Washington utility company says it accidentally sent black woman the n-word as her temporary password

A Washington state utility company this week admitted that it sent a black customer the n-word when she requested a new temporary password to log into her account -- but the company insists that it was a random fluke.

Local news station KIRO 7 reports that Erica Conway was shocked when she requested a temporary password and utility company Puget Sound Energy sent her back a password that read, "NiggaHHJ."

"It was like an emotional roller coaster," said Conway, who is a longtime volunteer for the Seattle chapter of the NAACP. "Shock, disbelief, disgusted, angry. It was just yeah, even now I'm just kind of like I cannot believe this. I just can't believe it."

Conway tells KIRO 7 that this was the first time any of her passwords had spelled out actual words, as the other passwords were randomly generated letters and numbers.

Despite this, Puget Sound Energy said the racist password was not deliberately created and sent to Conway.

"These passwords are generated automatically so they go straight from the system straight to the customers," said PSE spokeswoman Janet Kim. "So, it's not able to be accessed by an employee."

Nonetheless, she apologized to Conway for the hurt caused by the accident.

"This was offensive, there was no question about that, we apologize to this customer, the community, for what has happened, and we are trying to do what we can to make it right," she said.