This Retiree Got a $700 Utility Bill. She Sold Her Family Home to Cut Costs

For years, Diane Sylvia paid her utility bill on time and rarely worried about the cost of keeping the lights on in the 1,100‑square‑foot home she shared with her late husband.

“We didn’t struggle,” the 62-year-old Dartmouth, Massachusetts, resident. “We never once thought about turning the heat down.”

But last year, her January gas and electric bills came in at nearly $700, almost double the usual amount. By the time February’s bills arrived, she was facing roughly $1,400 in costs over two months.

Then came the shutoff notice, threatening to cut her service if she didn’t pay. She was able to get financial assistance to help offset part of the cost but worried another big bill could hit in the future. Other expenses were rising, too, so Sylvia sold her house and moved to an apartment to reduce costs.

“That was my home, and that was the only house we ever had,” she says. “[But] everything was starting to eat at my pension. You can’t have any quality of life if all you’re doing is paying the bills.”