One theft of about $100 worth of copper can leave a business with a repair bill above $5,000. That gap, repeated across utilities, is why copper theft has become a costly infrastructure problem. The U.S. Department of Energy puts the annual loss to high-risk industries at about $1 billion, according to TD World.
The Wall Street Journal has described copper theft as a spreading global problem that leaves expensive damage and public safety risk. AT&T put a number on it: the company said thieves cost it $76 million in the first ten months of 2025 alone. AT&T has lobbied federal, state, and local officials to make it easier to replace copper networks with newer technology.
Scrap yard prices for copper sit near record highs, and older defenses were designed for less sophisticated thieves. One utility changed course after a fatal theft at a substation. It replaced above-grade copper grounding with copper-clad steel, a less valuable material, and thefts dropped significantly.
Tags and tougher materials
Fabricators now embed RFID microchips with GPS into conductors, alongside microscopic data-loaded dots and laser-etched serial codes. These marks give investigators a way to trace stolen cable back to its origin. Copper-clad steel and copper-clad aluminum core products have also entered the mix, offering lower scrap values.
Digital substations have removed thousands of tons of copper control cables by switching to fiber optics and wireless communications. Solar plus storage streetlight systems eliminate power cables entirely. Cities and utilities are swapping out traditional streetlights, where thieves have stripped thousands of miles of copper cable, for models that run without wires.
Dye, AI and charging cables
Tesla is testing a system called CatStrap DyeDefender on its high-speed EV charging stations. The strap resists cutting. If it is cut, a pressurized canister sprays bright-blue dye onto the thief. The stain is hard to remove, turning the person into what TD World called a “giant Smurf” and making identification easier.
EV charging cables remain high on criminals’ target lists. AI systems now analyze electrical patterns to tell the difference between a normal outage and one caused by copper theft. The same tools can spot a failing cable early and schedule replacement before it breaks, shifting the response from reactive repairs to proactive prevention.
