We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
Direct interactions:
We collect personal data about you if you fill in forms on our Website or correspond with us by telephone, email or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you:
- Register to set up an account with us using the My Account portal on our Website;
- Provide us with meter readings or report damage to infrastructure (such as a leak);
- Engage with us through water efficiency promotions;
- Enter a competition or survey; or
- Take part in Affinity Water led events or activities; or
- Report a problem with our Website or give us feedback.
We may also ask you to share your personal data with us if it is necessary for us to provide our services to you – for example, we may ask if you require priority services.
We may process personal data that you manifestly choose to make public, including via social media (e.g. we may collect information from your social media profile(s), to the extent that you choose to make your profile visible). If you send us a private or direct message via social media, the message will be stored outside of the application but in accordance with this privacy notice.
If you use our Website, we may use cookies and other technologies to collect certain information from you including Technical Data and Website Data.
Where we collect information about you we do so on the basis that it is in our legitimate interests to collect and process this data to ensure our Website is functioning properly. In most situations this will be anonymised data and you will not be identifiable. Visitors to our Website will be asked to consent to all non-essential cookies or other tracking technologies.
Please see our Cookies Notice for more information about the cookies we use, the purposes for which we use them and how to manage, block or delete them.
Information we receive from other sources:
We may use your information to ensure that you receive information that is relevant to you or to your circumstances. For example, to ensure you are on the correct tariffs, whether you would be entitled to benefit from a government payment scheme or whether you would benefit from having a water meter. The information we may use to create such a profile may include your water consumption, payment history, demographics or information provided by third parties such as credit reference agencies.
We may also receive information about you from third parties who provide it to us (e.g. the previous occupants or, if you are renting a home, your landlord may provide details to us).
In addition, we work closely with third parties and may receive information about you from them. Examples of these third parties include: our regulators, companies that provide sewerage services in our area of supply, water retailers who supply non-household premises within our area, other water companies, distribution network operators, energy providers, the Benefits Agency for our WaterSure Scheme, housing associations, local authorities and financial aid bodies, sub-contractors in technical and payment services, analytics providers, and credit reference agencies, fraud prevention agencies or the Electoral Roll (for example, where it has not been possible to identify the person responsible for payment of water services charges).
When we receive information from other sources, we rely on them having the appropriate provisions in place telling you how they collect personal data and who they may share it with. We carefully check our sources to ensure that we only receive your information when it is lawful for us to do so.