Unexpected billing

I understand your concern about the unexpected $0.02 charge on your AWS Free Tier account.

Even with a Free Tier account, you can incur charges if you:

• Exceed the Free Tier usage limits
• Use services not covered by the Free Tier
• Continue using resources after your 12-month Free Tier eligibility expires

Here are the steps I recommend taking:

1. Review your AWS Billing and Cost Management Dashboard to identify which specific services incurred the charges. The Cost Explorer can help pinpoint exactly what resources generated the cost.

2. Check for and delete any resources you're no longer using to prevent further charges. Be sure to check all AWS regions for running resources like EC2 instances, EBS volumes, RDS databases, and Elastic IPs.

3. Contact AWS Support directly by opening a case under the "Account & Billing" category. This support is free for all AWS customers. Explain that you're using AWS for learning purposes and request assistance with the unexpected charge. AWS often considers waiving charges as a one-time exception, especially for students or new users.

4. For future protection, set up AWS Budgets and billing alerts to notify you when you're approaching Free Tier limits or incurring costs.

While the amount is small, addressing it now will help you better understand AWS billing and prevent larger unexpected charges in the future.
Sources
Unexpected bill received | AWS re:Post
The unexpected billing issue | AWS re:Post
Understanding unexpected charges - AWS Billing
Bill unexpected in free tier | AWS re:Post

You can go through the detailed billing breakdown in the Billing and Cost Management Dashboard to find out exactly where the $0.02 charge came from.

Also, make sure to check for any unused Elastic IP addresses, as keeping an allocated Elastic IP without attaching it to a running instance can result in small charges—even under the Free Tier.

Sometimes, resources in other AWS regions may be running without your knowledge, so it's a good idea to check all regions for active services.

If you're still unable to identify or resolve the issue, I recommend contacting AWS Support under the "Account & Billing" category. It's free for all users, and they may also waive the charge as a one-time exception, especially for learners or new users.

Hello all, I also got same mail yesterday, and i really worried what to do? I forget to stop instance and i got big amount which i really hard for me to pay. I just generate a ticket fro my problem. I am really scared what to do?