Electric Substation Theft Yields Little; Substation Thefts Can Cost Thousands to Repair

Today’s power outage, which as of 2:30 pm was still affecting portions of Granville, was the result of an apparent attempt to steal copper grounding wire from an electric power substation. The substation, photographed as AEP worked on their repairs, is located behind the old BP station near the intersection of State Route 16 and Cherry Street.

One or more thieves cut a hole in a chain link fence and started to remove copper grounding wire. The wire is roughly the thickness of a little finger. A spark went off and the individual or individuals ran off.

Thefts from electric power substations can be a dangerous business and frequently yield little to the thieves. That was the case with this incident as only a small amount of copper wire was taken. However, repairs needed due to this sort of theft can run upwards of $20,000.

After repairing the Granville substation, the AEP crew was reportedly headed to Lancaster to repair another substation that had fallen victim to a potential theft attempt.