The Business of Cable Theft A Growing Problem
Cable theft has become a big headache and financial drain for the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL), the light and power company, that supplies most of the electrical energey to residences and businesses in the country.

The CNFL, a subsidiary of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), says it spends some ¢400 million colones (us$776.000) in replacing stolen cable from its power lines.

The last theft was recorded on Tuesday morning, when a man attempting to steal cable from a post, touched a secondary line, causing an explosion and fire that resulted in a blackout for up to three hours in areas of Barrio Cuba, La Sagrada and parts of the Hatillos, in the south side of San José.

The robberies, according to authorities, are mainly by indigents who sell the copper and other metals contained in the electrical cables, causing the company to spend money to repair and replace the cable to restore service in each incident.

Though the CNFL did not provide figures, it does say that the number of incidents has more than doubled since last year and getting worse unless measures are taken.

So far this year, in addition to the monetary loss to the CNFL, seven people have resulted in injuries and four dying from electrocution.