Officials at the Public Service Electric and Gas Company said that copper bandits are risking their lives, breaking into substations and other facilities to steal the metal.
"In our Camden yard, we had somebody climb up. We had a troop out and we ended up going there and finding out somebody was in the hospital that night and a day later," said Edward Forte of PSE&G.
PSE&G said that its workers are well trained and careful, unlike the copper thieves who steal from yards, empty buildings, street lights, and anyplace they can get their hands on.
"Over the past two years we've had approximately 95 incidents where individuals have attempted to or been successful in stealing copper from our facilities," said Frank McCormick of PSE&G.
Law enforcement is on the lookout for thieves and scrap metal companies who knowingly buy the stolen metal.
"If you see a guy coming with a brand new spool of copper wire you have to surmise that it's not something he found in a dumpster," said Tom DiNunzio, an investigator in the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.
Joe Balzano, president of Camden Iron and Metal said that his workers are trained to spot suspicious items.
"Does it have identification markings on it? For example does is say City of Camden on it if it's a sewer grate," said Balzano.
Not everything is easy to spot and authorities suspect that the worse the economy gets, the more copper thefts they will see.
The U.S. Energy Department said that copper thefts cost the nation nearly $1 billion each year.
