Countering an Epidemic Street Light Copper Wire Theft 1

2 -Industrialization of China Picture -Rising market costs of copper picture -Rising appetite for copper How it all started?

3 Thieves targeting copper in street lights across north America Who was affected?

4 Surrey’s Challenge

5 What was at risk?

Action 6 ANTI-THEFT MEASURES Initial Response- Theft Deterrent

7 Results of our Initial Theft Deterrent Measures Cost of Copper Wire Theft

Introducing Aluminum Alloy Wire 8 Acceptable electrical conductor Integrates with existing street lighting infrastructure Marginal recycling value Difficult for thieves to recycle Lower capital cost to install

9 Developing a Business Case- Our Team

Learning Objectives How best to complete the work Identify the unknowns, i.e. installation issues Cost to complete Time required Recycling What’s our return on investment period 10 Completing a Trial Run “ The Pilot Project”

11 Pilot Project- What we Learned Data Gaps

Data Gap Solution 12 3,765 Street Light Record Drawings added to our GIS Database

Pilot Project- What we Learned Splicing Requirements 13 Challenges of connecting aluminum wire to copper wire

‘Jammers’ ‘No-pulls’ Plexed v. non-plexed wiring 14 Pilot Project- What we Learned

$8.5M Estimated cost to replace street light copper wire with aluminum alloy wire. Return on Investment is 4 years Will take approximately 2 years to complete based on an average 3km a day production 15 Business Case Conclusion

One contract issued for entire copper wire replacement project Bonus Clause to encourage early completion – “win – win” Extensive Public Awareness Effort Strategic roll out of the replacement program to target high theft areas first 16 City Wide Replacement Program

17 Cheaper than expected, $6.5M cost vs $8.5M estimate Results - SUCCESS! Project Start Date

Aluminum less susceptible to wire theft than copper Lower recycling cost, and difficult to recycle alloy wire May not be viable for all Cities, target high theft area’s instead. Consider installing aluminum wiring for new street light applications 18 Approach worth Replicating?