Hawthorn Woods looks into high water bills

Hawthorn Woods is investigating a utility service provider after complaints from a few residents and businesses of unusually high water bills.

Mayor Keith Hunt said Monday some customers are being billed for estimated usage rather than actual usage by Aqua Illinois.

"According to (Aqua), people are using tens and thousands of gallons of water on a single-family home in the middle of January in Chicago," he said. "That couldn't be happening this particular time of year."

Aqua Illinois has been providing water service to the village since 2003 when it began operating a water system for two Lake Zurich Unit District 95 schools and the Hawthorn Woods Country Club golf course community under construction.

Hunt said village staff has contacted Aqua Illinois, which acknowledged problems with a new billing system. Utility companies frequently take estimated readings based upon factors such as past usage and the building that is being served.

"We want to make sure that all these people are getting billed based on actual readings," Hunt said. "Aqua Illinois has installed radio frequency meters for their customers, so there is no excuse for them not to drive down the street and capture actual readings."

Hunt asked Aqua Illinois to hand over bills from the past six months for all Hawthorn Woods customers so the village can conduct its own audit.

Gretchen Toner, a spokeswoman for Aqua America Inc., the parent company of Aqua Illinois, said the company is aware of the billing issue with Hawthorn Woods.

"Any customer who has an issue with his or her water bill should call the Aqua Illinois customer service center," Toner said. "We'll research the matter and, if the bill is wrong, we'll fix it."

Hawthorn Woods is encouraging residents and business customers served by Aqua Illinois to get actual meter readings and contact the provider so Aqua can credit any overcharges.

For billing questions, call the Aqua Illinois customer service line at (877) 987-2782.

"I'm confident it's not going to get any worse," Hunt said.