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It was a major shock to the system when Bronx homeowners Robert Estren and Ruth Riviere recently opened up their gas and electric bill.

"We freaked out. We assumed there must have been some kind of mistake," he said.

Instead of seeing the normal monthly charge of $400, the Bronx couple did a double-take when they saw a bill for $18,215.

The couple claims there is no way they could have racked up thousand of dollars' worth of charges since they are the only two living in the home. They're at work all day long and they don't even cook.

"We have had no change in our habits, we didn't put in a new dishwasher, we haven't changed our heating or washing or showering habits," said Estren.

The couple sent a letter to Consolidated Edison, appealing to the company to look into the matter. Con Ed came back out to do another meter reading but there was no change.

"There was no contact by customer service. They simply spit out the bill, said that we owed them $18,000-plus, pay up by a certain time, otherwise they would start adding late charges," said Estren.

"To actually generate such a bill, almost $20,000 and not question it themselves is shocking," said Riviere.

NY1 called Con Edison and after some back and forth, a spokesman admitted there was a problem with the reading. He said once Con Ed found out about the problem from NY1 For You, the utility rectified the bill in the homeowners' favor.

He went on to say Con Ed will schedule another reading to make sure everything is correct.

It's a relief to the couple, who hopes Con Ed is more careful in the future.