Privacy

Privacy Notice

Loka Energy respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

This privacy policy is provided in a layered format so you can click through to the specific areas set out below. Please use the Glossary to understand the meaning of some of the terms used in this privacy notice.

1. Important information and who we are

Purpose of this privacy notice

This privacy notice aims to give you information on how Loka Energy collects and processes your personal data on a day-to-day basis through the provision of services to you and through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you contact us.

This website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children through this website.

It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.

Controller

When we mention Loka Energy, "we", "us" or "our" in this privacy notice, we are referring to Loka Energy Limited. Loka Energy Limited is the controller and responsible for this website.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact us using the details set out below.

Our full details are:

·        Full name of legal entity: Loka Energy Limited

·        Email address: data.privacy@lokaenergy.co.uk

·        Postal address: Level 9 6 Mitre Passage, Greenwich Peninsula, London, England, SE10 0ER

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

Changes to the privacy notice and your duty to inform us of changes

This version was last updated in March 2023.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Third-party links

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

2. Summary

The full details of our privacy notice are set out in the sections below. However, please note the following key points:

• We may receive personal data from you directly and sometimes your personal data may be provided by a third party, for example: a landlord or a public authority.

• We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to in order to provide you services, communicate with you and for other legitimate purposes including improving our website.

• We only provide your personal data to the third parties set out in this privacy notice. We do not provide your personal data to third party advertisers.

• We store personal data for specified periods for our limited business purposes.

• You have certain rights, prescribed by law, in relation to the processing of your data, such as rights to request access, rectification or deletion of your personal data.

3. The data we collect about you

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, or footage.

• Contact Data includes email address, telephone number and postal address.

• Special Category Data includes your faith, ethnic background, vulnerability status, health or disability issues where this is provided by you voluntarily or a relevant third party.

• Financial Data includes your bank account and payment card details, payee name and details of your income in connection with any eligibility requirements (typically we will not have any access to your card details, and these will only be available to our payment processing service provider).

• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you, details of any payments made to you facilitated by us and other details of services you have purchased from us or through us on behalf of a third party.

• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.

• Account Data includes call recordings (you will be notified at the start of the call) contract details, job details, unique customer identification.

• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website.

• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.

4. How is your personal data collected?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

Direct interactions

You may give us your Identity Data, Contact Data, Special Category Data, Financial Data, Account Data and Transaction Data in the course of us providing you services and by you filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:

• create an account through any linked domain names owned by Hemiko.

• contact us through our websites, portals, customer contact number or on social media.

• give us some feedback (through a survey or other communication with us).

• apply for a job.

• apply for a property.

• request a service.

Automated technologies or interactions

As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our Cookie Policy below for further details.

Third party sources or organisations.

We may also collect or receive your personal data from third party sources or organisations such as:

·         Councils, postal services, local authorities, housing associations or developers: in connection with the services we provide.

·         Letting agents, landlords, management agents, installers, cohabitants or previous tenants: may provide name and address details.

·         Government, ombudsman services, law enforcement agencies and regulators

·         Law enforcement agencies (such as the police) to identify and prevent fraud or crime.

·         Third party repairs contractors, third party contractors (including payment software providers, banks), postal services, utilities providers, in connection with the services we provide.

·         Land Registry and other publicly accessible sources: to provide up to date information about your property.

·         Private sources, such as Zoopla: to provide information about your property.

5. How we use your personal data?

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:

• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

• Where we need to perform a contract with you or with a third party on your behalf.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending direct marketing communications to you via email. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.

Purposes for which we will use your personal data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

 
Purpose/Activity Type of data Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
To deliver the services required as part of our business and to communicate with you in relation to these services) Identity Data
Contact Data
Special Category
Financial Data
Transaction Data
Account Data
Necessary for the performance of a contract. Necessary for our legitimate interests Necessary to comply with a legal obligation.
To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) Identity Contact
Technical
Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
To deliver relevant website content Identity
Contact
Usage
Marketing and Communications
Technical
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences Technical Usage
Account Data
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our products and services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To respond, manage and resolve complaints Identity
Contact
Special Category
Account data
Technical
Necessary for the performance of a contract
Necessary for our legitimate interests
Necessary to comply with a legal obligaton

Marketing

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. We have established the following personal data control mechanisms:

• Opting out

You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us at any time.

• Cookies

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please see our Cookie Policy.

• Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

6. Disclosures of your personal data

We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in paragraph 4 above.

• Internal Third Parties as set out in the Glossary.

• External Third Parties as set out in the Glossary.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

7. International transfers

We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

8. Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

9. Data retention

How long will you use my personal data for?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see Request erasure below for further information.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

10. Your legal rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please click on the links below to find out more about these rights:

• Request access to your personal data.

• Request correction of your personal data.

• Request erasure of your personal data.

• Object to processing of your personal data.

• Request restriction of processing your personal data.

• Request transfer of your personal data.

• Right to withdraw consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us on data.privacy@lokaenergy.co.uk

No fee usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

11. Glossary

LAWFUL BASIS

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.

Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.

Comply with a legal or regulatory obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.

THIRD PARTIES

External Third Parties

• Insurers for the purposes of obtaining and maintaining our insurance cover.

• Suppliers and sub-contractors in the course of providing our services to you.

• Service providers acting as processors based in the United Kingdom who provide IT and system administration services.

• Payment software service providers/banks in order to process payments made from or to you, refund such payments and deal with complaints and queries relating to such payments and refunds.

• Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based in the United Kingdom who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services in order to obtain professional advice in relation to our services and to manage legal claims and disputes.

• HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities (for example local authorities, benefits agency, social services, police) acting as processors or joint controllers based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

You have the right to:

Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

Cookie Policy

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

Currently we are only using essential cookies to allow you to experience the website fuller. These cookies are integral to the website platform and are UK GDPR and EU GDPR compliant.

We will be implementing cookies in the near future and we will ask for your consent before using them while you’re browsing our website.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

We will use cookies that are required for the operation of our website and which allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. Also, they may be used to track your return visits to the website. They include, for example, details such as your IP address, browser type, referring page and time of visit. If you sign up to receive our marketing communications your name and e-mail address will be stored on the server.

You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.