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The crime of cable theft continues to strongly affect the facilities and clients of CGE, a distribution company that provides service to more than 3.2 million clients, between the regions of Arica and Parinacota and La Araucanía.
According to data from the distributor, between January and December 2023, 1,223 cable theft events were recorded throughout its concession area, accounting for 196 kilometers of stolen lines (195,870 meters) of electrical conductor stolen from its facilities, with the resulting damage or destruction of poles, transformers, cables and other key infrastructure to provide electrical service.
To have a dimension of the extent of the crime, the amount of cable stolen from CGE facilities is equivalent to the distance between the cities of Santiago and Curicó.
These thefts, carried out in most cases by organized gangs, had the consequence that 442,266 of the company’s clients saw the quality and continuity of their electricity supply affected for long hours, as a result of the extensive work that the company’s brigades must carry out. to replace infrastructure damaged or destroyed by criminals.
Francisco Jaramillo, deputy director of Operations at CGE, pointed out that “the theft of electrical cables has had an exponential increase in recent years and it is necessary for the authorities to take action on the matter. “We as a company file the respective complaints, but it is necessary to pursue and dismantle these gangs, since their actions directly affect thousands of families throughout the country.”
Furthermore, these theft actions resulted in four deaths and three injuries. “This situation is very unfortunate and causes great pain to the families of those affected and to ourselves as a Company,” said the executive.
In 2022, the company recorded an increase of more than 200% in the amount of stolen copper cable compared to 2021, with a total of 932 events and 402 thousand CGE customers affected in their supply.
Regarding the cost of replacing infrastructure damaged or destroyed by these criminal gangs, in the first half of 2023 it reached 3,544 million pesos.
Although this is a crime that is widespread throughout the territory where CGE operates, the areas that register the highest number of incidents are the regions of O’Higgins, with 577 episodes (43.7
kilometers of stolen copper cable), followed by Antofagasta, 158 episodes (17.1 kilometers); Arica-Tarapacá, with 121 episodes (28.8 kilometers); Coquimbo with 101 episodes (40 kilometers); Atacama, with 75 episodes (19.7 kilometers); Maule, with 63 episodes (21.4 kilometers), among others (see table).
“Every time the electricity supply is interrupted, large and small companies in the area cannot work normally, public services have supply problems, schools or the health network are forced to suspend their activities and people can address public safety problems. In short, crime affects people’s quality of life,” said Francisco Jaramillo.
The executive called on the authorities to combat this crime with greater force, given the impact it has on communities. “As CGE, we actively participate in the working groups that the authorities, from different regions, have promoted to combat this crime. At the same time, in cases in which we detect an impact on CGE networks, we file a complaint with Carabineros and the Public Ministry, to then file legal actions that allow the perpetrators of these crimes to be prosecuted,” he concluded.
Advice
“CGE reiterates the danger of approaching electrical networks and infrastructure and calls on its clients to take some safety measures to avoid accidents, such as not approaching damaged conductors or cables or cables that are on the ground, as they could be energized. . In case of emergency, you can contact the company through the toll-free number 800 800 767; the Twitter account @CGE_Clientes and the website www.cge.cl.”
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