 2016, the most of any state, though it’s down from the 4,042 recorded 2013-2015. “We are glad to see the overall numbers coming down, and we have noticed some decline in Ohio, but we remain on top of this tarnished list of states for metal theft,” said Dwight Miller, director of safety and loss control at Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives. “Thieves in Ohio continue to jeopardize the safety of Ohio’s cooperative employees, the public, and especially themselves for a few bucks in scrap metal cost.”
Miller noted that different types of metal play a vital part in the transmission and distribution system. “And one wrong cut of copper—the most popular type of metal to steal—can cause a grounded component to become energized at thousands of volts, leading to severe injury and damage to expensive equipment that the member ultimately pays for.”

Following Ohio, the other states in the top five for metal theft claims were New Jersey (2,661), Pennsylvania (2,435), New York (2,005) and Illinois (1,448).

Content: cooperative.com

Tags: copper theft, NICB, ohio, substation copper theft, Substation Safety

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ohio – Copper Theft and Substation Safety – Cresatech

Copper theft blamed for another fatality in Cleveland Ohio

Copper theft has been blamed for another fatality.

Copper theft has been blamed for another fatality.

A 47-year-old Cleveland resident is thought to have died from electrocution after cutting into a live power wire in an abandoned building.

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Electric Vehicles drive copper price and theft to new heights

Electric Vehicles drive copper price and theft to new heights

As we start the new year, the indications are that copper theft will continue to be a challenging and accelerating problem in 2018.

A recent report from the US National Insurance Crime Bureau (NIBC) states that 28,040 metal theft claims were processed from 2014 through 2016, with over 98 percent of these instances relating to copper.

Share this entry

Copper Metal Thefts Still a Problem according to NICB

Copper Metal Thefts Still a Problem according to NICB

Insurance claims for metal theft continue to fall, but the problem is far from over for electric cooperatives and others, a new report shows. The National Insurance Crime Bureau said 28,040 claims were processed from 2014 through 2016. That’s down 22 percent from the period of 2013 through 2015.

Share this entry