EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah - Hundreds of residents packed a city hall meeting in Eagle Mountain Wednesday night, wanting to know why their utility bills have spiked in the last month.
The building was so packed, people were forced to wait outside because it was over capacity. They all wanted to know the same thing: why have their bills skyrocketed recently? The city tried to provide an explanation, but not everyone was happy about the answers.
"I have the utility bill for this month. It went from $400 to $525," says Eagle Mountain resident Corrine Ceran, whose story is similar to many of the residents who showed up to the meeting.
The issue made some emotional, with even one woman almost breaking down in tears.
Sheena Ballard says they deserve answers, saying, "Everybody's utilities went up quite a bit this month, ours went up about $100."
It's the same story for Cameron Coles, who was one of the dozens forced to wait outside in the cold during the meeting.
"My utilities have gone up about $100 in the last month, we were gone for almost an entire week of January and we weren't too happy to come back to our utility going up, $40 from December and $100 since November."
The uprise originally began last Sunday, when there was a protest outside city hall. Residents were demanding to know why they were shelling out so much money to heat their homes.
Eagle Mountain had a slide show presentation inside Wednesday's meeting, providing several explanations.
They said residents' usage may be higher and that some of them had charges carry over from previous unpaid bills. However, the city also admitted they have had problems with its reading system and in some cases, people may have been overcharged.
Eagle Mountain Administrator Ifo Pili also explained the bond residents are still paying for. The bond was used to build the infrastructure to provide the utility services residents use.
