Privacy notice

Great British Energy privacy notice  

Great British Energy (GBE) is the UK’s publicly owned energy company for a new era of national purpose. It was established by the Great British Energy Act 2025. 

 

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) will initially be responsible for the creation of GBE and is the data controller for personal data collected and processed in that set up context until GBE is fully operational.  Where GBE undertakes independent operational activities, separate Privacy Notices may be produced, specifying the relevant data controller and processing purpose(s).  

 

Regarding the establishment of GBE, DESNZ want to engage with stakeholders and organisations, receive feedback, correspondence, and expressions of interest, and keep stakeholders informed about GBE. 

 

This notice sets out how DESNZ will process your personal data received through correspondence and expressions of interest, and your information rights. It is made under Articles 13 and/or 14 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

 

Your data

DESNZ may process the following personal data if you send it to us through correspondence or web form:

 

  • contact name    

  • role / job title    

  • email address    

  • phone number  

  • organisation name    

  • organisation type    

  • address  

  • IP address 

 

DESNZ will also:

 

  • collect details of any concerns raised in your correspondence  

  • process any other information you volunteer about yourself or your organisation  

  • Where you provide your consent, DESNZ uses Google Analytics 4 to collect the following information about how you use this website:    

  • the pages you visit on gbe.gov.uk  

  • how long you spend on each gbe.gov.uk page  

  • how you got to the site  

  • what you click on while you are visiting the site

DESNZ do this to help make sure the site is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements.

 

DESNZ Cookies Notice

See the Cookies notice for more information about the cookies used on this website.

 

Purpose  

The purposes for which we are processing your personal data are:  

  • To respond to letters, emails, or other communications from members of the public, Parliamentarians, and representatives of organisations.
  • To record, analyse and respond to expressions of interest in GBE.
  • To provide information about GBE and GBE schemes and initiatives to those who submit expressions of interest.
  • IP address is collected to detect and prevent fraudulent activity.
  • Information collected by Google Analytics 4 is used to make sure the site is meeting the needs of its users and to help make improvements.

 

Legal basis of processing  

The legal basis for processing your personal data under Article 6 of the UK GDPR is:    

1(e) Public task: Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller.    

GBE’s mission is: 

 

  • Public Ownership of Energy with Purpose: accelerate clean energy and the industries that support it to ensure workers and communities reap the benefits of clean, secure, homegrown energy. 

As part of its activities, DESNZ will receive and may respond to correspondence and expressions of interest relating to GBE from the public and other stakeholders until GBE is fully operational. 

 

Recipients  

Your information may be shared with other public bodies, or the devolved administrations, where it is necessary to provide a full answer to you, or where it is necessary to transfer correspondence to the appropriate body for an answer. 

 

Your information may be shared with your MP or MSP, where they are writing on your behalf. 

 

Your personal data may be shared from DESNZ to GBE during the transition to GBE’s full operational independence. 

 

Your personal data may be shared by DESNZ with organisations DESNZ contract with, where that is necessary for the purposes explained above. 

   

As part of DESNZ IT infrastructure, your personal data will be stored in the UK on systems provided by DESNZ data processors - Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. This does not mean DESNZ actively share your personal data with these entities; rather, they are technical service providers who host infrastructure supporting DESNZ IT systems.  

 

Retention    

Personal information in correspondence or expressions of interest will be deleted 3 calendar years after the correspondence or case is closed or concluded, or 3 calendar years after the expression of interest was submitted.

Public correspondence may however be kept if it is sufficiently significant that it should be retained for the historical record.

 

International transfers  

Your personal data will be processed in the UK.  

 

Your rights  

You have the right to request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data. 

 

You have the right to request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay. 

 

You have the right to request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement.  

 

You have the right to request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed. 

 

You have the right in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested) to request that the processing of your personal data is restricted. 

 

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data where it is processed for direct marketing purposes. 

 

You have a right to object to the processing of your personal data. 

 

To exercise your rights please contact the DESNZ Data Protection Officer using the contact details below. 

 

Contact details  

The data controller is the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). You can contact the DESNZ Data Protection Officer at:  

DESNZ Data Protection Officer  
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero  
3-8 Whitehall Place  
London  
SW1A 2EG  

Email: dataprotection@energysecurity.gov.uk

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your personal data, please write to the department’s Data Protection Officer in the first instance using the contact details above.  

 

Complaints

If you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an UK independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:  

Information Commissioner's Office 
Wycliffe House 
Water Lane 
Wilmslow 
Cheshire 
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.

  

Updates to this notice

If this privacy notice changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page. Regularly reviewing this page ensures you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we will share it with other parties. The ‘last updated’ date at the bottom of this page will also change.

 

If these changes affect how your personal data is processed, we will take reasonable steps to let you know.

 

Last updated: 10 February 2026   

  • Amended to reflect updated transition work

  •  

Great British Energy operations 

Where GBE undertakes operational activities independent of DESNZ, separate Privacy Notices may be produced as listed here (detailing the relevant data controller and Data Protection Officer contact details: 

 

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