SSL Certificates?

I have a domain name and webhosting. I also have subdomains.

Lately I have found that it’s getting hard to get my cpanel up. Does anyone know if not having the SSL certificate is the reason for this?

Where I have them hosted, I was told that I need a SSL certificate. I’m amazed that I would need one as my sites are not business sites.

I can’t really afford to buy a certificate. If I need to have one, I will just have to look else where to host my site.
cpanel in the control panel of web hosting.