  Rumpole wrote: maybe they are stealing the big thick cables to sell so they can pay their electricity and gas bills..........  The profits of these utility companies are supposed to go towards providing cheaper and sustainable energy supplies for the future but i don't see my bills getting any cheaper while their profits are rising, can you?  That still doesn't give them the right to go and steal cables.  At the end of the day all of us our going through recession, everything is on the rise and still is, i.e petrol, food, tax etc. We still have to put up with it and pay up, don't see why it should be different for anyone else, do u?  Why is it that a tongue in cheek comment is always taken seriously by the cockerel in mouth brigade?  I do not condone these thefts at all, the same as i don't condone these companies making obscene profits off the backs of ordinary working people.  Prices are going up to protect the profits of these big companies and to feed the greedy bosses that can't survive life without millions of pounds in wages.  I would estimate that for every pound these companies make at least half of it is taken out of the economy forever so no wonder we are in a recession and being forced to pay higher prices for everything.  These big companies that make billions of pounds a year should be made to create more jobs out of their profits.  There are alternative energy sources but these will not become widespread until people can afford to have them installed but they can't do that when they don't have the money in the first place.  We are held to ransom by these companies and nothing will change while people keep on paying up without complaining about the rising costs and no affordable alternatives.