US woman gets $284 bn electricity bill

A woman in the US state of Pennsylvania got the shock of a lifetime after she received a multibillion dollar electricity bill for the month of December.

Mary Horomanski from Erie went online to check her electricity bill earlier this month, only to find that she owes the power company a staggering $284 billion. However, the amount was wrong.

"My eyes just about popped out of my head," she told the Erie Times-News on Tuesday. "We had put up Christmas lights and I wondered if we had put them up wrong."

The electricity provider Penelec later said the actual amount was $284.46. The company's spokesman said it did not know how the error had occurred, stating that Horomanski had to pay $284,460,000,000 with a first payment of $28,176 due later in December.

"I can't recall ever seeing a bill for billions of dollars. We appreciate the customer's willingness to reach out to us about the mistake," Mark Durbin said.

Horomanski's husband and one of her sons were home with her when she checked her bill online, and they began asking whether she was okay.

"I'm looking around the room and they're looking at me now, 'cause I've got this funny look on my face," Horomanski recalled. "When you see something like that, your heart starts beating, you break out into a little sweat, like, 'What on Earth just happened?'"

Horomanski said she's been receiving text messages from friends telling her that her surreal electric bill appeared in the likes of Time magazine and the New York Post.

--IANS

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