DPA case Energy Suite Limited – €2,340 Fine (United Kingdom, 2022)

Energy Suite is a company marketing "boiler, heating, insulation, glazing and other energy-saving grants to homes under government-funded schemes." Between 1 March and 13 November 2020, Energy Suite connected at least 1,246 calls to subscribers whose numbers were listed on the TPS (Telephone Preference Service Ltd) register. Three complaints were made against Energy Suit during this period as it called people who had not given their no-objection to receive marketing calls. Before the ICO, Energy Suite claimed that it had purchased "details of 11,005 live, validated landlines and 88,995 live HLR-checked mobiles" from third parties, without conducting any in-house checks. The ICO found that Energy Suite had contravened Regulation 21 of Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 by calling numbers that were registered on the TPS. On the balance of probabilities, it found out that at least 1246 calls made by Energy Suite got connected. The ICO referred to another complaint made outside the investigation period to conclude that Energy Suite's compliance with Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 has been lax. The ICO concluded that "unsolicited direct marketing calls were made to subscribers who had registered with the TPS at least 28 days prior to receiving the calls, and who for the purposes of regulation 21(4) had not notified Energy Suite that they did not object to receiving such calls." This contravention was considered to be serious due to multiple violations as Energy Suite made some 15,000 calls in total, many of which did not connect. Consequently, the ICO concluded that Energy Suite had been negligent and the "condition (b) from section 55A (1) DPA is met". The ICO considered the aggravating factors of Energy Suite's action being for financial gain, claiming ignorance of the law, inadequacy in record keeping, continued non-compliance etc. At the same time, the ICO also considered the mitigating fac