British Gas passing on personal information

Cazzaroo

Hi 😁

I've just had an email from a meter reading company that BG use about wanting to access my property to read our meters.

Is this a breach of GDPR?

Thanks
Caz

user1977

In what way would it be a breach of GDPR? I take it they've got your contact details from BG? Things like meter-reading have been sub-contracted for decades, it can't be done without passing on your details.

Cazzaroo

My email address

Sandtree

Cazzaroo said:

Hi 😁

I've just had an email from a meter reading company that BG use about wanting to access my property to read our meters.

Is this a breach of GDPR?

Thanks
Caz

Read their privacy notice, sharing data with third parties to enable operations is common.... just think of all those mail order companies sharing your name, address and contact details with couriers/Royal Mail 

The_Fat_Controller

Perfectly normal.

Don't stress about it.

Aylesbury_Duck

I suspect that in the contract you have with BG, you agreed to them sharing appropriate information with subcontractors.

TELLIT01

When the meter reader arrives ask for ID and stay with them while they read the meter.

giraffe69

You could contact the ICO office to ask. You could get a smart meter then they won't need to get your detail to read your meters.

Ditzy_Mitzy

The overwhelming likelihood is that the British Gas contract will have terms related to the sharing of information with 'partner firms' or a similar thing of their choosing, making this something of a non-starter.  

From the GDPR perspective, there is some nuance as regards whether email addresses, in isolation, are personal data.  An email address such as 'andy.mccluskey@omd.co.uk' or 'susan.smith@barclays.co.uk' (both made up) is personal data because it is possible, with a little research, to identify the data subject from it.  The same would not be true of 'purplegiraffe@geocities.co.uk' or 'darthvader6@aol.com' or whatever unless there was additional information present to link the email address with the data subject.  Why does it matter?  

Sandtree

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

 The same would not be true of 'purplegiraffe@geocities.co.uk' or 'darthvader6@aol.com' or whatever unless there was additional information present to link the email address with the data subject.  Why does it matter?  

Well in this case they also have the OP's name and address given they are coming to do a meter read but it appears to be the email address being shared that the OP has issue with and not the other PII.

Cazzaroo

Thank you for your comments.

Sandtree, you're always so calm and helpful.

I've heard negative things about smart meters and am therefore reluctant to have one.

My understanding is that this is a platform to ask questions regardless how benign the question may seem to you.

Cheers!