As the price of copper rises, so has the number of thieves snipping it from power lines.
What happened: Bell is sounding the alarm over a sharp rise in copper thefts across Ontario, New Brunswick, and Québec. Copper theft is up 23% this year, with the company reporting about 2,270 incidents since 2022 — 500 of them in the first half of 2025 alone.
- Bell says copper thefts account for 88% of physical security incidents on its network, with 63% of thefts happening in Ontario, mostly in Hamilton, Cambridge, and Windsor.
- In May, thieves cut down 33 hydro poles by the Hound Chute Generating Station near Cobalt, Ontario, stripping them of copper wire worth an estimated $100,000.
Why it matters: Police say the effects of these crimes go beyond theft because damaging phone lines can disrupt communications infrastructure, like access to 911, and endanger public safety. Damage can also harm newer fibre cables, which are often bound together with the copper ones.
Big picture: Meanwhile, the cost of copper continues to rise faster than companies can replace their phone and internet lines: the benchmark price rose to a three-month high of nearly US$10,000 a tonne last week.—SB