Copper Theft Presents Opportunity in Utilities Market

Published Nov 05, 2009 00:00 AM
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The price of copper has risen dramatically in the last year, resulting in surging theft of copper from utilities. This presents a significant financial and legal risk to utilities. 

According to the US Electrical Safety Foundation, over 50,000 incidents have occurred in the last year leading to 35 deaths. Making this worse, these thefts often take place in sparsely staffed or monitored locations (like remote substations or plants).

This threat is a good opportunity for the use of remote video surveillance and analytics to proactively alert utilities of impending attacks.