Introduction

Welcome to The Energy Business privacy policy.

The Energy Business respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you visit our website (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

1. Who we are

Purpose of this privacy policy

This privacy policy aims to give you information on howThe Energy Business collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you allow us to arrange a gas or electricity contract for you.

This website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

It is important that you read this privacy policy when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data.

Controller

The Energy Business (Company no. 15924407) is the controller and responsible for your personal data in relation to the services and your personal data. Our registered address is 16 Johnson Close, Wigston, Leicestershire, LE18 3UB.

Contact details

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact us in the following ways:

Full name of legal entity: The Energy Business

Email address: contactus@theenergybusiness.uk

Postal address 16 Johnson Close, Wigston, Leicestershire, LE18 3UB.

Telephone number: 01163 668 333

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to us if you have any concerns about how we have handled or protected your information by contacting us at the above contact details.

Changes to the privacy policy and your duty to inform us of changes

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. Any changes we may make to our privacy policy will be posted on our website.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Third-party links

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

2. The data we collect about you

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
• Contact Data includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
• Profile Data includes purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website for example contacting us to organise the renewal of your gas or electricity contract.

We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

If you fail to provide personal data

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you services). In this case, we may have to cancel a service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

3. How is your personal data collected?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

• Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by communicating with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when we arrange a gas or electricity contract for you or when you give us feedback or contact us.
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data through analytics providers.
• Third parties or publicly available sources such as analytics providers.

How we use your personal data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract, we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we will get your consent before sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

4. Disclosures of your personal data

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table above.

• Internal Third Parties such as employees with The Energy Business, including sales agents and administration in order that they can provide, and process services requested by you, as well as managers for analytical and dispute resolution.
• External Third Parties such as service providers acting as processors based within the UK who provide IT and system administration services.
• Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including premier brokers, lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based within the UK.
• HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
• Credit and fraud agencies, including Experian and Credit Safe.
• Any third party using personal data for marketing purposes.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

5. International Transfers

We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

6. Data Security and Retention

Transmitting information via the internet is never completely secure. Whilst every effort will be taken by us to secure your personal data, we are unable to guarantee the security of any data transmitted to our site. Any transmission is at your own risk. Of course, strict procedures and security features will be used to try to prevent unauthorised use of your data.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements.

In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

No fee usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

7. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data.

You have the right to request:

• Access to the personal data that we hold about you;
• Correction of your personal data;
• Request erasure of your personal data;
• Object or restrict the processing of your personal data;
• Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party.
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us on the contact details provided above.