A man in Singapore was charged S$961 to his credit card for his monthly automated electricity bill cycle on April 8, 2020.

His monthly bill has been S$72.26.

Auto deduction set up

The man, Lee, told Stomp his payments to electricity provider Geneco are automatically deducted from his credit card every month.

On April 8, he was charged a one-time payment of S$961 by Geneco “without his approval”.

Even after deducting off one month's bill, the man said: "I still have S$824.21 in excess with Geneco."

"That means I do not need to pay my electricity bill for the next 12 months!"

Geneco allegedly said Lee had “approved the transaction”, after the man called the electricity provider to find out what happened.

Not knowing what else he could do to get his money back, he cancelled his credit card because the bank could not help him either.

Glitch

Subsequently, after carrying out its investigations, Geneco concluded that it was a “glitch” in its system that caused the incident.

It has since “rectified” it.

Geneco apologised to Lee for the “inconvenience caused” and said it will improve its system to “deliver the best experience to our customers”.

According to Lee, he has learnt a few lessons from this episode.

• Never automate credit card payment with small businesses
• Activate SMS alert for your credit cards
• Go through your monthly statement carefully