Copper-wire thieves are costing Colorado Springs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But Colorado Springs Utilities is making it tougher for them to strike again.

The city-owned utility has been rolling out new measures to clamp down on copper-wire theft.

Utilities is trying a variety of strategies, spokesman Steve Berry said in an email, including:

• Working with scrap metal dealers to help them become familiar with Utilities’ wire and associated markings

• Safeguarding streetlights with tamper-proof screws and doors that are more difficult to break

• Installing cameras and alarms at Utilities materials yards

• Making it more difficult for thieves to pull large amounts of wire from a streetlight or other Utilities-related equipment

The city spent about $525,000 to replace stolen copper wire in 2012 and has budgeted $370,000 for next year.

“Some of the copper-wire theft that I was most worried about has been repaired already, but there’s still a lot more repair to be done,” Kathleen Krager, the city’s transportation manager, said.

“They’ve got some streetlights back on now (that were) originally completely dark this summer,” she said.

Krager said the west side was hit especially hard, including Eighth and 21st streets and U.S. 24.

“But there is copper-wire theft basically all over the city,” she said.

Krager said thieves tend to pose as construction crews.

“They’ll pull up to a light pole and get into the vault with the copper wire and basically pull the copper wire that connects light poles, so they’re literally yanking it at one point and pulling it between light poles,” she said. “That’s why when we have copper-wire thefts, you’ll have a string of lights go out.”

Berry said only white Utilities trucks or white Hamlin Electric trucks, which have the company’s red logo on the sides, should be working on streetlights.

Krager said copper-wire theft is a nationwide problem.

“It is a problem for every city and for states as well,” she said. “Once the value of copper wire went up, people began to realize that they could pull it from lots of places, so abandoned houses and houses under construction all have been targets for copper-wire theft.”

—Contact Daniel Chacón: 476-1623Twitter @danieljchacon

Heather Bates, Pine Creek Photo by JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE