Heat Network Metering and Billing Notification Data
Privacy Notice for data received from Scottish Government and shared with Advice Direct Scotland and Extra Help Unit
Consumer Scotland was established under the Consumer Scotland Act 2020, and we are based at Thistle House, 91 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh, EH12 5HD. You can contact our Data Protection Officer by post at this address or by email to corporateservices@consumer.scot
What we do with information we collect
We hold a copy of the Heat Network Metering and Billing Notification Data shared from Scottish Government through a data sharing agreement. This was done to support our function as the statutory consumer advocate for heat network consumers in Scotland.
The information shared with us includes:
- Names and contact details of Heat Suppliers
- Addresses of heat suppliers, where the given supplier address is not a commercial premises
- Some address information of final customers, where the size of a heat network is suitably small that it is possible to identify individual addresses
We use this data to:
a) Support partner consumer protection and advice organisations (such as Advice Direct Scotland and Citizens Advice Scotland’s Extra Help Unit) deliver more effective services to consumers requiring help, advice or redress.
b) Carry out market and consumer research and analysis to build a strong evidence base for our developing consumer advocacy responsibilities.
c) Build on our data driven decision making processes with more complete and established sources.
d) Establish and build relationships with wider heat network industry stakeholders.
Lawful basis for processing
We process this personal information because processing is necessary for us to perform a task for an official function. The Energy Act 2023 introduced a new heat network consumer protection framework, with Consumer Scotland being designated as the statutory advocate for heat network consumers in Scotland.
How long do we keep your personal data
We will continue to process personal data for as long as we understand an individual named as heat supplier continues to have an obligation under the Regulations.
Where we identify that personal details held are no longer relevant, we delete these. We review the personal data that we have not processed in the previous 2 years and only hold the personal data as long as is necessary to meet our advocacy obligations.
Who do we share your information with
We share this data with advice partners Advice Direct Scotland and Extra Help Unit that we fund to deliver tier 1 and tier 2 advice and support for heat network consumers. Sharing of this data supports advice partners to engage with heat network suppliers to progress advice cases, supporting the delivery of positive consumer outcomes.
We may also share this data occasionally, and for a limited time, with our processors for purposes of carrying out tasks that we have contracted them to do on our behalf. This includes Research organisations for research, evaluation and statistical archiving processes, including the construction of samples and carrying out of surveys.
Your personal data is always shared using secure transfer methods. We require our partners to protect your personal information in line with any contractual, Data Sharing Agreements (DSAs) or Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) we have with these parties.
We do not allow our partners to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. We will update our privacy notice to reflect any additional purposes the information will be shared for.
In general we do not transfer personal data outside either the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA). We will only transfer data outside the UK and the EEA when we are satisfied that the party which will handle the data and the country we are processing it in will provide adequate safeguards for personal data.
Your data protection rights
Data protection law gives you certain rights that you may exercise in respect of your own personal information:
- you have a right to request a copy of personal information we hold about you
- you have the right to ask us to update our records if you believe that the data we hold is inaccurate or incomplete
- you have the right to ask us to erase your personal information. However there may be some circumstances in which we cannot comply
- you have the right to ask that we stop or restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances
- you have the right to object to processing
If you contact us with a request, we have 1 month to respond to you. Please contact us at corporateservices@consumer.scot if you wish to make a request.
You can find out more about your rights by visiting Your data matters | ICO
Your right to complain
If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer in the first instance at corporateservices@consumer.scot who will look into the concerns you have raised and respond to you.
If you are not satisfied with our DPO’s response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO are the supervisory authority responsible for data protection in the UK.
You can contact the Information Commissioner at:
The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 08456 30 60 60
More information is available on the Information Commissioner's website. You can also report any concerns via the Information Commissioner Officer's website.
Changes to this privacy notice
We keep our privacy notice under regular review to make sure it is up to date and accurate. If this privacy notice changes in any way, we will update this page.