BACOLOD CITY – The Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (Noceco) admitted on Thursday that it erroneously charged a consumer in Hinigaran town P958,334.94 for electricity consumption in May, an error that went viral after the consumer posted her bill on Facebook, saying it gave her a "mini-heart attack."

In a statement, the Noceco management said the consumer's "concern was caused by an encoding error following a meter replacement and has already been corrected."

The consumer, located in Barangay Tagda, operates a water refilling station and a laundry shop. On May 18, Noceco received a complaint about a burned electric meter caused by damaged terminals. The following day, May 19, the meter was replaced.

"However, the final reading of the old meter was inadvertently encoded into the system, which resulted in an inaccurate billing amount reflected in the statement of account," Noceco said.

The power distributor said it has already informed the consumer about the correction, though the statement did not mention the corrected billing amount.

"As of this posting, the meter reading has already been corrected, and the consumer has been duly informed of the updated and corrected bill," it said.

To address concerns about unusual or remarkable increases in monthly electricity bills, Noceco encouraged consumers to immediately coordinate with the nearest Noceco office for assessment and appropriate action.

Noceco serves power consumers in the southern part of Negros Occidental.