Glasgow energy firm fined £160,000 for making 700,000 unsolicited calls in a year

An energy firm based in Glasgow has been fined £160,000 after making more than 700,000 unsolicited marketing calls in a year.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Energy Prices Direct Limited (EPDL) after receiving more than 30 complaints.

The company, which describes itself as one of the UK’s largest energy-buying consortia, made the calls to individuals and businesses between January 2024 and January 2025.

The firm made calls to numbers registered on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS).

The ICO said this was a “clear breach of law”.

The TPS is the UK’s only official ‘do not call’ register for landline and mobile numbers, allowing people and businesses to opt out of unsolicited live sales and marketing calls.

An investigation revealed that in some cases, employees failed to identify themselves as being from EPDL when making calls.

In a call transcript, one recipient said that an EPDL employee claimed they were from “what sounded like the ECB”.

They went on to deny they were making a sales call, saying: “No, this is not a sales and marketing call, I just wanted to share our electricity prices with you.”

Another business owner said that despite having subscribed to the TPS, they were still being “bombarded” with daily calls from EPDL about switching energy suppliers or using a meter.

The ICO found data used to make calls had been purchased without establishing whether the numbers had been screened against the TPS or CTPS.

There were also instances where EPDL could not identify the source of the data they were using.

Andy Curry, ICO head of investigations, said: “Energy Prices Direct Limited showed a blatant disregard for laws designed to protect people and businesses from nuisance marketing.

“Not only was the company careless with its caller data, but employees were, in some cases, deceptive about their reasons for calling.

“They made an exceptionally high volume of unsolicited calls over a 12-month period, often in a persistent manner, in an attempt to sell services.

“This case highlights the importance of robust compliance checks when buying and using marketing data and we expect all organisations to have proper systems in place to prevent this level of unlawful marketing activity. Compliance with TPS and CTPS requirements is a legal obligation for all organisations conducting marketing calls.

“I am pleased that Energy Prices Direct Limited has now paid the fine we issued.

“Companies must understand that if they ignore the law and continue to bombard people with unwanted sales calls, we will not hesitate to take enforcement action.”

Enforcement action has been made under section 40 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and issued due to serious contravention of regulations 21 and 24 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

Under PECR, companies must not make live marketing calls to anyone who has registered with the TPS or CTPS unless they have explicit consent.

Organisations are legally required to screen their calling lists against both registers before making calls.

Callers must also identify who they are when making the call, make their telephone number visible, and provide contact details or a way for the recipient to contact them.