WA utilities and telecoms say copper wire theft is at ‘crisis level’

A public utility in Mason County has started labeling its power poles hoisting fiber-optic cables so thieves don’t mistake the lines for expensive copper wire.

“This wire is steel core, not copper,” the notice reads. “It has no scrap value!”

The public notice is a step Mason County’s Public Utility District No. 3 is taking to respond to the destruction of cables as wire cutters get increasingly brazen. In one case, a Thanksgiving Day copper wire theft from underground electrical vaults on the Tahuya Peninsula left around a thousand homes without power.

“These aren’t isolated incidents; copper theft is increasing across Mason County,” Justin Holzgrove, director of engineering and utility services at the PUD, told a state Senate committee this month. “Despite requirements for ID, waiting