Privacy Policy
Last updated: 20 August 2026
This policy explains what BillDecoded collects, why, and what you can do about it. It is written to be read rather than to be long. If anything here is unclear, ask us at hello@billdecoded.co.uk.
Who we are
BillDecoded publishes free information about UK household energy billing at billdecoded.co.uk. For the purposes of UK data protection law we are the data controller for the personal data described below. Contact: hello@billdecoded.co.uk, or through the contact page.
What we collect, and why
| What | When | Why | Lawful basis | Kept for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Email address, plus the date, your IP address and browser user-agent | Only if you subscribe to the email list | To send the list you asked for, and to stop the form being abused | Consent | Until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it |
| Name, email address, topic and message, plus IP address and date | Only if you use the contact form | To read and reply to your message | Legitimate interests — responding to someone who contacted us | Up to 24 months, then deleted |
| Standard web server logs: IP address, page requested, timestamp, user-agent, referrer | Every visit | Security, abuse prevention and diagnosing faults | Legitimate interests — keeping the site working and secure | As long as our hosting provider retains them, typically a few weeks |
| Advertising identifiers and cookies set by Google and its partners | When ads are served | To display advertising, cap how often you see an ad, and measure it | Consent where required — see Advertising below | Set by Google, not by us |
What we never ask for and never want
- Your energy account number, meter serial number or MPAN/MPRN
- Your supplier login details
- Bank details, card details or any payment information
- Copies of your bills
Everything on this site is designed so you can do the work yourself with your own documents. If you send us any of the above by mistake, we will delete it and tell you we have.
Advertising
This site carries advertising, which is how it stays free. We use Google AdSense.
- Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on this site.
- Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and other sites on the internet.
- You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
- You can opt out of personalised advertising from many other vendors at aboutads.info/choices or, in the UK and Europe, at youronlinechoices.com.
- Third-party vendors and ad networks may also serve ads on this site and may use cookies or similar technologies of their own. We do not control those cookies.
If you are in the UK or the European Economic Area, you will be asked for consent before non-essential advertising cookies are used, and you can change that choice at any time. Full detail is in the cookie policy.
We do not use affiliate links in our guidance. Where a guide links to Ofgem, Citizens Advice, the Energy Ombudsman or a supplier, that link earns us nothing. See the editorial policy.
Analytics
We do not run Google Analytics or any equivalent third-party analytics product on this site. What we know about traffic comes from Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, which report on search results in aggregate and do not identify individual visitors.
Who we share data with
We do not sell personal data and we do not share it for anyone else's marketing. Data is handled by:
- Our hosting provider, which stores the site and its server logs.
- Google, for advertising, as described above.
We may also disclose information where we are legally required to.
International transfers
Our advertising partner operates globally, so advertising data may be processed outside the UK. Those transfers rely on the safeguards Google puts in place, such as the UK international data transfer addendum and standard contractual clauses. The email list and contact messages are stored on our own hosting and are not transferred internationally by us.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Rectify it if it is wrong
- Erase it — and for the email list, this is immediate on request
- Restrict or object to our processing of it
- Portability — receive it in a machine-readable format
- Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing that already happened
To exercise any of these, email hello@billdecoded.co.uk or use the contact form. We will respond within one month. There is no charge.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk.
Security
The site is served over HTTPS. The email list and contact messages are stored on the server behind access controls and are not published anywhere. No system is perfectly secure, which is a large part of why we ask you not to send account numbers or financial details.
Children
This site is aimed at adults responsible for household energy bills. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has given us personal data, tell us and we will delete it.
Links to other sites
Our guides link to Ofgem, Citizens Advice, the Energy Ombudsman, GOV.UK and others because those are the sources. We are not responsible for their privacy practices — read their policies when you get there.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes materially we will update the date at the top and describe what changed. The last substantive change was on 20 August 2026, when the policy was rewritten to describe advertising cookies accurately and to add a working contact route.