Privacy Policy

What information will we collect about you?

We might collect:

contact information (e.g. name, postal address, email address)
information about your circumstances (e.g. age, financial situation, family, benefits eligibility)
information about your home or business (eg age, ownership structure, energy use, type of heating, financial information)

Some of this information may, in some cases, be considered as not being personal data, eg information purely about your property, such as property type or energy saving measures.

Why do we ask for this information?

We will ask for your contact details so that we can:

respond to requests, enquiries and complaints received from you
contact you about services requested by you
evaluate customer satisfaction and the success of any programmes we deliver and their impact on the environment
keep our records up to date for audit purposes

We will ask for information about your circumstances so that we can:

Assess your eligibility for support, referrals and additional energy and utility benefits and discounts

We will ask for information about your home or business so that we can:

provide services requested by you
assess your business’s eligibility for our support and help you access suitable grants and loans
assess likely eligibility for other assistance you may be able to receive

Where we collect information about you

We will normally only collect information directly from you. If we have received your information from a third party, the organisation sharing your information with us will get your permission to do so before sharing.

We will ask you to provide information for instance, when you contact us by telephone, if you submit a ‘contact us form’, sign up for our newsletter, enter a competition, attend an event, or complete a survey.

If you ‘like’ or ‘follow’ any of our social media accounts (such as Facebook and X) we will collect information about this (including any posts you ‘like’ or share). We will use this information to provide you with more personalised advertising and to understand how people are using the information we publish on social media. You can change your settings within your social media accounts to set how organisations can target advertising to you through them.

Sharing information about you

We sometimes use other companies and organisations (third parties) to process personal information for us. For example, we use third parties to:

Support our energy advice service
Carry out site surveys and assessments
Carry out research
Use printing services
Make referrals for support services (e.g. Citizens Advice, energy companies, grant schemes)

Where we make use of third parties to process personal information, we will ensure that they have adequate security measures in place and that they comply with this privacy policy.

We will also share information about you when we are required to so by law or if we have your permission to do so.

Direct marketing

CREW Energy will only send you direct marketing information if you have agreed to receive this information when you provided your contact details, or when you have specifically asked us to send you direct marketing.

You have the right to stop us using information about you for direct marketing purposes. You can do this at any time even if you previously consented to receive direct marketing. If you wish to change your marketing settings, either select the link included in emails or contact us directly to let us know. We will change your setting as soon as we are able.

Targeting

If you have agreed to receive direct marketing from us via email, we may use social media platforms to provide you with our targeted energy advice and information. This is done by matching the contact details you have given us with the contact details you have also given to social media providers. You can find more information on how targeted advertising works and how you can adjust your settings by visiting the relevant social media platforms listed below:

How long will we keep your data for?

CREW Energy will keep your information for:

Contact information
We will retain your information for seven years from the last active contact with us, unless we have a reason to keep for longer.

Your rights

Under data protection law, you have rights with regards to the personal data we hold and use about you. Your rights are described in the guidance below. If you have any questions or concerns about how we use your personal information please contact our Data Protection Officer by writing to: CREW Energy, 164 Trentham Street, London SW15 3DJ or emailing comms@crewenergy.london. CREW is a registered Community Benefit Society with the Financial Conduct Authority. The society’s register number is 7286.

You can also find useful information on the Information Commissioner’s Office’s website.

If you feel that we have not responded appropriately to any requests to use your rights you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (as detailed above).

For any request relating to your information we will ask for proof of identity to make sure we are talking to the right person, and to avoid disclosing information that belongs to another person. This may be done through asking questions (such as your address, telephone number, email address and reference number, should you have one) or sometimes we might ask for other evidence.
If you are asking about information relating to another person, we need to be sure you have the authority to act on that person’s behalf. Normally this can be done through evidence of a ‘Power of Attorney’ or similar document.

Accessing information we hold about you

If you think we hold information about you, you can ask us about that information. You do not have to make this request in writing, however we will always ask questions to make sure we know who you are or we might ask for further proof of identity. This additional proof may take the form of recent utility bills or we may request to see photographic identification such as a current driving licence.

We will let you know if we are using your information and let you have access to it. We may ask you to let us know exactly what information you are looking for if we hold a large amount of information about you.

We will give you the following information:

What we are using your information for
What sort of information about you that we hold,
Who we have shared your information with,
If we didn’t get your information from you, we will tell you where we got it from,
How long we are likely to keep your information.

Right to object to direct marketing

See section regarding direct marketing

Research
You may have agreed to be part of some research that we are carrying out – for example, into changing behaviour. If you change your mind about being part of any research, please let us know and we will stop using your personal information and remove your details from the research.

Right to Object
You can object to our use of your personal information. This is because we will have either obtained you permission to use your personal information, or we will have provided you with a condition known as a ‘legitimate interest’. A ‘legitimate interest would be where, for example, you had asked us to send you a loan application form. In order to complete this request we need to know and be able to use some of your personal information.

We will always let you know you have this right when we first take your information.

In some cases we will be unable to carry out your instruction to stop using your information.

We will provide you with information about the action we have taken in one month of receiving your request to delete your information and having received any proof of identity asked for. In some cases we may require additional time to provide you with a response. We will only do this if the request is complicated or there are more than one request submitted. We will always keep in touch and let you know the status of your request.

Restricting the use of your personal information
You have the right to restrict our use of your personal information where:

The accuracy of your personal information is in dispute and until we have been able to check your personal data to ensure that it is right
The use of your personal data is unlawful and you want to prevent us from deleting it
We no longer need your personal data for the reason it was collected but you want the information kept to take or defend legal action
You have objected to our use of your personal information for direct marketing (in this case we would no longer send you direct marketing but would keep your information on a ‘list’ of people not to be contacted by us)

In some cases we may have received permission to use your image in our marketing material, on our website and/or through our social media sites when you were a child (either from you or your parents/guardian). Please let us know if you would like to withdraw this permission and we will remove your images as requested. We will additionally contact the providers of our advice service to make sure your image is no longer used by them.

Refusing your request
We may refuse a request to delete your information if the use of your information is:

for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information (e.g. for the purposes of journalism),
to comply with legislation, or carrying out a task in the public interest, or in an official capacity,
used in relation to a legal claim.

We will provide you a copy of your personal information in one month of receiving your request for your personal information and having received any proof of identity asked for. In some cases we may require additional time to provide you with all your information. We will only do this if the request is complicated or there are more than one request submitted. We will always keep in touch to let you know when you will receive the copy of your information, if there will be a delay in providing your information and the reason for any delay.

If you request your information via email (or by any other electronic way) we will normally provide the copy of your personal information electronically where we can. However, we will discuss with you how you would prefer to receive the copy of your information and explain any reasons if we cannot provide your information in the way you would prefer.

Charges and refusing requests for personal information
We will normally not request payment to give you a copy of your personal information. However, we may make a charge if you have already recently requested the same information. In some very rare cases where numerous requests for the same information have been made we may refuse to provide the information again. Where we can, we will always clearly explain any decision to refuse to provide you with your personal information.

If the information you have requested includes the personal information of another individual we will (depending upon the circumstances) remove information that identifies that person.

Correcting information
If we hold information about you that is wrong you have the right to have this corrected. If we agree that the information is incorrect we will always correct this information quickly or complete information where appropriate. If we do not agree that the information is wrong we will record that you have raised a request to have the information altered and that it is in dispute.

Removing information
You can request that we delete, remove or that we erase the information we hold about you. We will do this if any of the following is true and if no legal reason to keep your personal information exists:

Your personal information is no longer needed for the reason they were collected
You withdraw consent where the use of your information was based on consent and we have no other legal basis to continue using your information
We have been using your personal information unlawfully
We are required to remove your personal information because of a law applying to us.

When we respond to your request for your information we will give you details about the other rights you have, including:

The right to submit a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office
The right to request correction or deletion of personal information
The right to request the restriction of your personal information
The right to object to the processing of your personal information

This policy will be updated as necessary to reflect best practice in data management, security and control and to ensure compliance with any changes or amendments made to the Data Protection Act 1998 and General Data Protection Regulation.

In case of any queries or questions in relation to this policy please contact the CREW Energy Data Protection Officer:
Amy Reid (comms@crewenergy.london).

Date: 10/12/2024

Review Date: 29/3/2025