Solar Power Terms and Conditions

For your British Gas (Solar Technologies) Microgeneration Technology Installation, Quotation and Agreement

Please read these terms and conditions carefully as they will tell you everything you need to know about the terms and conditions on which we will deal with each other if you have accepted the quotation provided by British Gas Trading Limited ("British Gas") for Solar Technologies Installations Limited ("Solar Technologies") an MCS certified installer, to install Microgeneration Technologies (meaning solar photovoltaics (PV)) at your property.

  1. We will carry out the work specified for the amount quoted in writing by a British Gas representative subject to the following Terms and Conditions. All prices quoted include VAT at the current rate.
  2. The quotation is valid from the time of quotation and will expire if not accepted by you in writing within 28 days of that date. All quotations are subject to installation taking place within four (4) calendar months from and including the date the quotation is accepted.
  3. The quotation does not include the cost of removing any dangerous waste material, such as asbestos, which could not have been reasonably foreseen when we made the original quotation and which we only become aware of when doing the work. Such work will be at extra cost for which you will be liable. When you have any asbestos removed, a clean air certificate must be provided before we will do any further work at your property.
  4. If you are eligible for, and have Microgeneration Technologies installed under, the DECC Low Carbon Buildings Programme grant (subject to availability) you must be the owner of the UK property benefiting from the installation, which is used principally by you and/or your family for private residential purposes. You must not have received and will not receive any other funding from the Government in relation to the technology and/or its installation at the property.
  5. Our normal business hours are between 0800 and 1800 Monday to Friday. We are only able to carry out installation work during daylight hours. If you want us to work outside these hours, it may be necessary for us to make additional charges which we will agree with you in advance in writing.
  6. The time estimate provided for completing the work is our best estimate and we will make every effort to complete the work on time, however, we cannot be held responsible for delays due to weather or other circumstances beyond our control. In such circumstances we will revise with you the time estimates we originally provided.
  7. Work is guaranteed for two years from the date that the installation is completed. These guarantees do not affect your statutory rights in relation to the quality and description of goods and services. You can contact your local authority trading standards or Citizen's Advice Bureau if you need more information about your statutory rights.
  8. We will take all reasonable care to carry out the work without causing unnecessary damage to your property. While we will make good unnecessary damage directly caused by our negligence, you accept that the installation and related work may cause damage to finishings, both internally and externally and that certain areas may need redecoration following completion of the installation. Redecoration will be your responsibility and is not included in the quotation.
  9. If you are a tenant you may need your landlord's prior written permission to carry out the work detailed in the quotation. In the absence of your advice to the contrary we will assume that you have made enquiries and obtained permissions where required. We shall not have any liability for unauthorised works and you shall indemnify us for any losses howsoever arising that we incur from your failure to obtain such permissions. You may require Planning Permission and/or approval under Building Regulations to carry out the work detailed in the quotation. In the absence of your advice to the contrary we will assume that you have made enquiries and obtained permissions and approvals where required. We shall not have any liability for unauthorised works and you shall indemnify us for any losses howsoever arising that we incur from your failure to obtain such permissions.
  10. If you have a Leasehold interest in the property you will need to obtain the Freehold owner(s) prior written permission to carry out the work detailed in the quotation. In the absence of your advice to the contrary we will assume that you have made enquiries and obtained such permission(s). We shall not have any liability for unauthorised works and you shall indemnify us for any losses howsoever arising that we incur from your failure to obtain such permission(s).
  11. Where we have connected new equipment to your existing system we will not accept responsibility for the cost of repairing or replacing parts of your existing system which subsequently develops faults in that system unless we have been negligent in not realising that such damage may occur or if the way we carried out the work directly caused the fault.
  12. We do not accept liability if we cannot fulfil our side of the agreement for reasons which are beyond our control such as fire, accidents, war, adverse weather conditions, industrial disputes, strikes and lockouts which we are not directly involved in.
  13. To carry out the work as quickly as possible we may need to use sub-contractors. All sub-contractors are approved by British Gas and experienced, qualified and accredited to carry out their work.
  14. Goods supplied and delivered by us to you shall remain our property until paid for by you in full. Whilst goods remain our property (we continue to have title over them) we have the absolute authority to retake, sell or otherwise dispose of all or any part of these goods. At any time and without notice we shall also be entitled to enter any premises in which our goods, or any part of them, are installed or stored or it is reasonably believed to be so. We shall be entitled toseek a court injunction to prevent you from selling, transferring or otherwise disposing of such goods.
  15. The deposit shown on the quotation must be paid when you place your order. Payment of the balance of the quoted price becomes immediately payable on us finishing the installation unless you have signed a Credit Agreement. If your Credit Agreement is terminated for whatever reason, subject to the terms of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 the balance of the quoted price becomes immediately payable and you agree that you will be required to immediately pay the balance of the quoted price instead of your financier.
  16. Liability
    1. We accept full legal responsibility if we or our agents kill or injure somebody (or cause somebody to be killed or injured) because we or they have been negligent or if we act fraudulently.
    2. If you suffer any loss or damage, our responsibility to you will be limited to £1 million for each event that causes you loss or, if there are a number of connected events that cause you loss, our responsibility will be limited to £1 million in total for these event. We will not, under any circumstances, be responsible for:

      • any financial loss or damage, for example loss of profit, income, business, contract or goodwill; or
      • any loss which, when we made this contract with you, we would not reasonably have expected would happen even if we, our employees, subcontractors or agents did not follow these terms and conditions.
  17. Notice of the Right to Cancel
    1. You are entitled to cancel this agreement. If you are contemplating cancellation please call 0800 107 0187. If you wish to cancel you MUST DO SO IN WRITING and deliver notice personally or send by RECORDED DELIVERY or REGISTERED POST to Green Homes Team, British Gas, 97 Talbot Road, Old Trafford, Manchester M16 0TW or by email to greenhomes@britishgas.co.uk at any time WITHIN 7 DAYS from and including the date the quotation is signed as accepted. Notice of cancellation is deemed to have been served as soon as it is posted or sent to us or, in the case of electronic communication, from the date it is sent to us. If you wish to cancel this agreement after the cancellation period we will retain the deposit you have paid to cover the costs we have incurred. If you have signed a Credit Agreement which relates to this agreement your Credit Agreement will automatically be cancelled if this agreement is cancelled.
    2. In the event that you exercise your right to cancel this agreement and you have given your written agreement for any installation to take place within the 7 day cooling-off period, you can still cancel up to 24 hours before we are due to start the work. If some or part of the installation has taken place, you will be liable to pay for any services provided and/or products installed up to and including the date of cancellation.
    3. British Gas may cancel the agreement with immediate effect at any time by providing you with written notice. If we cancel the agreement without good reason we will pay you any reasonable costs or losses you incur as a direct result of the cancellation.
  18. Entire Agreement
    The quotation together with these Terms and Conditions set out the entire agreement between you and British Gas.
  19. Third Party rights
    Nobody other than you will be able to benefit from this agreement.
  20. Using personal information
    1. We and our agents may use your information to do the following:
      1. Provide you with the services you have asked us for (which may include loyalty and incentive schemes we may run from time to time).
      2. Offer you accounts, services and products from time to time from us or our partners. To help us make these offers we may use an automated scoring system, which also uses information from credit-reference agencies as well as other companies.
      3. Help run, and contact you about improving the way we run any accounts, services and products we have provided before, now or in the future.
      4. Create statistics, test computer systems, analyse customer information, create profiles and create marketing opportunities (including using information about what you buy from us and how you pay for it. For example, the amount of gas you use and any discounts we have offered you).
      5. Help prevent and detect debt, fraud and loss.
      6. Help train our staff.
      7. Contact you in any way (including by e-mail, phone, text or multimedia message or other forms of electronic communications (such as a message through your smart meter) or by visiting you) about products and services we and our selected partners are offering.
    2. We may also monitor and record any communications we have with you, including phone conversations and emails, to make sure we are providing a good service and meeting our regulatory and legal responsibilities.
    3. When we contact you, we may use any information we hold about you to do so. So we may contact you by e-mail, phone, text message, other forms of electronic communications (such as using smart meters) or by visiting you. If we are contacting you to tell you about any offers, we will, as far as possible, do this in line with how you have told us you would prefer to receive marketing information (your recorded marketing preferences). You ask us not to send you any information on our offers at any time by contacting us and giving us your account details.
    4. We may allow other people and organisations to use information we hold about you, (including other Centrica Group companies such as those using the British Gas, Scottish Gas and Dyno Group brands):
      1. to provide services you have asked for, which may include providing information to members of your family or household, anyone acting on your behalf or other people who may be interested (such as landlords or letting agents);
      2. as part of the process of selling one or more of our businesses;
      3. to help to prevent and detect debt, fraud, or loss (for example by giving this information to a credit-reference agency), which is described in more detail in clause 20.9 below;
      4. if you do not pay your debt, we may transfer your debt to another organisation and give them details about you and that debt;
      5. if we have been asked (for example by Ofgem or a lawyer) to provide information for legal or regulatory purposes;
      6. as part of current or future legal action;
      7. as part of government data-sharing initiatives, for example, those designed to help stop fuel poverty (where people cannot afford to pay for heating and electricity);
      8. to help manage any loyalty or rewards schemes; or
      9. if you hold an insurance policy with us, to pass information to an insurer to manage your insurance policy (including underwriting and claims, to help develop new services and to assess financial and insurance risk).
      From time to time these other people or organisations may be outside the European Economic Area (EEA), and as a result we may pass your information to countries that do not have the same standards or protection for personal information as the UK.
    5. If we suspect someone has committed fraud or stolen energy by tampering with the meter or diverting the energy supply, we will record these details on your account record and may share this information with Ofgem and other people who are interested (such as other energy suppliers, landlords and housing associations). We may use this information to make decisions about you, your character, how likely we think you are able to pay for your gas or electricity (or both) and future energy services. This may include recording sensitive personal information such as criminal offences you have been accused of. Also, if the gas or electricity supply to your property has previously been tampered with, or if gas or electricity has been stolen, or we suspect it has been stolen, we may take this into account when we decide what products or services we can offer you and the terms and conditions we give you.
    6. You agree that we can ask your previous supplier for information that will allow us to take over your supply, such as information about meter readings and equipment or charges you owe your previous supplier. You agree that we can provide information we hold about you (such as information about meter readings, equipment or money you owe us) to your new supplier so they can begin supplying your gas and electricity.
    7. We may pass your address, property and postcode, and details of your installations (including details of any repairs or removals) to organisations that supervise these activities, including Gas Safe (previously CORGI) and the ECA (Electrical Contractors Association). These organisations may pass this information to local authorities to meet building regulations. They may also use this information to contact you to inspect appliances or systems, recall faulty products and carry out audits, and for health and safety purposes. Where appropriate, we will give you, the Landlord or the Freehold owner (or all of these) a certificate to show that your appliances and so on meet building regulations.
    8. If we believe that you (or a member of your household) need extra care (for example, because of your age, health, disability or financial circumstances), we may record this in the information we hold about you. We will use this information so that we do not stop your supply. We may share your information with:
      1. social services, charities, health-care and other support organisations, if we believe at any time that they may be able to help you, or the other members of your household, by making sure there is a gas or electricity supply to your home;
      2. other energy suppliers if we believe you are considering changing supplier (we assess which customers need extra care and record and share this information in line with the Energy Retail Association 'safety net procedures'); and
      3. the relevant gas transporter, metering agents or network operator.
    9. We will check your details with one or more credit-reference and fraud-prevention agencies to help us make decisions about your ability to make payments and the goods and services we can offer you. Below, we have given a brief guide to how we, the credit-reference and fraud-prevention agencies will use your information. If you would like more information about this, you can find the full version at www.britishgas.co.uk/termsandconditions. Or, phone us on 0800 048 0202 and we will send you a leaflet.
      1. We will search at credit-reference and fraud-prevention agencies for information about you and all the people you are applying with. If you are providing information about other people on a joint application, you must make sure they agree in writing that we can use their information to do this. If you give us false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud, we will pass your details to credit-reference and fraud-prevention agencies. Law-enforcement agencies (such as the police and HM Revenue & Customs) may receive and use this information.
      2. We and other organisations may also access and use information about you that credit-reference and fraud-prevention agencies give us to, for example:

        - check details on applications you make for credit and credit-related services;
        - check your identity;
        - prevent and detect fraud and money laundering;
        - manage credit and credit-related accounts or services;
        - recover debt;
        - check details on proposals and claims for all types of insurance; and
        - check details of employees and people applying for jobs with us.
      3. When credit-reference agencies receive a search from us, they will record this on your credit file whether your application is successful or not.
      4. Information on your accounts will be sent to credit reference agencies and will be recorded by them. Where you have an account with us, we will give details of your accounts and how you manage it/them to credit-reference agencies. If you have an account and do not repay in full and/or on time, credit-reference agencies will record the outstanding debt. This information may be supplied to other organisations by credit-reference agencies and fraud-prevention agencies to perform similar checks and to trace your whereabouts and recover debts that you owe. Records remain on file for 6 years after they are closed, whether settled by you or defaulted.
      5. We and other organisations may access and use, from other countries, information recorded by fraud-prevention agencies.
      6. If you want to see what information credit-reference and fraud-prevention agencies hold about you, you can contact the following agencies currently working in the UK. The information they hold may not be the same, so it is worth contacting them all. They will charge you a small fee.

      Call Credit
      Consumer Services Team
      PO Box 491
      Leeds
      LS3 1WZ

      Phone: 0870 060 1414
      Website: www.callcredit.co.uk

      Experian
      Consumer Help Service
      PO Box 8000
      Nottingham
      NG80 7WF
      Phone: 0870 241 6212
      Website: www.experian.co.uk

      Equifax Plc
      Credit File Advice Centre
      PO Box 1140
      Bradford
      BD1 5US
      Phone: 0870 010 0583
      Website: www.myequifax.co.uk

    10. If you give us information on behalf of someone else, you confirm you have given them the information set out in this document, and that they have given permission for us to use their personal information in the way we have described in clause 20. If you give us sensitive information about yourself or other people (such as health details or details of any criminal convictions of members of your household), you agree (and confirm that the person the information is about has agreed) that we can use this information in the way set out in this document.
    11. You are entitled to have a copy of the information we hold on you, and to have any inaccurate information corrected. We may charge you a small fee for providing a copy of any information we hold about you. For more information about this, please contact our Privacy Unit at:
  21. Solar Technologies engineers are MCS certified and are employed to undertake installation of products and servicing and repair work to ensure the safe and efficient operation of Microgeneration Technologies.
  22. British Gas engineers have a duty of care to give good advice which could involve recommendations to purchase additional products or services from British Gas in the interest of safety, efficiency or economy. The engineers are paid an annual salary, but can also earn an extra payment linked to a number of factors, including additional products/services purchased by customers.
  23. These terms and conditions may not be varied in any manner except if authorised in writing and signed by a British Gas authorised representative and you.
  24. Government law and jurisdiction
    The terms and conditions for all products and services are written in English and all correspondence entered into shall be in English. Your agreement and these Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
  25. Notice of Cancellation
    Write to us ONLY IF YOU WISH TO CANCEL YOUR MICROGENERATION TECHNOLOGY INSTALLATION AGREEMENT. Send it by RECORDED POST or REGISTERED POST WITHIN SEVEN DAYS of the date the quotation is signed as accepted to Green Homes Team, British Gas, 97 Talbot Road, Old Trafford, Manchester M16 0TW.