Copper Theft At Tulsa Substation Causes Hours-Long Power Outage, PSO Says

Thieves are the reason thousands of people in Tulsa were out of power for several hours Tuesday night, according to PSO.

PSO said power went down because thieves stole copper from a substation.

That theft and the resulting on and off power outages made for an annoying evening for people and businesses.

People in midtown said they’ve dealt with enough power outages in the past few weeks, and the issues Tuesday night were even more frustrating.

“We were sitting here, ready to watch a movie, and all the sudden the power just blinked out.”

Steve Jones said that moment was reminiscent of the six days he spent without power a few weeks ago.

He lives in midtown and said a post on Facebook made him realize all of his neighbors were without power too.

“From the tattoo shop all the way down to Reasor's, everybody started chiming in," Jones said.

The ink is flowing now at Anchor and Rose Tattoo Co near 11th and Harvard, but it wasn’t the case Tuesday.

"Just fully went off," said Owner and Artist Marceau Hicks. "I had just gotten done. Three of my workers were still mid tattoo.”

He said the electricity flickered on and off for hours and it made their job impossible to do.

“We need AC to power the machines and lights to see what we're doing," said Hicks.

PSO said copper thieves broke into a substation and that forced them to make emergency repairs.

They said copper theft is always dangerous, but even more dangerous at a substation.

“I don't like thieves and I don't like sketchy people who think they can go take stuff," Jones said.

Thankfully, Jones got his generator out and the folks at Anchor and Rose finished their tattoos, and all they can do is hope the power stays on this time.

“Glad now we’re back up and running," Hicks said. "Keep it on for us.”

PSO is offering a reward of up to a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of these or any copper thieves. Their copper theft hotline number is 888-747-5845.