Copper theft across Hawke’s Bay electrical network soars

Earth cables stolen and damaged for their copper content at two Unison power poles in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Unison

Hawke’s Bay thieves are putting their own lives and the lives of others on the line to steal copper from the region’s electrical network.

In the past two months, electricity distributor Unison has reported a 1000 per cent increase in the number of missing copper earth cables, compared with previous months.

Rachel Masters, Unison’s acting group general manager for people, safety and culture, said the earth cable was a crucial safety feature and Unison had found 35 missing from its power poles in the past two months.

“Earth cables are designed so that they can shut off the power if there’s a problem, like a power line coming into contact with the ground. This a vital piece of equipment to have intact for everyone’s safety,” she said.

The thefts were an urgent issue as electricity could kill and those interfering with the network were putting everyone at risk.

“We need to spread the message that stealing copper in this way is incredibly dangerous and reckless,” she said.

A spokesperson for Hawke’s Bay Police said copper, along with scrap metal, has “always been a target of thieves as it can be on-sold for quick cash.”

Police said copper spouting on houses can also be a target, and there remain a number of potentially vulnerable, unoccupied homes in cyclone-affected parts of the region.

Jayden Falcon, Unison marketing co-ordinator, said the theft of copper across the network had been a problem in the past, but the current thefts were entirely along the Hawke’s Bay network in Napier and Hastings and were not a problem for Unison in its Rotorua or Taupō networks.

Unison was not aware of anyone being arrested for any of the latest thefts.

Jimi Cooper, manager of Hawke’s Bay Scrap Metal, said he hadn’t noticed any recent increase in the number of people bringing in copper, but the business had procedures in place before processing it.

“Each person that brings in copper needs a photo ID for starters, which will create a track record in our database. Then from there, we will take their name, address, phone number and all that gets logged into our computer.”

He said once the material had been weighed and the person paid, based on the weight and quality, the copper would be stored and segregated for 14 days with its docket denoting the date it was brought in and its weight.

“If we get a phone call or email from the police saying there is copper that has been stolen for whatever reason, they will generally tell us what it is and give us a rough date of when it was stolen.”

If staff found anything that matched the stolen material, police would arrive to take photos, get information and arrest the culprit.

“We have had stuff here before that was stolen,” Cooper said. “That person, we take them out of the system. They are banned from coming here.”

James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz