Privacy policy

1. What this policy covers

This Privacy Policy explains how we handle your personal information when you visit or use our website at synergyenergy.co.za (the "Site"), request a quote, become a customer, or otherwise deal with us. "Personal information" means information that identifies you or relates to you, as defined in POPIA.

It works alongside our Terms of Use. If you've signed a separate agreement with us, such as an installation contract, that agreement also applies to how we handle information about your project.

2. Who we are and how to contact us

The responsible party (the organisation that decides how and why your personal information is processed) is:

If you have any question about this policy or about how we handle your personal information, please contact our Information Officer using the details above.

3. What information we collect

We only collect the information we need. Depending on how you interact with us, this can include:

• Contact details: your name, email address, phone number and the physical address of the property you're enquiring about;
• Project and property details: information you give us so we can quote accurately, such as your current electricity usage, roof or property details, the system or service you're interested in, and your budget or finance preference;
• Communications: the messages you send us through our forms, by email, by phone or on WhatsApp, and our replies;
• Customer and service records: if you become a customer, the details of your quote, order, installation, maintenance and warranty;
• Website and device information: technical information collected automatically when you use the Site, such as your IP address, browser and device type, and the pages you view (see section 11 on cookies);
• Anything else you choose to share with us, for example when you apply for a position or send us a document.

We don't ask for more sensitive information than we need. Where you choose to apply for finance, your credit and financial information is collected and assessed by the finance provider directly, under their own privacy terms, not by us.

4. How we collect it

We collect personal information:

• directly from you: when you complete a form, request a quote, email, call or message us, talk to us at a site assessment, or become a customer;
• automatically: through cookies and server logs when you use the Site;
• from third parties from time to time: for example a referral from an existing customer, or publicly available information, where this is allowed by law.

5. Why we use it and our lawful basis

We use your personal information to:

• respond to your enquiry and prepare a quote or site assessment;
• supply, install, commission and support the systems and services you buy from us, including after-sales support, maintenance and warranty claims;
• communicate with you about your enquiry, project or account;
• meet our legal and regulatory obligations, including tax, electrical compliance and certificate-of-compliance requirements, and grid-tie or SSEG registrations;
• keep proper business records and manage our relationship with you;
• understand and improve how our Site and services work.

Under POPIA, we rely on one or more of the following grounds to process your information: your consent; the need to take steps at your request before entering a contract, or to perform a contract with you; compliance with a legal obligation; and our legitimate interests in running and improving our business, balanced against your rights. We don't sell your personal information.

6. Direct marketing

We don't send unsolicited marketing. If you contact us, we use your details to reply to you and to deal with your enquiry, not to add you to a marketing list without your agreement.

If in future we offer a newsletter or send marketing about our products and services, we'll only do so where POPIA and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act allow it, and every marketing message will give you a simple way to opt out. You can tell us to stop at any time by contacting us using the details in section 2.

7. Who we share it with

We don't sell or rent your personal information. We share it only where it's needed to do what you've asked or to run our business responsibly, with:

• our technicians, installers and approved subcontractors who carry out your assessment, installation or service;
• service providers who help us operate, such as our website host, email, customer records and accounting providers, who may only use the information to provide their service to us and must keep it confidential;
• manufacturers or suppliers, where this is needed to register or claim a product warranty for your system;
• finance partners, only if you ask us to refer you for finance and with your agreement, after that you deal with them directly under their own terms;
• regulators, municipalities or the utility, where this is required to register your system or to comply with the law;
• professional advisors, or where we're required to share information by law or to protect our legal rights.

8. Where we store and process it

We store and process your personal information in South Africa. Some of the service providers we use, such as email or cloud services, may process information on servers outside South Africa. Where that happens, we take reasonable steps to make sure your information is protected to a standard comparable to POPIA, as required by section 72 of the Act.

9. How we keep it secure

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect your personal information against loss, unauthorised access, and misuse, including controlled access to our systems and secure storage of records. No website or system can be guaranteed 100% secure, but we work to keep your information safe.

If a security breach affects your personal information, we'll notify you and the Information Regulator as required by POPIA.

10. How long we keep it

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purpose we collected it, or for as long as the law requires us to keep it, for example, tax, accounting and electrical-compliance records that must be retained for a set period.

Enquiries that don't become projects are kept for a reasonable period and then deleted or de-identified. When we no longer need your information, we securely delete or anonymise it.

11. Cookies and website analytics

Like most websites, our Site may use cookies and similar technologies. Some are necessary for the Site to work. Others may help us understand how visitors use the Site so we can improve it.

You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking some cookies may affect how parts of the Site work. Where we use analytics or other optional cookies, we'll make the details and your choices clear on the Site.

12. Your rights under POPIA

You have the right to:

• ask what personal information we hold about you, and request a copy;
• ask us to correct or update information that's wrong, misleading or out of date;
• ask us to delete information we no longer have a lawful reason to keep;
• object, on reasonable grounds, to us processing your information;
• withdraw your consent, where we relied on your consent to process information;
• complain to us and to the Information Regulator (see section 15).

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Information Officer using the details in section 2. We may need to confirm your identity first, and we'll respond within a reasonable time and as the law requires. POPIA provides prescribed forms for certain requests, which we can supply on request.

13. Children's information

Our Site and services are intended for adults. We don't knowingly collect the personal information of a child without the consent of a parent or guardian. South African law gives the personal information of children special protection. If you believe a child has given us personal information without that consent, contact us and we'll remove it.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of the page shows when we last made a change. Where a change is significant, we'll take reasonable steps to bring it to your attention. Please check this page from time to time so you stay informed.

15. Complaints

If you're concerned about how we've handled your personal information, please contact our Information Officer first using the details in section 2, and we'll do our best to put it right.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Regulator, whose contact details are:

16. Contact us