A lot of people in Wellington expressing anger and frustration over huge spikes in their utility bills. The city says it’s received numerous calls due to the higher than expected bills for the month of August. The city says the high rates are because the July billing period had to be estimated for one of the two billing zones in the city. The reason for that was due to the staff shortage caused by the pandmic and empoloyee furloughs. Adequate staff was not able to make actual meter readings for water and electric. The estimated use for July was actually quite less that what was realized, so that had to be made up in August, the citry says.