Privacy policy

Spendwatt Pty Ltd ABN 38 150 704 475 (SpendWatt, us, we, our) takes your privacy seriously and is committed to responsible privacy practices.

We seek to comply with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, store, and handle your personal information.

What is personal information?

In this Privacy Policy, 'personal information' has the meaning set out in the Privacy Act. In general Terms, personal information is information (whether fact or opinion) about an individual who is identified or reasonably identifiable.

Some types of personal information are designated as 'sensitive information', which are subject to additional protection under the Privacy Act. For example, these can include information about your health.

What types of personal information do we collect?

The types of personal information we collect about you will depend on the purpose for which the personal information is collected. This can include:

(a) in the case of Customers

(i) your nominated representative's, date of birth, gender, business or residential address, email address, and telephone number(s);

(ii) billing address and payment information (credit or debit card details or alternative payment provider details such as PayPal); and

(iii) training videos;

(iv) energy demand and/or consumption data (whether measured, estimated or forecasted);

(v) energy bills and billing information;

(vi) site information;

(vii)investment preferences

(b) in the case of Administrators – your or your nominated representative's name, business address, email address, and telephone number(s);

(c) in the case of Operators – you or your nominated representative's name, business address, email address, and telephone number(s), as well as the following types of information:

(i) operator information, including (but not limited to) labour rates, project management, costs and margins; and

(ii) product catalogues, including product unit costs;

(iii) SaaS platform settings and preferences;

(d) in the case of End Users – the End User's name, business or residential address, email address, telephone number(s), as well as the following types of information:

(i) home type (house, unit, townhouse), home size, utilities provider and energy retailer, number of household occupants, appliances and connected devices, tariff type, tariff costs, home security details, solar system details, and monthly energy budget;

(ii) energy consumption and generation details, energy exported, energy efficiency, power factor, harmonic, time of usage, tariff, and feed in tariff, energy bills;

(iii) location data;

(iv) other energy data;

(e) if you have requested to receive news about exclusive offers, promotions, or events – your name, mailing or street address, email address, and telephone number(s);

(f) if you have contacted us to make a complaint, provide feedback, submit an enquiry, request a call-back – your name, mailing or street address, email address, and telephone number(s);

(g) in the case of prospective employees or contractors – information contained in your application or résumé, recorded during any interview, or obtained through any pre-employment checks, and government-issued identifiers such as tax file numbers; and

(h) in the case of our suppliers and distributors – your name, mailing or street address, email address, and telephone number(s).

Generally, we will not collect sensitive information about you. However, in certain circumstances, we may need to collect limited sensitive information. For example, an end user profile or an end user's energy consumption data may disclose that there are individuals dependent on life support at a specified location.

We also collect technical information and general analytics, such as web browser type and browsing preferences, Internet service provider, referring/exit pages, and date/time stamps, IP address, time zone, and geolocation data (if applicable) arising from your use of our website or SaaS platform.

How do we collect personal information?

We collect your personal information directly from you, including when you:

(a) access or use our website;

(b) access or use of our SaaS platform;

(d) sign up to receive news and exclusive offers, promotions, or events;

(e) enter surveys, competitions, promotions or requesting information or material from us;

(f) make inquiries about us or our products or services or otherwise communicate with us by email, by telephone, in person, via a website or otherwise; and

(g) apply to work with us or are engaged by us as a contractor.

Where it is reasonable and practicable to do so, we will only collect personal information about you from you directly and not from third parties. In limited circumstances, we may collect personal information about you, including from:

(a) our Customers, for the purposes of SpendWatt providing the SaaS platform; or

(b) your referees provided during the recruitment process if you apply for a job with us.

To the extent that the information we collect is energy related data or otherwise falls under a special category of data under the Consumer Data Right under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), we will request your express consent prior to collecting those information from you.

We may also collect personal information through third parties such as our service providers, through promotional and marketing activities, and from publicly available sources of information or if you link your customer account from another service like Facebook or Google.

We also use cookies and similar technologies to collect technical information and general analytics. By using our website, you are consenting to the use of these technologies in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Can you choose not to disclose your personal information?

If you contact us to make a general enquiry about us or our business, you do not have to identify yourself or provide any personal information. Alternatively, you can also notify us that you wish to deal with us using a pseudonym.

However, if we are not able to collect personal information about you, we may not be able to provide you with the information or assistance you require. For example:

(a) we will not be able to send you information you have requested if you have not provided us with a valid email address or telephone number; or

(b) we will not be able to provide you the full functionality or features of our SaaS platform.

How do we use your personal information?

In general, we use your personal information for purposes connected with our business.

Some of the specific purposes for which we use your personal information are as follows:

(a) to provide our products and services (including our SaaS platform) to our customers or to receive goods or services from third parties, for example to provide customers, and their nominated representatives and end users access to:

(i) energy and activity statistics such as an end user's energy spend for a specific date;

(ii) inferences about an end user's energy bill and the potential energy risks associated with an end user's appliances; and

(iii) personalised energy and activity goals based on previous goals by an end user or an end user's historical energy or activity data;

(b) to enable the proper operation and functionality of our products and services;

(c) to develop, improve, and offer the SaaS platform and other products or services that SpendWatt may offer from time to time;

(d) to conduct business processing functions including providing personal information to our related contractors, service providers or other third parties;

(e) to create or develop analytics, undertake benchmarking, assess accuracy of the SaaS platform, create or develop industry insights, reporting, and other uses that SpendWatt considers necessary or desirable for its business operations, including building a database of vertical and energy costs on a de-identified and aggregated basis;

(f) to verify your identity (for example, if you request access to the personal information we hold about you);

(g) to consider you for a job at SpendWatt (whether as an employee or contractor) or other relationships with us;

(h) to communicate with you and to address any issues or complaints that we or you may have regarding our relationship;

(i) for research and development purposes;

(j) for direct marketing purposes (see the "Direct marketing" section below); and

(k) to contact you regarding the above, including via electronic messaging such as SMS and email, by mail, by phone or in any other lawful manner.

We may also use or disclose your personal information for our administrative, marketing (including direct marketing), planning, product or service development, quality control, survey and research purposes and for other purposes to which you have consented, or as otherwise permitted or required by law.

Technical information and general analytics is used for the purpose of gauging visitor traffic, trends and delivering personalised content to you while you are on our website, and to improve our website and our products and services.

To whom do we disclose personal information?

We may disclose your personal information to third parties in connection with the purposes described above (see the "How do we use your personal information?" section).

This may include disclosing your personal information to the following types of third parties:

(a) our related companies;

(b) any potential third party acquirer of our business or assets, and advisors to that third party;

(d) our employees, contractors and third party service providers who assist us in performing our functions and activities e.g. payment systems operators and financial institutions, cloud service providers, data storage providers, shipping companies, telecommunications providers and IT support services providers;

(e) organisations authorised by us to conduct promotional, research or marketing activities;

(f) third parties to whom you have authorised us to disclose your information (e.g. referees); and

(g) any other person as required or permitted by law.

If we disclose your personal information to third parties we will use reasonable commercial efforts to ensure that such third parties only use your personal information as reasonably required for the purpose of disclosure and in a manner consistent with applicable laws, for example (where commercially practical) by including suitable privacy and confidentiality clauses in our agreement with a third party service provider to which we disclose your personal information.

You may also authorise us to disclose your personal information with others. For example, if a customer, an end user uses a third party application to grant access to its account. You acknowledge that a third party's use of your personal information will be governed by their respective Privacy Policies and Terms.

Direct marketing communications

We will only send you direct marketing communications (either through mail, SMS or email), including any news and exclusive offers, promotions, or events, where you have consented to do so.

You may opt-out of receiving direct marketing communications at any time by contacting us or by using opt-out facilities provided in the direct marketing communications.

Does personal information leave Australia?

We store personal information in servers located in Australia. We may disclose your personal information to overseas recipients, such as to our suppliers and service providers located overseas, in order to provide its products and services and to obtain services.

Except where an exception applies under the Privacy Act or other relevant legislation, we will take commercially reasonable steps to ensure that overseas recipients to whom we disclose personal information do not breach the Australian Privacy Principles stated in the Privacy Act in relation to such information.

How do we protect your personal information?

We will take reasonable precautions to protect your personal information from misuse, loss, or unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. However, as the Internet is inherently insecure, we cannot guarantee the security of transmission of personal information you disclose to us online. Accordingly, you transmit your personal information to us online at your own risk.

Please notify us immediately if you become aware of any breach of security.

How long do we keep your personal information?

Generally, we will retain your personal information for the period necessary for the purposes for which your personal information was collected (as outlined in this Privacy Policy) unless a longer retention period is required by law or if it is reasonably necessary for us to comply with our legal obligations, resolve a dispute or maintain security.

Should you choose to delete your account, your energy consumption, generation and export data, suburb, energy retailer(s) identity, site characteristics will be retained but will be separated from your personal information. We may use the energy consumption, generation and export data for the purposes set out above, provided that such data will be de-identified and aggregated.

How can you access and correct your personal information?

You may request access to any personal information we hold about you at any time by contacting us. We will provide access to that information in accordance with the Privacy Act, subject to any exemptions that may apply. We may charge an administration fee in limited circumstances, for example if we are required to.

If you believe that personal information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may request us to amend it by contacting us.

What is the process for complaining about a breach of privacy?

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about our collection, use, disclosure or management of your personal information, please contact us in writing using the contact details below.

We will make inquiries and your complaint will be assessed by an appropriate person with the aim of resolving any issue in a timely and efficient manner.

If you are unsatisfied with the outcome, we will advise you about further options including, if appropriate, review by the Privacy Commissioner within the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Exemptions and inconsistency with law

Where applicable laws allow for an exemption to compliance with certain legal obligations (for example, the employee records exemption in the Privacy Act), we may rely on such an exemption.

This Privacy Policy will not apply to the extent that it is inconsistent with any applicable law.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time at our discretion. Amendments to this Privacy Policy will be posted on our website. Your continued dealings with us, for example use of our websites, products or services, will signify your agreement to this Privacy Policy as amended.

How to contact us

If you have a query, concern or complaint about the manner in which your personal information has been collected or handled by us or would like to request access to or correction of the personal information we hold about you, please contact using the details provided below:

SpendWatt Pty Ltd
Attention: Privacy Officer
hello@spendwatt.com
11-13 Cubitt Street
Cremorne VIC 3121