Skip to content

Get £50 FREE bill credit at Octopus Energy when you sign up with our referral link

Claim your £50
Octopus50

Legal

Privacy policy

How Octopus50 collects, uses and protects personal data, and how you can exercise your rights under UK data protection law. Last updated 29 August 2026.

1. Who we are

Octopus50 (https://www.octopus50.co.uk) is an independent guide to the Octopus Energy referral offer. We are not operated, endorsed or reviewed by Octopus Energy Limited. For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation ("UK GDPR") and the Data Protection Act 2018, Octopus50 is the data controller for personal data processed through this website.

For any question about this policy, or to make a request about your personal data, contact us at hello@octopus50.co.uk. We are a small, editorially independent site and do not have a dedicated Data Protection Officer, but the above address reaches the person responsible for data matters.

We do not handle your switch

Quotes and sign-ups happen on Octopus Energy's own website, at share.octopus.energy and beyond. We never see or collect your bank details, meter details, home address or quote information. Once you follow a referral link, Octopus Energy's own privacy policy governs what happens to your data on their site.

2. What personal data we collect

We collect very little personal data, because this site does not offer accounts, checkout, or switching itself. The table below sets out each category we handle, why, and the lawful basis we rely on under Article 6 UK GDPR.

Data categories, purposes and lawful bases

Server / request logs
IP address (may be truncated or anonymised by our host), browser and device type, pages requested, timestamps and referring URL, generated automatically by our hosting infrastructure. Used for security, abuse prevention, fault-finding and keeping the site running. Lawful basis: legitimate interests (running a secure, reliable service).
Analytics data
Aggregated, measurement-only analytics about which pages are viewed, approximate country-level location, device type and referring source. Used to understand which guides are useful and to prioritise updates. Lawful basis: consent, obtained via the cookie banner described in our cookie policy — see below.
Contact form / email correspondence
Your name, email address and the content of your message, if you contact us (for example to flag an error or ask a question). Used to respond to you and to keep a record of any correction made. Lawful basis: legitimate interests in responding to correspondence you initiate, and, where relevant, consent.
Referral link clicks
When you click our referral link, your browser is sent to Octopus Energy's own domain (share.octopus.energy). We may record, in aggregate, that a click occurred, but we do not receive your name, contact details or switching outcome from Octopus Energy. Lawful basis: legitimate interests in understanding whether our content is useful.
What we never collect
Bank details, payment card details, meter numbers, energy account credentials, Direct Debit information or quote details. These are handled solely by Octopus Energy once you leave this site.

3. Cookies and similar technologies

Some of the data above, particularly analytics data, is collected using cookies or similar technologies. Non-essential cookies are only set once you have given consent through our cookie banner, and you can withdraw that consent at any time. Full details of the specific cookies used, their purpose and how to manage them are set out in our cookie policy, which forms part of this privacy policy.

4. How we use your data

We use the personal data described above only to:

  • operate, secure and maintain this website;
  • understand, in aggregate, how our guides are used so we can improve them;
  • respond to enquiries, complaints or correction requests you send us; and
  • comply with our legal obligations, for example if we are required to disclose information to a regulator or law enforcement body.

We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you, and we do not sell personal data to third parties.

5. Sharing your data

We do not sell or rent personal data. We share personal data only with the following categories of recipient, each of whom is required to keep it secure and to use it only for the purposes we specify:

Recipients of personal data

Hosting provider
Processes server logs and hosts the website infrastructure on our instructions, acting as a data processor.
Analytics provider
Processes measurement-only analytics data on our instructions, acting as a data processor, and only where you have consented to analytics cookies.
Octopus Energy
We do not transmit your personal data to Octopus Energy. Following our referral link simply takes your browser to their site (share.octopus.energy), where any information you then choose to give them is handled under Octopus Energy's own privacy policy, not ours.
Regulators and legal authorities
Disclosed only where we are required to do so by law, for example in response to a valid request from the ICO or a court.

Because Octopus Energy's site is entirely separate from ours, we encourage you to read their privacy policy before providing any personal information there.

6. International transfers

Where a hosting or analytics provider we use processes data outside the UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards recognised under UK data protection law, such as a UK adequacy regulation covering that destination or the UK's International Data Transfer Agreement / Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, before any such transfer takes place.

7. How long we keep data

Retention periods

Server logs
Retained for a short period set by our hosting provider, typically a matter of weeks, for security and fault-finding.
Analytics data
Retained in aggregate for a limited period configured in our analytics settings, after which it is deleted or fully anonymised.
Email correspondence
Retained for up to 24 months from your last message, or longer where it forms part of a published correction record on this site.

We do not keep personal data for longer than is necessary for the purposes it was collected for, and we periodically review what we hold.

8. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect the personal data we hold, including using a reputable hosting provider, restricting access to correspondence to those who need it, and using encrypted connections (HTTPS) for traffic to and from this site. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we keep our practices under review.

9. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

  • access the personal data we hold about you;
  • rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data;
  • erasure of your data in certain circumstances ("the right to be forgotten");
  • restriction of how we use your data while a query is resolved;
  • data portability, where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means; and
  • object to processing based on legitimate interests, including for analytics.

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@octopus50.co.uk with details of your request. We will normally respond within one month. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request, and in some circumstances we may be entitled to decline a request or charge a reasonable fee, in which case we will explain why.

10. Complaints

We hope we can resolve any concern you have about how we handle your data, so please contact us first. However, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK's independent regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

11. Children's privacy

This site is intended for adults making household or business energy decisions. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children, and the content is not directed at children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time, for example if our processing activities or legal obligations change. The "last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent review. We encourage you to check back periodically, particularly before contacting us with personal information.

See also our cookie policy for details of the specific cookies used on this site, and our about page for more on who runs Octopus50.