Thefts of copper wire have been reported across the country because of recent high copper prices, but Montana-Dakota Utilities has reported the first such theft from their company in about 20 years.

"It's a big trend across the country,"MDU spokesman Mark Hanson said about wire thefts.

Hanson said his company usually stores supplies such as copper wire in buildings, so thefts are rare.

Bismarck Police Lt. Dan Donlin said someone stole two spools of copper wire valued at $2,775 from an MDU substation on the 2500 block of East Expressway between Nov. 1 and Thursday.

The fence around the substation was cut to gain entry, Donlin said. The theft is under investigation, he said.

Hanson said a crew has been working on doubling the size of the substation on Expressway, and a package of materials, including the copper wire, had been delivered to the substation.

However, several members of the crew became sick, cutting the crew to one person, he said.

"So (the copper wire) sat there a little longer,"Hanson said. "Otherwise it would have been stored in a building or used in the work."

Hanson said $2,775 is the replacement value of the copper wire. Whoever stole it won't get that much by selling it to a salvage yard, he said.

Todd Billington from Billington's Salvage Yard said the price of copper has been dropping since Jan. 1.

"It's still higher than it was a year ago," he said.

Billington said prices now range from about $1.50 to $1.80 per pound.

"Before that, it was over $2," he said.

Billington said his company keeps track of who sells them scrap metal. Checks have to be written to a person's name and cannot be written to "cash," he said.

The company also keeps track of license plate numbers of people who sell scrap metal, Billington said.

"Most people we deal with are commercial accounts, so we know them," he said.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)