I bought a new camera in 2009 and I remember looking at that Canon until I read the reviews. I ended buying a Fujifilm S1500 for $170 at BJ's Price Club and it has turned out to be a really nice camera. I just checked Amazon and it is now going for $299.
Before buying electronics the best advice is go to Amazon.com, Bestbuy.com and other sites and read reviews. I just went to Amazon and read a lot of negative reviews on your camera. It sounds like you would be best to buy a new camera. Here are a couple of comments by users.
"I've had my Canon PowerShot SX120 IS for 2 years and it just started using AA batteries so quickly I will need to buy a new camera to be able to take Christmas photos. About a month ago it started requiring a battery change after about 30 photos. I thought I might have a problem with my rechargeable batteries, but the same problem occurred with brand new alkaline AA batteries. Now the camera is saying I need to change the batteries every time I turn it on!!! Since others have noted this same problem in their reviews it is obvious that there is some flaw with this camera. I contacted Canon and see that it will cost $150 to send my camera in for a repair."
"Have owned this camera less than 1 year and couldn't understand from a month after we owned this camera that it was going through batteries EVERY time we used it. Come to find out there is a shortage in the camera which is gonna cost around $80 to fix it. For that price just going to get another camera."
There are many more reviews just like these two, it seems you've bought a lemon. I had the same problem with my first digital camera I bought, a Gateway from a Gateway store back in 2002, which is when they were still a big name like Dell. Anyway, the batteries would die after 6 or 8 pictures.