1. Who we are
This site is operated by My Energy Deals Ltd, trading as mybusinessdeals, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 15509088.
For the purposes of UK data protection law we are the data controller for the personal data described in this notice.
You can contact us about anything in this policy at hello@mybusinessdeals.co.uk or 0161 470 2343.
2. What this policy covers
This policy explains what we do with information about you when you use our website, request a quote, upload a bill, speak to one of our advisors, or are contacted by us about your business utilities.
We are an introducer, not a supplier, insurer or lender. Where we introduce you to a supplier and you enter into a contract with them, that supplier becomes a data controller in its own right for the information it holds about you. Its own privacy notice will apply to that relationship, and we will tell you who they are.
3. Information we collect
Information you give us
- Contact details — your name, business name, phone number, email address and business postcode.
- Business details — business type, number of employees, approximate turnover, and the services you are interested in.
- Supply and contract details — your current supplier, contract end date, unit rates, consumption, monthly spend, cover type, waste streams and collection frequency, connection type and speed, depending on the service.
- Uploaded documents — where you choose to upload a bill or invoice. See section 4.
- Anything else you tell us — in a message, on a call, or by email.
Information we collect automatically
- Your IP address, submission timestamp, and which page or form the enquiry came from. We record this to help prevent fraudulent and automated submissions.
- Analytics data about how the site is used, where you have consented to analytics cookies. See section 10.
Information from other sources
- Publicly available business information — for example Companies House records, publicly listed business contact details, and business directories, which we use to identify and contact businesses that may benefit from our service.
- Suppliers and industry data — where you authorise us to act on your behalf, suppliers and industry databases may provide us with information about your existing supply, meter details and contract dates.
4. Bills and documents you upload
Uploading a bill is optional. It is genuinely useful to us because it contains the information needed to benchmark your rates accurately rather than estimate them — your supplier, unit rates, consumption, meter numbers and contract dates.
Because a bill can also contain your site address, account number and other identifying details, we treat uploads with particular care:
- Files are stored outside the publicly accessible area of our website.
- Access is restricted to staff who need it to prepare your quote.
- We accept PDF, JPG and PNG files up to 10 MB. Please do not upload documents containing information we have not asked for.
- Uploaded documents are deleted in line with the retention periods in section 8.
If you would prefer not to upload anything, you can give us the same details over the phone.
5. Why we use your information, and our lawful basis
Under UK GDPR we must have a lawful basis for each use of your personal data. Ours are set out below.
| What we do | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Respond to your enquiry and prepare a quote or benchmark review | Steps taken at your request prior to entering a contract, and our legitimate interests in operating our business |
| Approach suppliers on your behalf and arrange a contract | Performance of our agreement with you, or steps taken at your request |
| Contact businesses that may benefit from our service, using publicly available business contact details | Our legitimate interests in marketing business-to-business services, balanced against your interests and rights |
| Send you market updates, renewal reminders and marketing | Your consent, or our legitimate interests where permitted for existing business customers |
| Keep records of contracts, commission and complaints | Legal obligation, and our legitimate interests in defending claims |
| Prevent fraudulent and automated form submissions | Our legitimate interests in protecting our systems |
| Analytics and improving the website | Your consent |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered whether that interest is overridden by your rights. You can object to any processing based on legitimate interests — see section 9.
6. Marketing and your choices
If you ask us for a quote, we will contact you about that quote. That is service communication, not marketing, and you cannot opt out of it while your enquiry is open — though you can ask us to close it at any time.
Marketing is separate. We will only add you to market updates and renewal reminders where you have opted in, or where the law permits us to contact your business without prior consent. Every marketing email we send identifies us clearly and contains a working unsubscribe link.
You can opt out at any time by clicking unsubscribe, replying to any email, or emailing hello@mybusinessdeals.co.uk. We act on opt-outs promptly and keep a suppression list so you are not contacted again in error.
You can also register with the Telephone Preference Service or Corporate TPS to reduce marketing calls generally.
7. Who we share your information with
We share personal data only where we need to:
- Suppliers and providers — energy suppliers, insurers, waste carriers, connectivity providers and finance providers, so they can quote for your business. We tell you who has been approached.
- Service providers acting on our instructions — including our website host, email delivery provider, and the spreadsheet and CRM tools we use to manage enquiries. These act as processors under contract and may not use your data for their own purposes.
- Professional advisors — accountants, auditors and lawyers, where necessary.
- Regulators and authorities — where we are required to by law, or to establish or defend legal claims.
We do not sell your personal data. We do not share it with unrelated third parties for their own marketing.
8. How long we keep it
We keep personal data only as long as we need it. Our general periods are:
| Information | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Enquiries that do not proceed | [TODO — commonly 24 months, to allow contact at your next renewal] |
| Customer and contract records | [TODO — commonly 6 years after the contract ends, for limitation and tax purposes] |
| Uploaded bills and invoices | [TODO — commonly deleted once the quote is complete or the contract is arranged] |
| Marketing suppression list | Indefinitely, so we can honour your opt-out |
| Complaints records | [TODO] |
When a retention period ends we delete the data or anonymise it so it can no longer identify you.
9. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- Access — ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Rectification — ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete.
- Erasure — ask us to delete your data, where there is no overriding reason to keep it.
- Restriction — ask us to pause processing while a concern is resolved.
- Object — object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time.
- Portability — receive certain data in a portable format.
- Withdraw consent — where we rely on consent, withdraw it at any time.
To exercise any of these, email hello@mybusinessdeals.co.uk. We will respond within one month. There is normally no charge. We may need to verify your identity first.
10. Cookies and analytics
Cookies are small files stored on your device. We use them sparingly.
- Essential cookies — needed for the site to work, for example remembering that you have dismissed a message. These do not require consent.
- Analytics cookies — help us understand how the site is used so we can improve it. These are only set where you consent.
You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies may stop parts of the site working.
[TODO — if you run Google Analytics, name it here and confirm a consent banner is in place. Under PECR, non-essential cookies require consent before they are set, not after.]
11. International transfers
Some of our service providers are based outside the UK, including in the United States. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place — such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum, or transfers to countries the UK government has decided provide adequate protection.
You can ask us for details of the safeguards applying to a particular transfer.
12. Security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including encrypted connections to our website, access controls limiting who can see enquiry data, and storing uploaded documents outside the publicly accessible area of our site.
No system is completely secure. If a breach occurs that is likely to result in a risk to your rights, we will notify the ICO and, where required, you.
13. Children
Our services are for businesses. We do not knowingly collect data about anyone under 18. If you believe we have, contact us and we will delete it.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed. Where changes are significant we will make that clear on this page.
15. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please tell us first at hello@mybusinessdeals.co.uk so we can put it right. Our full complaints procedure sets out how we handle complaints generally.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at any time:
- ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
- Helpline: 0303 123 1113
- Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF