Business ProfileforCity Water, Light, and Power

CWLP is the provider of electricity and water services for my residential address in Springfield, IL since April 2022. Our monthly water usage has averaged 5-10 units (1 unit = 748 gallons of water) since we moved in. We have a small family of 2 adults and a 4-month-old infant. I have my account on autopay. On the bill dated 9/21/23, I noticed a sudden increase in my water usage to 79 units, almost a 10 folds increase, and monthly bill charged was increased from an average of $300 (for electricity, water and sewage) to $ 530. I checked my house for any potential leakages and didn't find any. I turned off all water sources and the meter was still confirming there wasn't any major leakages. I called the CWLP customer service center and was told that they had averaged my bills for several months due to non-availability of staff for a manual read. On the next bill on 10/24/23, they further reported an increase in the usage to an extraordinarily high reading of 90 units (67,320 gallons) for our family of 3 and sent us a bill of $534.70. On calling the CWLP customer service, they again told that this reading was an estimated reading from the last month's reading, and they had no control over it due to short staffing and lack of manual readings. The customer service agent was very non apologetic and behaved as if it was a common practice to commit such major errors on their part. She stated that they will send out someone for a manual reading to my home address. The reason for my complaint is that their billing method based on estimation is significantly incorrect and potentially affects a lot of customers. Many customers may get overbilled if they are not paying attention to their monthly bills and trusting CWLP to do their job and charge them accurately. I am seeking a formal apology from CWLP and an assurance that my future readings will be based on actual reading and not on blatantly wrong estimates.