Thieves are attacking the U.K. power network of German utility E.ON AG (EAON.XE) chopping down wooden electricity poles to get to the wires that contain valuable metals such as copper, the company said Tuesday, in the latest in a rash of commodities heists spurred by high prices.

In the last week of July, E.ON's distribution engineers either discovered or were alerted to a total of 14 electricity poles that had been cut down using chainsaws in central England , leaving thousands of customers without power.

Metals are increasingly being targeted by thieves as commodity prices rise. In May thieves swiped hundreds of tons of nickel and copper from a Liverpool warehouse.

"Like everyone else, we've seen metal thefts increasing for a number of years but what we hadn't seen before were thieves going to such lengths," said John Crackett, managing director of E.ON's distribution business.

"Simply put, they use a chainsaw to cut down the wooden poles and get access to our cabling. Even ignoring the danger of cutting down a pole that has wires carrying 11,000 volts at the top of it, this costs us money and causes massive inconvenience to our customers," Crackett added.

In July, the U.K. police said there had been a "marked rise" in metal theft in the previous six months, with railways, utility substations, businesses, houses and even road grids and manhole covers being targeted by criminals.

Copper prices are at four-month highs around $7,500 a metric ton having staged a dramatic recovery since the economic downturn crimped demand in its key consuming industries of housing and construction. Along with other metals like nickel and lead, copper is often targeted by thieves as commodity prices rise, and is then resold to scrap merchants and consumers.
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