Page last updated on 7th June 2023
Smart Energy GB cookie notice
We use cookies, pixels and tags (which we shall collectively refer to here as "cookies") on the Smart Energy website for a variety of purposes which are described in this Cookie Policy, such as to make the website work properly and to make sure that you have the best possible experience when using it, and to show you information and advertising about the national rollout of smart meters that we think may be interesting to you.
Your consent matters
When you use the Smart Energy GB website you are asked to provide your consent to the storing and accessing of cookies on your device in accordance with the terms of this Cookie Policy. If you don't click "Accept" then we won't track your use of our website or advertising in any way, but we will keep a record of the fact that you didn't consent to our use of cookies so that we know not to track your activity.
What are cookies and what do they do?
A cookie is a very small text file. When you visit the Smart Energy GB website, a computer asks your device for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies. Details of the specific cookies that we use are set out in the table below.
For further information about how cookies work, including how you can check which cookies have been set on your device, you can visit the website All About Cookies.
Types of cookies we use on the Smart Energy GB website
Session cookies
We use cookies to allow the Smart Energy GB website to uniquely identify a user's browsing session on the Smart Energy GB website and to allow us to co-ordinate this information with data from our Smart Energy GB website server.
Analytics
We use Google's "analytics" cookies which, in conjunction with our web server's log files, allow us to identify individual users on an anonymous basis. These cookies can also calculate the aggregate number of people visiting the Smart Energy GB website, the user's geographic location, the date and time of a user's visit to the Smart Energy GB website, the pages a user has viewed and the time spent by users at the Smart Energy GB website. This helps us gather feedback so that we can improve the Smart Energy GB website and better serve our users and fulfil your journey.
Cross platform advertising and user recognition
We also use cookies provided by third party platforms that we advertise on, such as Facebook, Twitter. These cookies operate in different ways, but they are both used to help us track when people who see Smart Energy GB advertising on Twitter and Facebook, subsequently visit the Smart Energy GB website.
Functionality cookies
We also use cookies provided by third party platforms, like ReciteMe on the Smart Energy GB website to allow users to customise how our website looks for them, here are some examples of how we use functionality cookies:
- Change contrast levels
- Modify the font, colours, line height or spacing of text
- Zoom in up to 200% without text spilling off the screen
- The text will reflow in a single column when you change the size of your browser window
- Navigate the website using just a keyboard
- Translate the website into a different language
- Listen to the website using a screen reader
Your use of third party websites and platforms such as Google, Twitter and Facebook, and the privacy practices of these platforms (including the cookies that are used by them), are governed by separate terms, conditions and policies for which Smart Energy GB is not responsible. You should review the terms, conditions and policies of the relevant third party platform where you will find more details on how information about you is used on their platforms and how you can set your privacy preferences when using those platforms if you do not want them to track your activity on their platforms or share information with us about how you have interacted with our advertising.
Cookies on the Smart Energy GB website
The individual cookies we use and the purposes for which they are used are described in detail in the tables below:
Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
| Cookie Type | Cookie Name | Purpose |
|
OneTrust |
OptanonConsent |
This cookie is set by the cookie compliance solution from OneTrust. It stores information about the categories of cookies the site uses and whether visitors have given or withdrawn consent for the use of each category. This enables Smart Energy GB to prevent cookies in each category from being set in the users browser, when consent is not given. The cookie has a normal lifespan of one year, so that returning visitors to the site will have their preferences remembered. It contains no information that can identify the site visitor. |
|
OneTrust |
OptanonAlertBoxClosed |
This cookie is set by websites using certain versions of the cookie law compliance solution from OneTrust. It is set after visitors have seen a cookie information notice and in some cases only when they actively close the notice down. It enables the website not to show the message more than once to a user. The cookie has a one year lifespan and contains no personal information. |
|
Anti-forgery |
__RequestVerificationToken |
This is an anti-forgery cookie set by web applications built using ASP.NET MVC technologies. It is designed to stop unauthorised posting of content to a website, known as Cross-Site Request Forgery. It holds no information about the user and is destroyed on closing the browser. |
|
Cookie preference |
_SessionId |
This cookie is placed by Smart Energy GB and expires as soon as the browser window is closed. This cookie is used to track sessions. A session is an uninterrupted period of interaction with the smartenergygb.org website within the same browser. |
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
| Cookie Type | Cookie Name | Purpose |
|
Universal Analytics (Google) |
_ga |
These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our website and are analytics cookies. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the website. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone, including the number of visitors to the website and blog, where visitors have come to the website from and the pages they visited. _ga expires after 2 years. Read Google's overview of privacy and safeguarding data: |
|
Microsoft Clarity |
_click |
These cookies are used to collect behavioural analytics that turns user data into visual insights and shows which parts of our website gets the most engagement. The focus is on how visitors use our website. This cookie is an analytics cookie. You can find out how Microsoft uses the data here: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement CLID expires after 3 months. |
|
Adalyser |
__adal_id |
These cookies collect information about how you use our website. They keep track of the pages you visit and any errors you come across, for example. They don’t collect any information that could identify you, though – all the information they collect stays anonymous. We only use that information to improve how our website works, understand what interests our users and measure how effective our advertising is. They store which advertising campaign drove a user to visit, stores traffic source and campaign data, and tie back conversion events to earlier visits, stores a visit timestamp. They can also determine whether there is an active session and which conversions have taken place in this session to prevent duplicates, stores a list of events in this session. These cookies are stored for: More information can be found here: |
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
| Cookie Type | Cookie Name | Purpose |
|
Recite Me |
segb-languagepersist |
These cookies are placed by Recite Me and is subject to Recite Me's privacy and cookie policy. Recite Me is a tool that provides web accessibility. It enables Smart Energy GB to trigger the ‘Enable Toolbar’ request on subsequent pages users visit. Once a user has activated the Recite Me Toolbar it will remain open as a user continues their visit throughout the website viewing multiple pages. The cookies expire after 1 year. For further information about the Recite Me tool please see: |
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
| Cookie Type | Cookie Name | Purpose |
|
Yahoo |
A3 |
There is not yet any general information about this cookie based on its name only. If you have any information about this cookie. Will be updated ASAP. |
|
Doubleclick |
IDE |
This domain is owned by Doubleclick (Google). The main business activity is: Doubleclick is Googles real time bidding advertising exchange. |
|
TheTradeDesk |
TDCPM |
This cookie collects information about how the end user uses the website and any advertising that the end user may have seen before visiting the said website. It is an advertising cookie. You can find out how TheTradeDesk uses the data here: https://www.thetradedesk.com/us/privacy TDCPM expires after 1 year. |
|
YouTube Cookies |
CONSENT* |
We embed videos on our website from our official YouTube channel using YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode. This mode may set cookies on your computer once you click on the YouTube video player, but YouTube will not store personally-identifiable cookie information for playbacks of embedded videos which use the privacy-enhanced mode. Read more at YouTube’s embedding videos information page: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/171780?hl=en-GB CONSENT - expires after 17 years. |
|
Cookie Preference |
OAID |
Associated with the OpenX banner advertising platform for publishers. Records whether specific ads have been displayed. Reportedly used for performance only rather than user targeting. As a first party cookie it cannot be used to track across domains. |
|
Yahoo |
B |
There is not yet any general information about this cookie based on its name only. If you have any information about this cookie. Will be updated ASAP. |
|
Teads Pixel |
tt_viewer |
This cookie is placed by Teads Pixel and is subject to Teads privacy and cookie policy available here: https://www.teads.com/privacy-policy/ Teads is an advertising cookie. It enables Smart Energy GB to keep visitor information during a rolling 28 days window. We will also retain the data used for re/targeting purposes up to 12 months from the date of collection. |
Social Media Cookies
These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
| Cookie Type | Cookie Name | Purpose |
|
|
t.co |
This cookie is placed by Twitter and is subject to Twitter's privacy and cookie policy. It enables Smart Energy GB to learn how our users have interacted with Smart Energy GB's advertising on Twitter. It also enables Smart Energy GB to identify users who have used their mobile device to view Smart Energy GB's advertising on Twitter and later came to the Smart Energy GB website on a desktop computer. We store the information that we collect for 90 days and may use it to show further Smart Energy GB advertising to users who have previously seen our advertising. If you have visited our website after seeing our advertising then we will keep the data for 180 days so that we can show you more advertising. For further information about the Twitter Conversion Tracker please see: |
|
Facebook Pixel |
_fbc |
This cookie is placed by Facebook and is subject to Facebook's privacy and cookie policy. It enables Smart Energy GB to measure, optimise and build audiences for Smart Energy GB's advertising campaigns which appear on Facebook. In particular it enables Smart Energy GB to see how our users move between devices when accessing the Smart Energy GB website and Facebook, to ensure that Smart Energy GB's Facebook advertising is seen by our users most likely to be interested in such advertising by analysing which content a user has viewed and interacted with on the Smart Energy GB website. We store the information that we collect for 90 days and may use it to show further Smart Energy GB advertising to users who have previously seen our advertising. If you have visited our website after seeing our advertising then we will keep the data for 180 days so that we can show you more advertising. For further information about the Facebook Pixel please see: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/742478679120153?id=1205376682832142 |
Blocking our use of cookies
You can change your mind and withdraw your consent to our use of cookies at any time by blocking our cookies using the settings in your web browser. You can find information about how to do this on the All About Cookies website.