Switchd Ltd understands that your privacy is important to you and that you care about how your information is used and shared online. We respect and value the privacy of everyone who visits Our Site and will only collect and use information in ways that are useful to you and in a manner consistent with your rights and Our obligations under the law.
This Policy applies to Our use of any and all data collected by us in relation to your use of Our Site. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully and ensure that you understand it. By visiting the Website and / or submitting your details via the Website and / or clicking the acceptance button and / or checking the box to accept on the Website in connection with the Service you agree to be bound by and to act in accordance with these Terms and the Privacy Policy.
In this Policy the following terms shall have the following meanings:
“Account” means an account required to access and/or use certain areas and features of Our Site;
“Cookie” means a small text file placed on your computer or device by Our Site when you visit certain parts of Our Site and/or when you use certain features of Our Site. Details of the Cookies used by Our Site are set out in section 12, below;
“Our Site” means, www.switchd.co.uk, www.getswitchd.com;
“UK and EU Cookie Law” means the relevant parts of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 as amended in 2004, 2011 and 2015; and
“Service” means the provision of an independent service that determines the best deal for you from a range of suppliers of given product or service, then manages the switching process of the product or services you receive from third party in line with your specifications and our determination of the best deal for you. It may also include handling of relevant admin and communications in order to reduce hassle for you.
“We/Us/Our” means Switchd Ltd, a limited company registered in England under 10408051, whose registered address is International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London, England, EC1A 2BN.
“Profiling” means the data processing that involves (a) automated processing of personal data; and (b) using that personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person. Specific examples include analysing or predicting aspects concerning that natural person's pattern of energy use in a property.
2.1 Our Site, www.switchd.co.uk (and others mentioned above), is owned and operated by Switchd Ltd, a limited company registered in England under 10408051, whose registered address is International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London, England, EC1A 2BN.
2.2 We are a member of The Smart Energy Code.
This Privacy Policy applies only to your use of Our Site. It does not extend to any websites that are linked to from Our Site (whether We provide those links or whether they are shared by other users). We have no control over how your data is collected, stored or used by other websites and We advise you to check the privacy policies of any such websites before providing any data to them.
Some data will be collected automatically by Our Site (for further details, please see section 12 on Our use of Cookies and Our Cookie Policy, other data will only be collected if you voluntarily submit it, for example, when signing up for an Account. The below list is not necessarily exhaustive and depending upon your use of Our Site, We may collect some or all of the following data:
4.1 name;
4.2 date of birth;
4.3 gender;
4.4 business/company name;
4.5 employment status;
4.6 residential status;
4.7 time at address;
4.8 contact information such as email addresses and telephone numbers;
4.9 demographic information such as post code, preferences and interests;
4.10 financial information such as credit / debit card numbers / bank details;
4.11 IP address (automatically collected);
4.12 web browser type and version (automatically collected);
4.13 operating system (automatically collected);
4.14 a list of URLs starting with a referring site, your activity on Our Site, and the site you exit to (automatically collected);
4.15 username and password for online accounts we need access to for the provision of the Service;
4.16 gas and / or electricity customer number;
4.17 other details in relation to your current providers of gas or electricity and
4.18 preferences you may have for gas or electricity provision or suppliers in the future.
4.19 future correspondence with suppliers though our site
5.1 All personal data is stored securely in accordance with the principles of the Data Protection Act 2018. For more details on security see section 6, below.
5.2 To process your personal data, we will rely on a number of different legal bases depending on the purpose of the processing, such as where:
5.2.1 We need to process your personal data in order to perform the Service to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract
5.2.2 We have a legitimate business interest to process your personal data which is not overridden, or unbalanced compared to your interests and/or fundamental rights and freedoms;
5.2.3 You have given us your consent to send you marketing information.
5.3 We use your data to provide the best possible products and services to you and 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:
5.3.1 Providing and managing your Account;
5.3.2 Providing and managing your access to Our Site;
5.3.3 Personalising and tailoring your experience on Our Site;
5.3.4 Supplying Our products and services to you;
5.3.5 Personalising and tailoring Our products and services for you;
5.3.6 Responding to communications from you;
5.3.7 Supplying you with email that you have subscribed to (you may unsubscribe or opt-out at any time by emailing us to let us know you wish to unsubscribe or clicking on the unsubscribe link in emails, if available;
5.3.8 Market research;
5.3.9 Analysing your use of Our Site and gathering feedback to enable Us to continually improve Our Site and your user experience;
5.3.10 To quickly and easily allow you to connect and sign up to additional services offered by us or our carefully selected partners.
5.4 We will not send you any unsolicited marketing or spam and will take all reasonable steps to ensure that We fully protect your rights and comply with Our obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, as amended in 2004, 2011 and 2015. However, with your permission and/or where permitted by law, We may also use your data for marketing purposes which may include contacting you by email AND/OR telephone AND/OR text message AND/OR post with information, news and offers on Our products AND/OR services. Additionally, with your permission and/or where permitted by law, We may also use your data for marketing purposes which may include contacting you by email AND/OR telephone AND/OR text message AND/OR post with information, news and offers on products AND/OR services from Our selected third party providers.
6.1 We only keep your data for as long as We need to in order to use it as described above in section 5.
6.2 Some or all of your data may be stored or transferred outside of the European Economic Area (“the EEA”) (The EEA consists of all EU member states, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein). You are deemed to accept and agree to this by using Our Site and submitting information to Us. If We do store or transfer data outside the EEA, We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data is treated as safely and securely as it would be within the EEA and under the Data Protection Act 2018. Such steps may include, but not be limited to, the use of legally binding contractual terms between Us and any third parties We engage and the use of the EU-approved Model Contractual Arrangements.
6.3 Data security is of great importance to Us, and to protect your data We have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure data collected through Our Site.
6.4 Steps We take to secure and protect your data include:
6.4.1 Secure servers will be used to store all information you give us
6.4.2 Secure SSL technology will be used for posting of all submitted data.
6.5 Notwithstanding the security measures that We take, it is important to remember that the transmission of data via the internet may not be completely secure and that you are advised to take suitable precautions when transmitting to Us data via the internet.
We may keep your personal information for up to 18 months following the date on which we last provided our services to you or only for as long as is reasonably necessary thereafter in order to:
8.1 We may share your data with other companies in Our group. This includes Our subsidiaries AND/OR Our holding company and its subsidiaries.
8.2 We may sometimes contract with third parties to supply products and services to you on Our behalf. These may include but are not limited to payment processing, switch processing, delivery of goods or services, search engine facilities, advertising and marketing. In some cases, the third parties may require access to some or all of your data. Where any of your data is required for such a purpose, We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data will be handled safely, securely, and in accordance with your rights, Our obligations, and the obligations of the third party under the law.
8.3 We may compile statistics about the use of Our Site including data on traffic, usage patterns, user numbers, sales and other information. All such data will be anonymised and will not include any personally identifying information. We may from time to time share such data with third parties such as prospective investors, affiliates, partners and advertisers. Data will only be shared and used within the bounds of the law.
8.4 In certain circumstances We may be legally required to share certain data held by Us, which may include your personal information, for example, where We are involved in legal proceedings, where We are complying with the requirements of legislation, a court order, or a governmental authority. We do not require any further consent from you in order to share your data in such circumstances and will comply as required with any legally binding request that is made of Us.
8.5 We may share or make available anonymous or aggregate information that cannot be used to identify you individually with:
8.6 Your Data and Referring Parties (if you were referred to us after 20/12/2021). Where you have been referred to us via a Third Party, we may share Personal and non-Personal Data with the referring party (subject to confidentiality obligations to use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them and pursuant to our instructions).
'Automated Decision Making' refers to a decision which is taken solely on the basis of automated processing of your personal data. This means processing using, for example, software code or an algorithm, which does not require human intervention.
As Profiling uses automated processing, it is sometimes connected with automated decision making. Not all profiling results in automated decision making, but it can do.
If you are a Switchd customer, we may use automated decision making to switch you to a better energy deal in order to carry out the Service.
You have certain rights in respect of automated decision making, where that decision has significant effects on you. See section 12.3 for more information about your rights.
10.1 We may, from time to time, expand or reduce Our business and this may involve the sale and/or the transfer of control of all or part of Our business. Data provided by users will, where it is relevant to any part of Our business so transferred, be transferred along with that part and the new owner or newly controlling party will, under the terms of this Privacy Policy, be permitted to use the data for the purposes for which it was originally collected by Us.
10.2 In the event that any of your data is to be transferred in such a manner, you will not be contacted in advance and informed of the changes.
11.1 When you submit information via Our Site, you may be given options to restrict Our use of your data. In particular, We aim to give you strong controls on Our use of your data for direct marketing purposes (including the ability to opt-out of receiving emails from Us which you may do by unsubscribing using the links provided in Our emails.
11.2 You may also wish to sign up to one or more of the preference services operating in the UK: The Telephone Preference Service (“the TPS”), the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (“the CTPS”), and the Mailing Preference Service (“the MPS”). These may help to prevent you receiving unsolicited marketing. Please note, however, that these services will not prevent you from receiving marketing communications that you have consented to receiving.
12.1 You may access certain areas of Our Site without providing any data at all. However, to use all features and functions available on Our Site you may be required to submit or allow for the collection of certain data.
12.2 You may restrict your internet browser’s use of Cookies. For more information, see section 14.
12.3 Your right not to be subject to automated decision making does not apply where the decision which is made:
However, in these situations, you can still obtain human intervention in the decision making, and we will ensure measures are in place to allow you to express your point of view, and/or contest the automated decision.
As per GDPR guidelines you are entitled to:
The right to access - You have the right to request Our Site for copies of your personal data.
The right to rectification - You have the right to request that Our Site correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request Our Site to complete information that you believe is incorrect
The right to erasure - You have the right to request that Our Site erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
The right to restrict processing - You have the right to request that Our Site restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
The right to object to processing - You have the right to object to Our Company's processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
The right to data portability - You have the right to request that Our Site transfer the data that we have collected to another organisation, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
Please contact us at team@switchd.co.uk if you wish to exercise these rights , or using the contact details below in section 13.
Our Site may place and access certain first party Cookies on your computer or device. First party Cookies are those placed directly by Us and are used only by Us. We use Cookies to facilitate and improve your experience of Our Site and to provide and improve Our products and services. By using Our Site you may also receive certain third party Cookies on your computer or device. Third party Cookies are those placed by websites, services, and/or parties other than Us. We use third party Cookies on Our Site to collect data that we can use to improve the customer experience on Our Site. In addition, Our Site uses analytics services provided by Google Analytics, Mousetrack and other analytics services which also use Cookies. Website analytics refers to a set of tools used to collect and analyse usage statistics, enabling Us to better understand how people use Our Site. For more details, please refer to Our Cookie Policy.
If you have any questions about Our Site or this Privacy Policy, please contact Us by email at team@switchd.co.uk or by post at International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London, England, EC1A 2BN. Please ensure that your query is clear, particularly if it is a request for information about the data We hold about you (as under section 11, above).
We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) to oversee our data protection and privacy practices. If you have any questions about this privacy policy or if you wish to exercise your legal rights set out in this privacy policy, please contact our DPO using the details below.
Our DPO’s contact details are: dpo@switchd.co.uk
We may change this Privacy Policy as we may deem necessary from time to time, or as may be required by law. Any changes will be immediately posted on Our Site and you will be deemed to have accepted the terms of the Privacy Policy on your first use of Our Site following the alterations. We recommend that you check this page regularly to keep up-to-date.
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Switchd Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with regard to credit brokering services. Our registration number is FRN 940305 and can be viewed on the FCA register website https://register.fca.org.uk.
Email: team@switchd.co.uk