As featured in MoneySavingExpert The Times The Guardian

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 16 August 2026

This policy explains what personal information Fueltool collects when you use fueltool.co.uk, why we hold it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and what you can ask us to do with it.

Who we are

Fueltool (fueltool.co.uk) is an independent heating oil price comparison service for the United Kingdom. We are the data controller for the information described below, which means we decide why and how it is used.

You can contact us about anything on this page by emailing support@fueltool.co.uk.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK data protection regulator, under registration number ZA917211.

Important: we are not your fuel supplier

When you place an order, your contract is with the heating oil supplier you chose, not with Fueltool. We pass your order and delivery details to that supplier so they can deliver to you. From that point the supplier holds its own copy of your details and is a data controller in its own right, responsible for what it does with them. If you want a supplier to delete the details it holds about you, you need to ask that supplier directly. We can tell you who they are.

What we collect, why, and our lawful basis

UK GDPR requires us to have a specific lawful reason for each use of your information. Ours are:

  • Searches (postcode, volume, fuel type, and the IP address of the device you searched from). Used to return prices and to understand which parts of the country we do not yet cover. Lawful basis: legitimate interests, being our interest in operating and improving the comparison service. Your postcode is needed to find suppliers who deliver to you.
  • Account details (email address and password). Used to let you sign in and see your orders. Lawful basis: contract.
  • Order details (name, delivery and billing address, phone numbers, delivery instructions, volume, price and date). Used to place your order with the supplier and to keep a record of the sale. Lawful basis: contract, and legal obligation for the accounting record.
  • Price alert subscriptions (email address and postcode). Used to send you the price updates you asked for. Lawful basis: consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
  • Coverage requests (email address and postcode) when no supplier covers your area and you ask to be told if that changes. Lawful basis: consent.
  • Enquiries you send us (name, email address and your message). Used to answer you. Lawful basis: legitimate interests.
  • Security and sign-in records (IP address, email address and the time of sign-in attempts). Used to detect and slow down attempts to break into accounts. Lawful basis: legitimate interests, being the security of the service and of your account.

We do not ask for, and do not want, any special category data such as health information. We do not carry out automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal effects for you.

Payments

Where a supplier accepts card payment through the site, the payment is processed by Stripe. Your card details are entered directly with Stripe and are never sent to, seen by, or stored on Fueltool's systems. We hold only the payment reference, the amount, and the last four digits of the card. Otherwise your supplier will contact you to take payment directly.

Who we share your information with

  • The heating oil supplier you choose, so they can deliver your order. See the section above.
  • Stripe, where you pay by card.
  • Google Analytics, if you accept analytics cookies. See Cookies below.
  • Our hosting and email providers, who process data on our instructions in order to run the website and send our emails.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing.

Some of these providers, including Stripe and Google, may process data outside the UK. Where that happens, the transfer is covered by the safeguards those providers have in place, such as the UK addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses.

How long we keep it

We do not keep personal data indefinitely. Our retention periods are:

  • Order records - 7 years from the date of the order, because we are required to keep records of sales for tax purposes.
  • Account details - until you delete your account. We also review accounts that have had no order and no sign-in for 6 years and remove the personal details from them.
  • Searches - after 3 months we permanently remove the IP address and shorten the postcode to its area only (for example MK40, not the full postcode). What is left is anonymous statistics that cannot be traced back to you, and we keep that so we can measure which parts of the country are not covered by any supplier.
  • Price API requests - where a price is requested through our API (for example by an app or AI assistant you use), we record only the postcode and quantity asked about - never your name, address or IP address. After 3 months we remove the full postcode and keep only the postcode area, the same rule as searches.
  • Price alert and coverage subscriptions - until you unsubscribe.
  • Enquiries - 2 years from the last message in the conversation.
  • Sign-in and security records - 12 months.

Cookies

We use a small number of cookies that are necessary for the site to work, such as remembering your search and keeping you signed in. These cannot be switched off.

We also use Google Analytics to understand how people use the site. These are not necessary, so we only set them if you accept them. You are asked when you first visit, and you can change your mind at any time using the Cookie settings link in the footer of every page. If you decline, no analytics cookies are set and no data is sent to Google.

Keeping your information secure

Passwords are stored using a salted, repeatedly hashed algorithm, which means we cannot see or recover your password, and neither can anyone who obtained a copy of our database. Card details never touch our systems. Access to customer information is limited to those who need it to run the service.

Your rights

You have the right to:

  • Access the personal data we hold about you, and get a copy.
  • Rectify anything that is wrong or incomplete.
  • Erase your data. You can do this yourself at any time from your account, using Delete my account. Records of orders you have already placed are kept for the tax period above, with your name and contact details removed from them.
  • Restrict how we use your data while a query is resolved.
  • Object to processing we carry out on the basis of legitimate interests, including the search and analytics uses described above.
  • Portability - receive the data you gave us in a common machine-readable format, or have us send it to someone else.
  • Withdraw consent at any time where consent is our basis, such as price alerts. This does not affect anything done before you withdrew it.

To exercise any of these, email support@fueltool.co.uk or contact us. We will respond within one month. We will not charge you, and we will not ask you to give a reason.

Price update emails

If you subscribe to price updates, we send you a weekly email covering your postcode area. Every one of those emails has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect immediately.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK supervisory authority, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113. You do not have to raise it with us first.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we use your information we will update this page and change the date at the top. Where the change is significant we will tell subscribers by email.