Privacy Policy

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Disclaimer: The policy was last updated on 10/01/2023, 14:11:08

Before using our service, please ensure that you are in agreement with this Privacy Policy. You must not use this website if you do not accept this Privacy Policy, as doing so explicitly authorises the processing of your information in the ways outlined in this document.

Summary

This Privacy Policy outlines the way in which Utility Switchboard Ltd. processes your information when using our websites, call center or other contact sources, hereafter referred to as “Services”. We are wholly committed to protecting your personal information when using our Services, and want you to feel that your data is safe and secure with us.

In this Policy, our objective is to improve your understanding on:

• where we collect your personal information from;
• what personal information we collect;
• how we use your personal information;
• who your personal information is shared with; and
• the rights and choices that you have when regarding your personal information.

All of our services are carried out in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR) and the Information Commissioner's Office.

1. Who are we?

We are Utility Switchboard Ltd. (“Utility Switchboard”,”we” or “us”), the owner and operator of utilityswitchboard.com. We are the controller responsible for personal information processed via our Services.

In order to further progress our commitment to your data protection, we have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) to manage our data protection and privacy practices. They remain at your disposition should you wish to exercise your legal rights set out in this Privacy Policy, or simply if you have any questions. You can contact our DPO via the information set out below.

How to contact Utility Switchboard:

Utility Switchboard Ltd
2nd Floor, Melrose House
42 Dingwall Road
Croydon, England
CR0 2NE

Tel: 0333 0151 313

Email: info@utilityswitchboard.com

How to contact our DPO

Email: dpo@utilityswitchboard.com

2. What personal information we collect

2.1 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).

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

• Identity data - this includes first name, last name, salutation/title;
• Contact data - this includes email address and telephone number;
• Transaction data - this includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased through our website;
• Technical data - this 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 our Services;
• Usage data - this includes information about how you use our Services;
• Quotation data - this includes information that you've provided to us when using our Services whilst generating your product quotation (for example, the type of gas meter that you have, or the quantity of kWh of electricity you use per year); and
• Marketing and Communications data - this includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

2.2 We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.

2.3 We do not collect 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.

2.4 We do not knowingly collect or store any personal data relating to children under the age of 16. If you are under the age of 16 and wish to use our Services, please get your parent or guardian's permission before providing any personal information to us.

2.5 If you are providing us with another person's information (for example if you are signing up to an energy tariff and would like to add a secondary account holder), you should first seek their permission and request they read through this Privacy Policy to ensure they're in accordance with its terms. In providing us information about the other person, you are confirming on their behalf that they are happy for you to provide the information to us and that they understand how their details will be used.

2.6 It is your responsibility to ensure that all information that you provide to us when using the Services is correct and accurate, and not misleading, falsified or belonging to someone else that has not given you permission to do so.

3. How we collect personal information

3.1 From you directly - You may give us your data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, telephone, email or otherwise. This includes data you provide when you:

• sign up to one of our products or services;
• request marketing to be sent to you; or
• give us feedback or contact us.

3.2 Via automated technologies or interactions - As you interact with our websites, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies (please find our cookie policy here) and other similar technologies. 3.3 From our partners - If you sign up to or purchase a product or service that is promoted through our Services then they may send us information they hold relating to the product(s) or service(s) you have purchased. This allows us to track sales and improve our customer experience. 3.4 Via third parties or publicly available sources - In carrying out administrative, marketing and analytical duties in pursuit of the Services, we may receive personal data from various third parties and public sources, including the below:

• Technical Data from analytics providers;
• Contact and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services;
• Identity and Contact Data from data brokers or aggregators; and
• Identity and Contact Data from publicly available sources.

4. How we use personal information

The primary legal basis that we use for processing your data is legitimate interest; however, we do have other obligations that mean our legal basis changes and are stated on an individual basis below. We may use your personal information:

4.1 to enable you to access and use the Services, including to:

4.1.1 confirm your identity and associated information that would enable us to perform the relevant checks and information requests via third parties to aid the Services;

4.1.2 transfer the information provided to our partners, including companies whose products we promote via our Services, to enable them to provide you with an accurate quote for your user profile and circumstances;

4.1.3 enable us to respond to your queries and requests more efficiently;

4.1.4 prevent loss of time and enhance user experience when accessing the Services again following an initial partial provision of information. Storing pre-contractual data allows you to pick up where you left off on our last interaction in the sign up or quotation journey via our Services;

4.1.5 process a transaction between you and a third party that you have signed up with via our Services;

4.1.6 track sales reconciliations with our third party partners. This means that we can follow the sign up journey between you and our partner to ensure that the contract requested goes live on time and without complication; and

4.1.7 enable distribution of our website content with others, for example by using the 'share this' functionality via social media integrations.

4.2 to improve and personalise elements of our Services, including to:

4.2.1 improve the personalised website and communications content recommendations and insights that you receive. From time to time we may conduct analytical profiling of our users which allows us to personalise content, products and services, marketing materials and communications to suit your interests and demographic;

4.2.2 verify the data collected with data from other sources by matching it against that of a third party. For example, in the process of switching your electricity provider, we may consult our third party data provider to confirm that your meter type, MPAN, region and other information have been recorded correctly; and

4.2.3 monitor the quality and level of service given to our customers by our employees. We record all telephone calls, emails and other correspondence between our customers and our members of staff and use them for training and quality improvement purposes.

4.3 to communicate with you, including to:

4.3.1 send information to you regarding products and services that may be of interest to you. According to your preferences, we may contact you via email, post, telephone, sms or by other electronic means, such as social media;

4.3.2 send you confirmation of your transaction by restating some of the information that you gave us and the details of the product or service that you signed up to. If you have signed up to one of our partners' products, you will likely also receive a similar confirmation letter or email from them;

4.3.3 follow up with any complaints, feedback or queries that you have brought to our attention in any form of communication with us;

4.3.4 contact you if we require any additional information to process your requested product or service. Failure to provide such data may mean that we are no longer able to process the transaction; and

4.3.5 carry out feedback, review or survey requests in order to improve our service and receive your feedback on how we can improve.

4.4 to carry out research, such as analysing performance, trends and demographics, including to:

4.4.1 use aggregated analytical data that you form a part of to better understand our marketing, operations and other areas of business; and

4.4.2 use the data provided to us during the sign up or quotation process, including your personal information and information about the products you're interested in to understand trends;

4.5 to carry out our legal or regulatory obligations. Your personal information will also be used in order to ensure our compliance with our legal obligations in accordance with UK law and our Terms of Use, which can be found here.

5. Who we share personal information with

5.1 We share your information with third parties to ensure that we're providing you with the best possible service and also to fulfil your requested service or product order. We share your data in different formats and disclosure levels depending on the purpose of the action. The parties and categories include:

5.1.1 our trusted product partners - Utility Switchboard has a panel of product partners for services such as energy, broadband and home services which allows you to compare and sign up to the product of your choice. We share your information with the partner that offers the product you have signed up for in order to process your order;

5.1.2 our technical partners - In order to carry out our business we require third party support from such services as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, Voice-over-IP (VoIP) software and Quality Control support. Your information is stored and processed via these technical partners under agreements held between our two parties with the sole purpose of supporting our business operations;

5.1.3 subsidiary, affiliated and holding entities - your personal information with Utility Switchboard makes up part of the our larger business operations and as such may be shared in aggregated or granular form to support our operations and analysis;

5.1.4 mergers and joint ventures - if Utility Switchboard enters a joint venture, buys, sells to or merges with another business entity, your personal information may be disclosed or transferred to the new entity and be subject to a new, revised Privacy Policy;

5.1.5 legal, government and regulatory bodies - If we are ever legally required to share your personal information we must do so for the following reasons:

(a). To comply with the applicable law or regulation;

(b). To exercise, establish or defend our legal rights; or

(c). To protect your vital interests or those of another person.

5.2 We will never sell, distribute, trade or loan your personal information to a third party unless we have your consent to do so or the law requires us to do so.

6. Sending personal information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)

We will only ever send your personal information to a trusted third party outside of the EEA if the third party is required to protect your personal information in exactly the same way they would be required to do so if they were based within the EEA. This means that we will only send personal information to a non-EEA country under the following circumstances:

(a). If the European Commission has determined that the relevant non-EEA country affords an adequate level of protection for personal information;(a). If the European Commission has determined that the relevant non-EEA country affords an adequate level of protection for personal information;

(b). If the agreement in place between us and the relevant third party based in the non-EEA country contains data protection clauses and requirements adopted or approved by the European commission; or

(c). If we can send data to the United States of America pursuant to the Privacy Shield.

7. How personal information is stored

The security of your personal information is of the utmost importance to us, which is why we have taken all possible precautions to ensure your privacy is completely protected. Our commitment to you is to employ all necessary security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorized parties and to prevent accidental or unlawful processing, disclosure, destruction, loss, alteration or damage to your personal information.

We store personal information for the duration required of us by law or that is otherwise laid out to you regarding a specific element of our business. Here are the main instances where we retain your information:

(a). If you use our Services, your personal information will be retained for a total of three years, by default;

(b). Recordings of the conversations you have with one of our customer service or sales representatives will be stored for a duration of two years; and

(c). Your anonymous aggregated data will be stored for as long as the service provider retains their information according to their individual policies.

If you would like us to remove your information before then, please contact us via the information provided in section 1.

8. Your personal information rights

You have rights under data protection legislation relating to your personal data and how it is handled by companies. This includes:

8.1 Right to access - You have the right to a copy of your personal information that we hold about you. In order to access this, you will need to verify your identity with us by answering to confirm certain parts of the information that we hold about you, such as your full name, address or date of birth. Requests for copies of personal information will be handled in a one month window. If we require more than one month to process your request we will inform you of this via email or post, depending on your preference;

8.2 Right to correct - If the information that we hold about you is incorrect or outdated, you have the right to rectify this. Requests for correction of personal information will be dealt with within 2 weeks. If we require longer than two weeks to process your request, we will inform you of this via email or post, depending on your preference;

8.3 Right to erasure and to restrict our use of your information - You have the right to have your personal information deleted, destroyed or removed from our records. There are some instances where this is not possible under data protection laws. If this is the case in your instance we will let you know on a case by case basis;

8.4 Right to restrict our use of your information - You have the right, in some instances, to 'block' or limit the way that we use your information;

8.5 Right to data portability - You have the right to request that we move, copy or transfer your personal data; and

8.6 Right to object - You have the right to object to the way that we use your information for our legitimate interests. If you raise an objection, we will, except in exceptional circumstances, stop processing your personal information in the way detailed.

9. How we use cookies

Our Site uses certain cookies, pixels, beacons, log files and other technologies of which you should be aware. You can delete or restrict the use of these via the settings, however this may interfere with the use of the Platform.

You can read more about our use of cookies in our Cookies Policy.

10. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to make changes and amendments to this Privacy Policy at any time and changes will be published across all of our locations where this Privacy Policy is displayed.

The date of the most recent revision will appear at the bottom of this page to ensure that you are aware of any version changes. If we make significant changes to this policy, we may also communicate this to you by other means, such as by email. Where required to by law we will also obtain your consent to make these changes. If you do not agree with the most recent changes, please do not continue to use our Services.