News 3 last visited Gwendolyn Bailey in August, when she discussed her struggles with paying her energy bill over the past few years .
“During the wintertime, I had heaters, […] I turned the oven on,” Bailey said. “I closed doors, [and] I tried to put tape around the doors to keep the air from coming in.”
She said she also used several space heaters throughout the home.
“The heaters that I was using was burning the sockets, so that kind of scared me,” she said. “It had been over a year, and I just kept trying to fix things—to be the fixer-upper. And I was just like, something has to give, because this bill is just rising and rising and rising.”
Bailey knew her heating methods were dangerous, but she thought she could manage.
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At one point, Bailey’s energy bill was more than $300, forcing her to pick-and-choose between the other bills she could pay. She said it was a really stressful time. On occasion she received help from her church and friends, but knew she needed a more sustainable plan.