Buy Energy Units Ltd
Our Privacy Policy
Last updated: 20th October 2022

Contents

1. The data we collect and how we do this
2. How do we use your personal data
3. How we use Smart Energy data
4. How we use your sensitive personal data
5. The data we get from third-party sources
6. The legal bases for data processing
7. Automated decision-making
8. Who we share your personal data with
9. How your personal data is sent outside of the Africa, Middle East, Asia,European Economic Area & North American
10. How long we keep your personal data
11. Protecting your personal data
12. How we might change this privacy policy
13. The choices and rights you have when it comes to your personal data
14 How we use our Energy Wallet
15 Getting in touch with us

Your data is in safe hands
Our customers are at the centre of everything we do. So, as well as giving you excellent value and the best service around, we’re committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy policy is here to help you understand what data we collect, why we collect it, and what we do with it. Please read carefully, because it tells you some important stuff – about how we handle your personal data, and the steps you can take to look after it. This privacy policy applies to the following brands: Buy energy,Buy water,Solar Recharge pay as you go,Home Automation, Prepaid smart meter and water meter,EV Charging, EV Cars. This includes SSE’s domestic energy plans, as well as phone and broadband offers, and home services (that’s boiler and heating cover). Our associated brands of Hedreg Group Ltd, and Buy energy units Ltd are trading names within the Buy Energy Units family. The boring bit: The responsible data controllers are: Hedreg Group Ltd (Registration Number: 1965253); Buy Energy Units Ltd (Registration Number: 1874551)and When we refer to “we”, “us”, and “our”, we mean any one or more of those data controllers, as appropriate. By “you” or “your” we mean any individual, sole trader and/ or partnership that gets products or services from us, uses our website, or interacts with us in another way. This privacy policy supplements, or may be supplemented by, other privacy policies we might give you – but it doesn’t replace them. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this policy, we’d love to hear them. Get in touch anytime: our contact details are in section 15.1 Thanks for reading! We hope this policy helps.

1.0 The data we collect and how we do this

We (or third parties who act on our behalf) collect your personal data when you use our website, talk to us over the phone, by letter, by email, on social media, or in person, receive our products and/or services, or ask to join schemes which you’re eligible for. We might collect the following data: Types of data we might collect from youWhat this data covers Your contact details and the contact details of people associated with your account. Remember: if you give us someone else’s personal data, make sure you always have their permission.
Full name :
Email address :
Billing address :
Property address :
Phone number :
Any other relevant info we need in order to know that it’s you and be able to contact you directly. Details of a secondary contact, such as nominees or attorneys (for example, their name and number) Your account data and the account data of other people associated with your account.
Remember: If you give us someone else’s personal data, make sure you always have their permission.
Email address :
Date of birth :
Title :
Phone number :
Whether you’re a homeowner or renting :
Survey responses :
User name :
Photos of your meters :
Information about any other accounts you hold for: gas, electricity, Solar Recharge, Ev charging, Ev Cars,broadband or telephone, including the name of the supplier and payment methods. Conversations we have with you, including phone calls and emails, which may be monitored or recorded.
Household details and property type :
Complaints and/or incident details :
Appointment details :
Notes added to your account:
Financial data Bank account details
Your credit history :
Details of state benefits you receive :
Information that allows us to understand your creditworthiness and financial position Technical data Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet Login data (like your username and password) Your browser type and which version on the browser you’ve got, plus which devices you use to access our websites Your time zone setting :
Operating system and platform :
Your behaviour on our website or app (for example, the pages that you click on page response times, download errors, length of visits to pages and how you interact with pages) Your rough location when you connect to our websites (this will be just the city or county you’re using your device in)
We track technical data by using cookies
If you have an electric car we may collect the following data to provide you with services: car make, model, battery capacity & efficiency, kWh used by the charger from the grid and from the home (local power generation) kWh and minutes boosted If you have a heat pump we may collect data on the usage and efficiency Optimisation Data For some of our products and services, such as Buy Energy Units Ltd Greenlight we might ask you to give us some extra data about your home and lifestyle, to make sure you get the most out of whatever you are using.
This includes data like:
Number of people and rooms in your home
What type of heating system you have
What and how much you recycle
What transport you use
Marketing and communications data Your preferences in receiving marketing from us and third parties Your communication preferences
Energy supply data
The date we start supplying your energy
Technical meter details
Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN) for electricity customers
Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) for gas providers
Your plan
Energy usage (like meter readings and units of gas and electricity used over a period of time) Sensitive categories of data about your needs and the needs of other people in your household. This helps us understand if you have any special requirements. For example, this data may cover age, disabilities, health and/or any financial vulnerability. And, if it applies to you we might add you to the Priority Services Register.
If we think that someone might have committed fraud or stolen energy from us (for example by tampering with a meter or diverting the energy supply) we’ll record this information (see section 4 for further details)
If you are a broadband customer, we collect your Migration Authorisation Code, which gives us important information about your internet connection.
If you’re applying for Help to Heat Group Benefits, we need a mortgage statement.
If you want to attend one of our sponsored events, we might need venue and dietary preferences, accessibility needs and an emergency point of contact If you speak to us through social media, we take your name and store a link to your social media profile, which we keep with details of your previous correspondence with us.
If you register an account for services with us, we create and record customer ID numbers for you and record the date of your application.
If you are part of the Group we’ll gather the following: regular generation/export meter readings; generation/export meter details; data needed for identification and address checks; details of company affiliations; details of nominated persons; contract details; micro generation certification scheme information; and (where necessary) EPC information for the property.
It’s really important that the personal data we hold about you is up to date so please let us know if your personal data changes at any time.
Here’s some more information about how we use your data.

2. How do we use your personal data?

Here’s some more information about how we use your data.
2.1 Reasons
We might use your data for the following reasons (this can include our agents and third parties too) Our reason for using your data More details on what we need this for To serve your account To identify you To give you relevant products and/or services, benefits and rewards To give you information about the amount of each service you’ve used, and which charges apply. For example, how much electricity or gas you have used and what this will cost For contacting you about your account, whether that’s via post, email, your online account, SMS, live chat or other forms of electronic communication (including, messages sent through a smart meter) or by visiting you (to take a meter reading for example) To predict the amount of energy you’re likely to use in any period of time For deciding which products and/or services and which terms and conditions we can offer you. For example, if you ask for a certain plan we’ll check to see if it works for you
We will use data collected from your smart meter to work out your bills, to identify you, and to prevent fraud or energy theft. If you’ve for a smart meter, you’ll find more details about how we use your information in our terms and conditions, as well as in our Smart meter data charter.

3. How we use smart meter data

3.1 Here’s how we use energy consumption data, given to us by your smart meter
We will use your energy consumption data we obtain remotely from your smart meter for the following purposes:
To calculate your energy usage
To produce bills based on real readings
For industry reasons, and to predict the demand for energy
To give you information and feedback about your energy use, as well as how you could manage your energy use better and save money
To track trends in energy use, analyse your energy data, and to compare it over time with other customers’ energy use. This is so we can create tailored products and services for you To spot faults when they happen and fix these faster, as well as any other issues with your meter To give interactive tools to analyse your energy use through your online account, or through communications we may send you (like when we send you energy saving advice) To give you tailored advice on how to lower the amount of energy you use based on your energy use specifically .
To carry out internal reporting, modelling and analysis to understand our customers better.
3.2 How often your smart meter sends us readings
You can choose how often your smart meter sends us readings, before you get your smart meter installed. If you switch to us from another energy supply, we might get in touch with you to chat about your preferences for smart meter data collection.
You don’t have to give us readings frequently, if you don’t want to. But, if that's the case we might not be able to give you some of our products and services. Or at the very least, your use of some products and services could be limited. The options are:
half hourly – your smart meter will collect data every 30 minutes and send this to us once a day;
Daily - your smart meter will send us a reading once a day
Monthly – your smart meter will send us a reading once a month. Please note this is the lowest level of data we’re allowed to take for billing and regulatory reasons. If you choose this option, we’ll also take ad hoc daily meter reads, as and when we need to to make sure we’re serving you properly. For example, to keep billing you accurately, or if we need to use the data to answer a question, or if we think your smart meter isn’t working properly)
We might also get smart meter readings when:
your prices change
you move to another of our energy plans
you move home
you ask us to
you switch to another supplier
You can always change how often we collect energy data from your smart meter. If you do, this will take up to 5 days to carry out from the date that you contact us.

4. How we use your sensitive personal data

We treat some of the data we collect about you as extra sensitive. This could be about your needs, or details of criminal offences (see section 1). We’ll only use this data in the following ways:
4.1 How we look after you and others in your home
We collect data about you and other people in your household, to make sure we’re aware of any needs you might have. This could be data on age, health, or disability, for example. With your permission, we could use this helpful data to:
Look after you and others in your household. For example, to make sure we don’t turn off your power if you have a vulnerability. And so we can respond in the right way, if there’s an emergency situation. Give you products and/or services in a way that suits you, like if you need large print or braille Assist staff and third-party contractors
Make sure you have the best experience when you come to an Buy energy event – let’s say, if we need to make sure the space is easily accessible for you
We might share this data with the following people or organisations:
The electricity distributor (who will also give us this data) via the Priority Services Register The relevant gas transporter (who will also give us this data), engineers, or the network operator via the Priority Services Register
When using an outsourced service company that manages a wide range of energy industry data, for us
Social services, charities, health care services, and other support organisations And/or other relevant organisations – such as emergency responders or local authorities, which might be able to give you support
4.2 Criminal offences data
We use details of any criminal offences you’ve been accused of, together with information about whether the gas or electricity supply to your property has been tampered with or stolen in the past (or if we think it has), for the following reasons:
To make decisions about which products and services we can offer you, as well as the relevant terms and conditions
To make decisions about whether to disconnect your energy supply
To spot and prevent fraud or crime, with the help of any third parties when needed.

5.The data we get from third party sources

We also get your personal data from the following third-party sources:
Sources Type of data
Other energy suppliers: Meter readings Payments from your existing supplier, when you ask to switch from us We might also get details of suspected fraud or energy theft, so we can spot fraud or crime.
Third party data providers
If you’ve entered our collections process, we collect contact details to help us get in contact with you If we’re doing something that may impact the service you receive, we may ask tracing agents or other third parties to collect your contact details to help us communicate with you.
We might get your account data, technical data, optimization and energy supply data for administrative reasons – like to make sure our customers are getting a consistent service from us, and to make our business more efficient Hedreg Group includes any of the companies listed at the top of this document. Plus, our related businesses in the wider Hedreg Group such as Buy Energy Units Ltd , and The Renewable Exchange, as well as other subsidiaries of Hedreg Group Ltd from time to time.

6. Legal Bases for data processing

We’ve checked the legal bases for us to use your personal data, and they’re as follows:
Legal bases Description For your contract We use your data mainly to give you the products and services that you’ve asked for (for example, energy products) and to provide you with information about these products and services
Our legal obligations:
Our use of your personal data is necessary so we can comply with our legal obligations Our Legitimate Interests:
It might be in our interests to collect and use personal data, as we need this info to give you the services you want more effectively. When deciding whether it's in our interests to use your data, we will also consider your interests as a citizen and your rights under data protection laws It's in our interests to:
1. Run, grow, and develop our business
2. Spot and prevent fraud and Identify, exercise or defend ourselves against legal claims
3. Make sure our own processes, procedures, and systems are as good as they can be
4. Recover debts that are owed to us
5. Get a better understanding of how people use our website and other channels where people engage with us
6. Analyse and enhance the information that we collect
7. Work out how effective our promotional campaigns and advertising campaigns are
8. To send marketing communications to you by Mail and phone, you can opt-out of these at anytime, please take a look at section 15.1. Enhance, modify, personalise, or otherwise improve our services and communications for the benefit of our customers. If you have concerns about the processing activities based on our interests, please take a look at section 14.
10. Improve the security of our network and information systems 11. Raise awareness of Smart Meters
Consent:
Sometimes, we need your consent if we do want to use your personal data. For example to send you marketing communications about Buy Energy Units Ltd products in certain circumstances. If you give us consent, but you later change your mind, you may withdraw it, by letting us know. Just get in touch, using the details in section 15 and we’ll stop using your data for that purpose.

7. Automated decision-making

Your personal data helps us to make decisions that are automated (which means they’re carried out by my computer systems automatically). And we use your data to do this in the following ways.

8.0 Who we share your personal data with

We will share your personal data with the following types of third parties:
Third-party Description:
Our third-party suppliers, partners and subcontractors They offer, review and/or receive services in relation to our website, services and/or products. They include:
payment processors
suppliers of technical, support and installation services
insurers
logistics providers
call centre service providers
security providers
cloud services providers
research agencies
Market research agencies
Green Deal providers
And (If you can claim government funding for energy efficiency measures) installers, energy performance assessors and sales advisors.
Any company that;’s a member of Buy Energy Units Ltd includes any of the companies listed at the top of this document. Plus, our businesses in the wider such as Hedreg Group Ltd ,The Renewable Exchange, Buy Energy Home Plan as well as other subsidiaries of Hedreg Group Ltd from time to time.
You can appeal against any personal data, get an explanation of the decision or ask for a person to review it, just get in touch with us. You’ll find our contact details.
Government or law enforcement officials If we have good reason to think we’ve got a duty to do it, we’ll give out your data to meet any legal obligation – where your data might be needed to meet national security or law enforcement needs, or to stop illegal activity.

9.0 How your personal data is sent outside of the Africa, Middle East, Asia, North American And European Economic Area.

We (or a third party who we share personal data with) might host, store, and handle that personal data outside of our Company operating Geographical Zone). Some of our customer service work is done outside the Operating Geographical area , to make sure we operate as easily as possible. This means that we’ll send your personal data to suppliers based outside the Operating Zones.
9.1 The ways we protect data when we send it When we send data outside, we make sure that all the right safeguards have been put in place to protect your personal data.

10. How long we keep your personal data

We keep your personal data for no longer than is necessary. This means that when we don’t need it any more we delete it. The length of time we keep it all depends on why we’re using it and/or what we need to do to comply with applicable laws and to establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights. In some circumstances, we might anonymous your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) and use this indefinitely, without further notice.

11 Protecting your personal data.

We follow strict security procedures to protect your personal data. This includes following certain guidelines (for example, checking your identity when you phone us).
Whilst we take appropriate technical and organizational measures and have in place physical and electronic procedures necessary to safeguard the personal data that you provide to us, no transmission to or from us by post, email, phone, SMS or over the internet can ever be guaranteed as entirely secure. Communications over the web are not secure and as such, we cannot accept any liability or responsibility for any unauthorized access or loss of personal data.
We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We’ll notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we’re legally required to do so.

12 How we might change this privacy policy

We may change this privacy policy from time to time. If we make changes, we’ll let you know by revising the date at the top of this policy. If they’re major changes, then we may let you know by getting in touch with you through your means of contact given to us.

13 The choices and rights you have, when it comes to your personal data

• Our contact details are in section 15.1, and you can always get in touch to ask that we:
• Let you know if your personal data is being processed
• Give you further details about how we process your personal data
• Give you a copy of any personal data we hold about you
• Withdraw your consent for a way that we’re using your data (where we need your consent legally to use your personal information)
• Consider any valid objection you have to us processing your personal data (including the right to object to processing where we’re relying on our interests as a legal basis for processing)
• Update or delete personal data that we have about you
• Restrict the way that we process your personal data
• Consider any valid request to transfer your personal data (that relates to an energy account) to a third-party provider of services (this is called data portability)
• Where we carry out automated decision making that has legal or significant effects on you, make sure we get a person to review that decision, give you an explanation of the decision, and/or consider your appeal of the decision

14 How We Use Our Energy Wallet

Our Energy Mobile Wallet is a seamless mobile billing experience that Allows User to fund it through bank or Card to enable bill payment of Electricity payment,, Water bill payment, Solar recharge payment, Gas bill payment, EV Charging, Tv Cable Subscription, Top up and Data bundle and our products purchase through mobile app platform and our website

15 Getting in touch with us

15.1 Our contact details
Two tips to help us get back to you more quickly:
When you send us your message, let us know if it's a "rights request" as part of your message. This will help us make sure it gets to the right people.
Include your name, account email,, address, and if there's any data you're especially interested in, if you can. This will make it easier for us to respond to you properly.
How to contact us:
If you’ve got any questions about data protection, or you’re not happy with how we’ve handled your data, email us at Support@buyenergyunits.com.
For access to your data, use our online form.
To delete your data, email us at Erasure-requests@buyenergyunits.com For all other requests, email us at Support@buyenergyunits.com