BACOLOD CITY, May 28 -- 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, 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 fina...