PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The temperature outside Sharon White’s apartment is in the 90s. She keeps her thermostat at 79.
“Probably the hottest I’ve ever felt,” said White as she sat in her sweltering apartment.
WATCH BELOW: 'I’m in trouble,' Sharon White tells WPTV's Dave Bohman
I listened as she told me that due to the heat her electric bill is $150 dollars an amount she can't pay.
“I’m behind a bill now,” she said. “On August 11, I’ll be behind two bills, and it just snowballs.”
White is a widow who has lived on the Treasure Coast for 40 years.
For the past few summers, groups like St. Lucie County’s Council on Aging, the city of Port St. Lucie, and other organizations have helped pay her bill.
Not this summer.
“Anybody I tried to get a hold of this time is out of money,” White said, “all the organizations that help people.”
Right now, she doesn’t have to worry about a shutoff but that won't always be the case.
Florida Power and Light’s policy is to not disconnect customers during heat advisories or when temperatures are 95 degrees or higher.
Still, with no help, she fears the longer the heatwave lingers, the more she will eventually owe.
“I’m in trouble,” she added.
