Power tools used in 'stupid' and potentially lethal acts of Stobie pole vandalism

Stobie pole vandals put public at risk of electrocution in Adelaide's north Mon 29 Jun 2026 at 2:53pm In short: In May and June, four Stobie poles in Adelaide's north were vandalised and cut through at the base, causing three to fall. SA Power Networks says people could be killed by touching a live wire and people need to stay at least ten metres away. What's next? SA Power Networks is appealing to the community to provide CrimeStoppers with mobile phone or dash cam footage. Members of the public were put at "severe risk" of electrocution after four Stobie poles were vandalised in Adelaide's north in the past month, causing some to fall and expose high voltage electrical lines. SA Power Networks external affairs manager Cecilia Schultz said the planned acts of vandalism required professional equipment, such as an angle grinder, to cut through steel and concrete at the base the large two-tonne Stobie poles. "We have not seen anything like this before. It is shocking, it is stupid and it is brazen," Ms Schultz said. "These wires are live. People could be injured or killed. The people who are doing this simply do not understand the severe risk, not just to themselves but to the people around them." Stobie poles are South Australia's own, almost indestructible, version of a power pole and are made of concrete. On 21 May, a Stobie pole, on Harris Road in Concordia, north-east of Gawler, was cut at the base and a pole-top transformer brought down and stripped, leaving high voltage equipment on the ground. In early June, "around the 9th", three Stobie poles in the Cobbler Creek Recreation Park were cut at the base and toppled, leaving high voltage electricity infrastructure exposed. "These are not simple acts of vandalism, they are acts which carry the potential to cause injury, electrocution and death to the many pedestrians or young people undertaking recreation activities in proximity to this infrastructure," Ms Schultz said. "Even coming within close proximity of such high voltage infrastructure has the potential to electrocute people without even touching them." A motive is not yet clear. "For three of these assets, there’s no copper," Ms Schultz said. "There was some copper in the transformer at Concordia but we really don’t understand the clear motivation of this." SA Power Networks is appealing to the community to provide Crime Stoppers with mobile phone or dash cam footage from the areas involved on the days the instances occurred. "With four incidents in close succession it stands to reason that it is a single individual or group of individuals," Ms Shultz said. "It’s is extremely lucky that members of the community have reported them and given our crews the ability to come out and fix them up. When these incidents happen, if people don’t report them, you potentially leave infrastructure exposed and accessible to members of the public, young people who don’t understand or wouldn’t be able to identify that these wires are live, could be severely injured and killed." Anyone who sees fallen, low-hanging or damaged powerlines, or a leaning or damaged pole, should stay at least 10 metres clear and immediately call SA Power Networks on 13 13 66.