Enel: Theft of power cables in Barrios Altos leaves more than 300 customers without electricity

• _{The company has been working since last Thursday to restore full service in spite of the opposition from offenders in the area.}
• _{The public is reminded that manipulating power cables poses a serious risk to the lives of people.}

Lima, June 11^th, 2018. Enel Distribución Perú informed that more than 300 customers have been left without electricity since last Thursday, June 7^th, due to the theft of 1,850 meters of mid-voltage and low-voltage cables in Barrios Altos, Downtown Lima. The company is still working in the area to restore the full service in spite of the opposition and threats by the people who seem to be responsible for this criminal act.

“Initially, more than 600 customers were affected by the outage, but we managed to quickly restore energy to half of our customers, resorting to emergency power generators. We regret that criminal acts of this kind leave so many families without electricity. We request the support from the National Police and the municipality to stop the theft that has been committed systematically since last Thursday,” said Julio Antúnez, representative of Infrastructure and Networks in Enel Distribución Perú.

The company explained that power cables are stolen for the copper they contain, which is usually sold as recycled material. He also commented that these offenders seem to have taken advantage of the road and sidewalk refurbishment works that the Municipality of Lima is executing in the area to damage and de-energize underground cables for their subsequent removal from underneath the streets of Manuel Pardo, Humalíes and Coronel Zubiaga.

Enel Distribución Perú ratified its commitment to continue working in the area until full service is reinstated in spite of the adverse conditions, and also reminded the public that manipulating power cables poses a serious risk to the lives and health of people.