The first time 91原创 residents Doreen and Charles Boitard lost cable service due to wire theft, they went almost an entire day without Internet or television service.

That was near the end of July.

Within three weeks of the first outage, a wire thief cut the cables in their area again.

There have been other outages, Doreen Boitard said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 been several over the past few months.鈥�

The Boitards live near 16 Avenue and 246 Street.

Shaw regional manager for Vancouver Greg Scollon confirmed the service disruptions were due to wire theft.

Scollon said thieves going after copper wire are cutting up fibre optic cables by mistake.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no resale value [in a fibre optic cable],鈥� Scollon said.

鈥淚f you melt it down, all you get is a handful of glass.鈥�

The price for recyclable metals has skyrocketed, driven up by demand from the booming economies of India and China.

The international price of insulated copper cable is now seven times higher than it was in 2002.

Scollon said every time a thief cuts a Shaw cable, it costs the company thousands of dollars.

Some are risking their lives by cutting near live Hydro lines, Scollon warned.

鈥淲e鈥檙e just fearful someone is going to hit power some day.鈥�

Each wire theft is reported to police by Shaw.

Scollon said residents should alert police to any suspicious activity.

If a van isn鈥檛 clearly marked with a Shaw Cable logo it has no business cutting lines, Scollon said.

The City of 91原创 engineering department is forecasting a big increase in wire theft, estimating $33,000 to $45,000 will be spent this year in replacing stolen wires, compared with $8,480 spent last year.

Gary Vlieg, City director of engineering, parks and environment, said wire theft costs 91原创 City taxpayers $100,000, which is the equivalent of a 0.5 per cent tax increase.

鈥� with files from Natasha Jones/91原创 Times