November 03, 2009

Bangor Hydro investigates Copper Theft

Bangor, ME-- Bangor Hydro Electric Company is working to make repairs at a substation in its Northern service territory, after thieves made off with copper wire for a second time. Bangor Hydro crews finished making repairs from the first theft on Friday evening. When crews returned on Monday, it was discovered the thieves had returned to steal the newly-installed copper wire.

"We're working with the Sheriff's Department and Maine State Police to find the thieves," said John Greaves, Safety Officer. "Thieves most recently compromised the integrity of our systems, putting our employees at risk."

Bangor Hydro has increased surveillance and patrol inspections of its substations in recent years and installed motion detector and surveillance equipment at an increasing number of locations.

"I don't think the thieves understand that they could face injury or even death by cutting these wires," said Greaves. "Power lines and substations operate at voltages as high as 345,000 volts, which is 3000 times that of the outlets in a home."

Stolen copper is very expensive to replace and can result in customer outages when it needs to be replaced. Bangor Hydro and law enforcement agencies are working with scrap metal dealers to catch the thieves as they try to sell the stolen copper wire.

The public is asked to report any suspicious activity at substations to local authorities.

Bangor Hydro Electric Company (BHE) is an electric utility wholly-owned by Emera Inc. BHE serves a population of 192,000 in an area encompassing 5,275 square miles in eastern and east coastal Maine. BHE is a member of the New England Power Pool and is interconnected with other New England utilities to the south and with the New Brunswick Power Corp. to the north. Visit us at www.bhe.com.

Emera Inc. (EMA-TSX) is an energy and services company with $4.7 billion in assets. Electricity is Emera's core business. The company has two wholly-owned regulated electric utility subsidiaries, Nova Scotia Power Inc. and Bangor Hydro Electric Company, which together serve 600,000 customers. Emera also owns 19% of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, which serves more than 50,000 customers on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia and 25% of Grand Bahama Power Company which serves 19,000 customers on the Caribbean island of Grand Bahama. In addition to its electric utility investments, Emera has a joint venture interest in Bear Swamp, a 600 megawatt pumped storage Hydro Electric facility in northern Massachusetts; a 12.9% interest in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline; a 7.4% interest in Open Hydro and Emera Energy Services which manages energy assets on behalf of third parties. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com.