Hinigaran: The Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco) admitted on Thursday that it erroneously charged a consumer in Hinigaran town PHP958,334.94 for electricity consumption in May. The error gained widespread attention after the consumer shared her bill on Facebook, describing the experience as giving her a "mini-heart attack."

According to Philippines News Agency, the Noceco management explained that the issue stemmed from an encoding error following a meter replacement. The consumer, who runs a water refilling station and a laundry shop in Barangay Tagda, filed a complaint on May 18 about a burned electric meter due to damaged terminals. The meter was replaced the next day, but an encoding mistake occurred when the final reading of the old meter was input into the system, resulting in the inflated bill.

Noceco stated that the error has been corrected, although the corrected billing amount was not disclosed in their statement. "As of this posting, the meter reading has already been corrected, and the consumer has been duly informed of the updated and corrected bill," the cooperative confirmed.

The power distributor urged consumers to report any unusual or significant increases in electricity bills to the nearest Noceco office for evaluation and corrective measures. Noceco provides electricity services to consumers in the southern region of Negros Occidental.