Seattle City Light is struggling to keep up with copper wire thieves. Some neighborhoods were left in the dark as the utility company worked to get a handle on the problem.
People living off of Martin Luther King Jr. Way say they’ve spent weeks in the dark.
”I mean it’s frustrating,” said John Coley.
Coley was not surprised to learn copper wire theft was to blame.
“The fact that there’s a lot of copper thieving going on, no that’s not new,” said Coley.
Seattle City Light saw an unprecedented number of wire thefts in 2019, with at least 35 incidents.
About 100 lights along Martin Luther King Jr Way, 40 lights around Seola Gardens in White Center, 100 lights in Holly Park and 19 lights in Rainier Vista are either already restored or in the process of being fixed.
Thieves access handholes underground, cut the wire, pull it out, strip the casing, and in some cases, sell the copper to recycling businesses.
Jonathan Howe works at West Seattle Recycling. He said he would've liked to know about the uptick in copper wire thefts.
”Nothing’s been communicated to us that this is the wire to look out for. That’s a big problem,” said Howe.
Howe said, right now, high-grade copper wire is going for $1.20 per pound at his facility.
State law requires recycling businesses to document who’s selling copper.
”They give me their ID and then I scan the data, if it’s under 30 bucks I pay them cash,” said Howe.
Howe said finding out about the ongoing copper wire theft problem in Seattle is shocking, especially as the value of copper has dropped over the last three weeks due to slowing demand in China, likely related to the COVID-19 virus.
”It’s very disappointing, because it’s something that shouldn’t be happening. Because it’s been going on a long time and occasionally it bubbles to the surface,” said Howe.
In response to the uptick, Seattle City Light is exploring stringing overhead wire to temporarily get some lights back on until there’s a permanent fix.
Seattle City Light is also initiating a streetlight controls pilot, which will allow for the ability to remotely control individual lights. The lights will transmit health reports back to the utility company. Crews will know when a light is out without having to wait for a customer report.
If you spot any suspicious activity involving a street light, you are urged to report it to police. You can also report a streetlight outage using an online report form: www.seattle.gov/light/streetlight/