FELTON, Del.- For Cathy Herrera, it feels like she is burning money just to stay warm in her small home this winter.
"It runs my electric bill up from anywhere $165 to $200 a month, because of the heaters, but I have to do something," she said.
She has multiple space heaters running because her heat doesn't work and she can't afford the repairs.
"I can't afford something more expensive, I can't," Herrera said. "That's why I stay here ya know, but having no heat is rough."
Her landlord, Belinda Cooke, unable to help her. She has her own heating problems.
"I'm sleeping under three blankets and an electric blanket, it's so cold," she said. And soon, things could get worse.
"Right now I have a back up of $635 that I have to pay or they're going to turn my electric off," she said.
Their situation isn't uncommon. Messina Plumbing and Electric has been making service calls all week for people needing heat.
"We have a lot of frozen pipes in homes, people don't have heat, we're basically inundated with calls on a daily basis," Dave Deason with Messina said.
The ability to pay is not always easy for their customers.
"We find that's true, we often give discounts that really shouldn't be given at all," he said. "We're a local company and we work with our customers to do the best we can for them and for us."
For help with paying for heat, go to http://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dssc/liheap.html
(Photo: WBOC)
