SAN ANTONIO — A busy shopping center on the northwest side has been deserted over the last four days.
"Open" signs are turned off and each door displays a regretful message to customers: "Closed due to copper theft".
It's a problem plaguing other major cities in Texas, causing immeasurable loss to small businesses. This latest copper theft marks at least the third time KENS reported on a similar crime over the last two months.
Energy companies say this crime in particular is dangerous to carry out, so these thieves know what they're doing.
KENS 5 learned about the most recent copper theft on an Instagram post by The Sichuan House, located in a shopping center off Wurzbach next to Ingram Park Mall.
Kristina Zhao, the restaurant's owner, has unfortunately been hit before.
"Last year, it was actually our AC units on the rooftop," she explained.
Zhao says she and her staff are once again playing the waiting game.
"There's literally nothing we can do," she said. "Everybody's worried. When are we going to be able to go back to work?"
On Sunday morning, Zhao pulled in to her restaurant's parking lot and made a startling discovery.
"We come to discover that nothing's turning on," she recalled.
She snapped photos of the building's back panel ripped apart and shared them on social media.
"[On the post] there's also so many people just sharing similar horror stories about their building down the street. The same thing has happened," said Zhao.
Zhao moved all of the restaurant's cold food to her other business, DASHI Sichuan Kitchen + Bar.
She says CPS Energy told the landlord that power will hopefully be restored by August 1.
"It'd be nice if people just stop [doing this]," said Zhao. "I ask you kindly to please stop."
Lawmakers are pleading with the FBI to give communities impacted by copper thefts the technical assistance and updated guidance to respond.
"[This type of thief] is someone who knows where the highest concentration of that valuable conduit is, knows how to get into it, knows how to de-electrify it and cut out what is valuable and get out without being noticed," said Matt Mitchell of Austin Energy, the Texas capital city's utility company.
Mitchell, who interviewed with our Austin sister station KVUE, said while the utility may be able to replace the copper, many of the other electrical components that make up the system might take longer to get because of supply chain issues.
“It sets the business back and sets the utility back and getting them online and electrified," Mitchell told KVUE. "And it really just messes up the whole chain of progression for electrifying our customers.”
Lawmakers say copper can be re-sold for $2 to $4 per pound, while the cost to repair damaged phone lines and piping is exponentially higher.
On Thursday evening, a communications representative with CPS Energy told KENS 5 they're waiting on an electrician to fix the wiring at the shopping center off Wurzbach. Once that's done, the utility will replace the meter to restore the power.
By next week, CPS Energy will help us learn the scope of this crime in San Antonio.
In the meantime, if you see anyone who's not wearing a CPS Energy uniform working on transformers or utility poles, call 911.
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