Privacy Policy for Help On Energy
Last updated: 10 April 2026
Help On Energy (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, and your rights under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Our website address is: https://helponenergy.com
1. Who We Are
Help On Energy is an independent UK energy advice and community platform. We are not affiliated with any energy supplier. We help consumers understand their energy bills, compare tariffs, and navigate supplier complaints.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your data, please contact us at: [email protected]
2. What Data We Collect
Account and Community Registration
When you create an account or join our community forums, we collect:
- Username and display name
- Email address
- Password (stored in encrypted form — we never see your plain-text password)
- Profile information you choose to share (optional)
- Forum posts, replies, and topics you create
Newsletter Sign-Up
If you subscribe to our email newsletter, we collect your email address. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email we send.
Contact Forms
If you contact us via a form, we collect your name, email address, and the content of your message.
Usage Data (Automatically Collected)
When you visit our site, we automatically collect certain technical information including:
- IP address
- Browser type and version
- Pages visited and time spent on site
- Referring website
- Device type
This data is collected via cookies and analytics tools (see Section 5).
3. How We Use Your Data
We use your personal data only for the following purposes:
- To provide our services — creating and managing your account, enabling community participation
- To communicate with you — responding to your enquiries, sending newsletters you have opted into
- To improve the site — understanding how visitors use the site so we can make it more useful
- To prevent abuse — detecting spam, fraud, or misuse of our community forums
- To comply with legal obligations — where required by UK law
We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We do not use your data for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
4. Legal Basis for Processing
Under UK GDPR, we rely on the following legal bases:
- Contract — processing necessary to provide the service you signed up for (account management, forum access)
- Consent — newsletter sign-ups and non-essential cookies (you can withdraw consent at any time)
- Legitimate interests — site analytics, security, and fraud prevention
- Legal obligation — where we are required to process data by law
5. Cookies
We use cookies to make our site work and to understand how it is used. Cookies are small text files stored on your device.
Essential Cookies
These are required for the site to function and cannot be disabled:
- Login session cookies (keeps you logged in)
- Security cookies (CSRF protection)
Analytics Cookies
With your consent, we use Google Analytics (or similar) to understand how visitors use our site. These cookies collect anonymised data about pages visited, time on site, and traffic sources. You can opt out via our cookie banner or by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
6. Third-Party Services
We use the following third-party services that may process your data:
- WP Mail SMTP / SendLayer / Brevo — for sending transactional emails (password resets, notifications)
- Google Analytics — website analytics (anonymised)
- bbPress — community forum functionality (data stored on our own servers)
- WPForms — contact form submissions (stored on our own servers)
We do not share your personal data with energy suppliers, advertisers, or any other commercial third parties.
7. Data Retention
We retain your data for the following periods:
- Account data — retained for as long as your account is active. If you close your account, we will delete or anonymise your personal data within 30 days, unless we are legally required to retain it.
- Forum posts — may be retained for the purposes of community continuity, but will be anonymised on account deletion unless you request otherwise.
- Contact form submissions — retained for 12 months then deleted.
- Newsletter data — retained until you unsubscribe.
- Analytics data — anonymised, retained for 26 months (Google Analytics default).
8. Your Rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights:
- Right of access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Right to rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data
- Right to erasure — ask us to delete your data (“right to be forgotten”)
- Right to restriction — ask us to limit how we use your data
- Right to data portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
- Right to object — object to processing based on legitimate interests
- Right to withdraw consent — where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time
To exercise any of these rights, email us at [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK’s data protection authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), at any time.
9. Data Security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including:
- SSL/TLS encryption on all data transmission (HTTPS)
- Encrypted password storage
- Regular software and security updates
- Access controls — only authorised personnel can access personal data
In the event of a data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the ICO within 72 hours and affected users without undue delay.
10. Children’s Privacy
Our service is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a child, please contact us immediately at [email protected].
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page and notify registered users by email where appropriate. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
12. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our data practices, please contact us:
Help On Energy
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://helponenergy.com