Hanging by thumbs seems an appropriate punishment.
This one says half a million dollars, another one said about a million dollars in damages, for what--$50 or so worth of copper?
Think of the money being saved not using the AC. But of course, you might die.
The Oklahoman
MOORE - Authorities are blaming would-be copper thieves for a Wednesday afternoon blackout that left thousands of customers without power.
The break-in happened Wednesday at an Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. power substation in Moore, company spokesman Brian Alford said.
Copper wiring was cut, Alford said, which shut off power to about 3,800 customers in Moore and about 1,700 in Norman. Alford said it wasn't clear Wednesday afternoon whether any copper actually was taken. Police were investigating.
Alford said the substation carries thousands of volts of electricity.
"What they did was extremely dangerous," Alford said. "There was more than enough electricity there to be deadly."
Power crews were making repairs to the substation late Wednesday, and Alford said power was restored by 7 p.m.
This activity has gone on for years all over the US. In 1989 I toured an old substation near downtown Houston. Thieves had been "mining" it by taking fireman axes and cutting out old paper and cloth insulated copper cables of abandonded-in-place circuits. They were caught after they tried one that wasn't abandonded. IIRC, there was a body to be recovered. The floor was littered with little chips of copper from the chopping.
Sorry to be like this, lol, but I'm skimming all the posts from today and I had Norman in the "pool" for where the next Egyptians might pop up.
First there was a cell phone outage all over Queens in NYC, then I saw "power outage for OG&E customers" and I thought "bingo!"
But *sigh* this was yesterday - and no Egyptians and no London terrorists or even Ohio terrorists.
YET!