Rocky Mountain Power: Copper grounding wire stolen from transformer in Sandy

SANDY, Utah — Thousands of Sandy residents were without power Thursday morning after copper grounding wire was stolen from one of the transformers, according to Rocky Mountain Power.

“Thieves are actively targeting and stealing metals for resale that puts the grid and equipment at risk of major failure,” read a Thursday afternoon press release from RMP.

Updated @ 7:58 am: Power has been restored to all affected customers in Sandy, UT, as of 7:27 am. The cause was due to vandalism at our substation. If you are still without power after resetting your main breakers, please visit https://t.co/5KJ7zd0MQ1 or text OUT to 759677.

— Rocky Mountain Power UT (@RMP_Utah) December 15, 2022

The company’s officials said circuits were de-energized for safety reasons while crews assessed the damage and tried to find an alternative source. Power went off at 6 a.m. and was restored at 7:27 a.m.

“This kind of activity is not only illegal, but thieves place themselves in danger of electrocution,” said Curt Mansfield, senior vice president of power delivery. “The damage is expensive to repair, and it is extremely impactful to our customers.”

While inspecting substations at other locations, personnel found additional damage, according to RMP.

“As we continue to repair the damage, we ask for our customers’ patience while we mitigate the risk of failures and long impactful outages,” RMP said. It asked the public to report any suspicious activity they may see around its substations, poles or wires.