Power consumers in the United Kingdom are bracing for painful electricity and gas bills starting in winter.

The government's energy regulatory agency has reportedly forecasted an initial 80 percent increase in utility charges in the last quarter which means British households may have to pay £3,635 from October to December, from the current quarterly average of £1,971 (P128,571) or £164 (P10,709) per month.

Worse, the bill is predicted to rise in the succeeding quarters to £4,650 (P303,827) and £5,456 (P356,404), CNBC reported citing the consultancy Auxilione.

For households in third-world countries like the Philippines, such electricity cost is shocking, of course. Moreso for a teacher from Pili, Camarines Sur after she recently saw her electricity billing from the local utility company, Camarines Sur Electric Cooperative II.

Mia Guadalupe shared on social media a screenshot of her billing showing the staggering electricity charge and commented that she is looking for someone who can help her pay it by loaning her P100,000, ABS-CBN News' Balitang Bicolandia reported.

Guadalupe added that she needs to settle the bill by 31 August or her electricity service would be disconnected.

The Casureco II customer said he asked her husband to run after its meter reader to clarify the huge bill but he failed to catch up with him. She claimed that their monthly electricity bill averages only P6,000 to P7,000.

Guadalupe went to the office of Casureco II and learned that the billing was erroneous.

Casureco II spokesperson Rinner Bucay said the meter reader's figures lacked one numeral so the computation was wrong. A corrected billing dated 30 August was given to Guadalupe.

To her relief, Guadalupe only had to pay Casureco II P5,264.76. She no longer had to shell out P600,000, which she didn't have, nor borrow the balance of over P100,000 more to settle the wrong electricity bill of P711,267.