Engineers lock on to a success

Alcomet Limited has found its creations to prevent the theft of copper and aluminium from electricity sub-stations in great demand. They act like a "giant Meccano set" and include impregnable steel casings which are fitted together to cover the metal.

The covers are then secured in place using nuts and bolts, which cannot be removed by usual methods.

Unconventional specialist tools have to be used on them instead.

The firm, based in Dudley Road, Kingswinford, says it has responded to the industry's needs as metal thefts cost utility firms millions of pounds a year.

The region also suffers from several power cuts a year caused by thieves targeting sub-stations.

One of the worst was in November 2006, when a theft took place in daylight at an electrical sub-station next to the Merry Hill Shopping Centre.

Thieves stripped copper earthing tape from the site causing a power cut leaving 40,000 businesses and homes without electricity.

Alcomet worked with specialist engineers to design the Guardian Security Products range and is now in the running for the Queen's Awards for Enterprise: Innovation 2009.

Director Gary James said: "The problem of metal theft has blighted the utility sector for years, and in today's gloomy economic climate, the trend will no doubt escalate.

"It is difficult to quantify exactly how much copper and aluminium theft costs energy companies, but we know it is significant.

"One of our customers, a prominent player in the utility market, estimates that it costs his organisation £6 million per annum.

"If you consider there are nine major energy providers, it doesn't take much working out to see how much money the industry is losing in total.

"This is without taking into account the wider financial and safety implications of power interruptions."

Since it was founded in 1998, Alcomet, a specialist supplier of electrical earthing materials, has grown to have a turnover of more than £4 million.