Mark Sumner got into more than £2,000 of debt when his energy bills jumped from £80 a month to £220, leaving him scared to look at letters coming through his door.
He was issued a County Court Judgement (CCJ), a legal document forcing him to pay his energy supplier what he owed.
Mark is one of a rising number of people who have faced court action over unpaid debts.
In the first quarter of this year 270,537 new CCJs were registered - up 17.5% on the same period last year, data from the Registry Trust suggests.
That increase comes against a backdrop of rising energy debt. Across all energy companies in Britain debt has reached a record high of more than £4.5bn.
