AWS Billing Glitch Triggers Billion-Dollar Estimates
AI-generated image · US National Wire
A 'global' error in the AWS billing computation subsystem sent shock-inducing estimated charges to customers, with some estimates reaching trillions of dollars.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently dealt with a global billing software error that caused the Cost Explorer to display wildly inaccurate estimated billing data, according to reporting from The Register and Wired.
AWS traced the problem to "an issue with unit pricing within the estimated billing computation subsystem," The Register reported. The company mitigated the issue by rolling back a recent change and reverting to the last known good estimated bill computation, as reported by Wired. AWS informed customers that the inflated figures were estimates and did not reflect actual usage or charges.
The scale of the errors was massive. Wired reported that Bill Radjewski, operator of CollegeFootballData.com, received an alert claiming over $1.5 billion in usage fees, with his August 1 bill on track to be upwards of $3 billion, despite his monthly spend historically never surpassing $0.02. Other users reported estimates ranging from $5 million to $110 billion on X, while one Reddit user posted a screenshot that showed $7.1 trillion in service fees had accrued since July 1, Wired noted. The Register cited other Reddit users reporting estimated monthly charges as high as $2.5 trillion.
AWS spokesperson Aisha Johnson referred inquiries to the AWS Service Health Dashboard, which indicated the issue began July 16 at 10:38 pm EDT. AWS stated that corrected amounts should be visible in the Cost Management Console by noon Pacific time on Saturday, July 18, and noted that no customer action was required.