British Gas, Ovo … someone please sell me some electricity

While Ovo is shown on the database as our supplier, at the right address, it has confirmed that it is not supplying the meter at our property, which it says is owned by British Gas. Both companies say it is up to the other to sort it out and to request that the database is updated, linking the correct address to the correct meter and the correct MPAN.

We have been going round in circles for months trying to sort this out, and have reached a situation that neither company will resolve. We are turning to you to see if you might be able to unravel this Gordian knot. All we want to do is pay the correct supplier for our electricity and be recognised on the national database.

Jill replies

Meter mix-ups are always tricky, but after two weeks I had got precisely nowhere. British Gas continued to insist that it had taken over a duplicate MPAN, and that as Ovo had the genuine one, Ovo should be billing you. It sent you a refund of £5,306.

At the same time Ovo told me that your house was built on the site of a property that in 1998 had three meters, all supplied by SSE. “Since 2019 the properties had been supplied by British Gas, which installed the new gas and electric supply meters. It created two new electric MPANs and two new gas meter point reference numbers for the two new properties built on the site. All four meters were supplied by British Gas.”

It said British Gas then shut down the MPAN for your property the month after creating it, thus causing the issue you have struggled with ever since. As British Gas was the supplier, it should sort out this mess.

I thought it was time for you to decide which company you wanted to supply your energy. You chose British Gas so I asked Ovo to release what little interest it had in your account and British Gas to step up. This worked. Two days later British Gas said: “We’ve taken over the MPAN that belonged to Ovo. We’re in the process of setting up your reader’s electricity account and will begin to bill her usage shortly. It’s important to note that we’ve refunded all of her past payments made under the duplicate MPAN, £5,305.97, and that we’ll only start billing her from the date the account is set up, so she doesn’t owe anything for the last few years of electricity use.”

British Gas tells me it will start charging you next week. Despite now having to pay for your electricity, you are delighted to have the situation sorted. You said: “The refund of all our electricity payments is indeed a bonus, although it seems too good to be true. We’ve stuck it in a separate account for now but are planning a good night out once our account is all set up. Thank you for your help in unravelling the knot.”

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Gift vouchers giving us nothing but grief

I have two unused gift cards worth £25 each from M&S. When I tried to use them, I was told that they had expired. The Consumer Protection (Gift Vouchers) Act 2019 stipulates that any expiry date must be prominently visible but I couldn’t see one on my gift cards. M&S referred to the wording on the back of the card, which states that “this card will be valid for 24 months from the last transaction”. As I didn’t use the cards, there is no last transaction and so this shouldn’t apply to me. In any case, the tiny type on the back could not be called prominently visible.

M&S’s argument is that the period of validity was long enough, which is true, but my point is that it was not mentioned anywhere.

Another reader writes …

I am seeking your advice as to how we might resolve an issue we have had with Sports Direct since December 2023. We are a volunteer-based charity, St Vincent de Paul, which supports families and people in need. At Christmas we give extra financial help in the form of vouchers to buy gifts. Last Christmas vouchers worth £1,800 were bought from Sports Direct in Springhill, Bangor, in Northern Ireland. One of the families who got a £90 voucher told us that when they tried to use it, it had already been redeemed.

We gave the family another voucher for a different shop and then tried to sort out the issue with Sports Direct. But we have not got anywhere despite sending many emails. Sports Direct has told us that the voucher was redeemed in Staines in Surrey and has offered us no further support. We felt that speaking to someone might be helpful but they haven’t responded to this request.

In the scheme of things £90 is not a significant amount of money, but we owe those who donate to us an assurance that we properly account for the hard-earned money they give us. We can’t let this matter rest until we understand what has happened to this voucher.

Jill replies

Sadly the legislation quoted by the first reader relates to Ireland, not the UK. I say sadly because it provides much better protection for consumers in Ireland than anything enjoyed by UK gift voucher holders. In Ireland vouchers sold after December 2, 2019, must have no expiry date or be valid for at least five years, but in the UK there are no rules to specify how long a voucher or gift card should last. Retailers can set their own time periods.

In fact the time period set by M&S is more generous than most, having been increased from two years to four from the last transaction, which includes initially adding money to the card, adding or spending funds, or balance inquiries. Customers can renew the life of their gift cards to four years simply by checking their balance on the M&S website.

However, any company issuing vouchers should include any important terms, including expiry date, at the point of purchase, either in the packaging or on the card or voucher itself. The reader, discouragingly, told me that she could not remember exactly when she was given the cards. “My HSBC Mastercard entitles me to accumulate points and to receive gift vouchers from some organisations. The vouchers arrived with a letter from the bank simply stating that my vouchers were enclosed. I am certain that I checked for expiry dates and could not see any. It was some time ago. How is one supposed to know the expiry date if it is not written on the voucher?”

M&S pointed out that the terms and conditions were printed on the back of the card, but conceded that it has “since updated the design of our gift cards, with both the expiration information and terms and conditions more clearly visible”. M&S told me that the reader’s gift cards were issued in October 2019 and would have expired in 2021 but for the change to a four-year expiry date. This meant the card’s life was extended to October 2023. Due to the change in the cards’ design and the fact that they had expired less than six months ago, M&S decided to honour them as a gesture of goodwill.

The charity St Vincent de Paul supports families in poverty and gives Sports Direct vouchers to families with teenage children at Christmas. The card had been given to the recipient in Northern Ireland on December 1 and was then used in the Staines store on December 3 and 6. I pointed out to the Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct, that it was very unlikely that a poverty-stricken family would have had cash spare to buy a flight or ferry ride to London for a bit of Christmas shopping. The next day Frasers Group contacted the charity to offer a refund.

The charity said: “They offered to reimburse the £90 but I’ve learnt from your column that a request for some recompense always bears fruit and we have another £100 [in addition to the £90] which we will put to good use.”

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