These terms and conditions relate to the use of any of our Services and apply if you have subscribed to our Services either directly on our website or via one of our Channel Partners, or if your Energy Supplier is installing a Labrador Labrador Home Hub.
Please read these terms carefully before using our Services. This is a contract between you and Labrador. You may cancel this contract within 14 days of this contract becoming effective simply by letting us know in writing (this is known as the ‘cooling off’ period). However, if you have asked us to provide the Switching Service during the cooling off period, that right to cancel will not apply, even if the period is still running.
You should print or save a copy of these terms and conditions for future reference. If you do not agree to these terms, you must stop using our Services immediately.
Definitions
"Assessment" means the analysis we undertake to find you a better energy tariff using your actual recorded energy consumption, as described in more detail in Clause 3.4;
“Channel Partner(s)” is a marketing partner through which Labrador markets its Services;
“Customer” means the person who proposes to use our Services, otherwise referred to as ‘you‘, ‘your‘ and ‘yours‘;
“Customer Account” means the account that will be opened for you by Labrador and which will allow you to visualise your Energy Console;
“Energy Console” is a web based dashboard that you can access via any compatible web browser on any device which allows you to track your energy consumption. In certain cases it may carry the logo of your energy supplier with the words ‘Powered by Labrador” shown as well;
“Energy Supplier” means a supplier of gas and/or electricity to homes in England, Scotland or Wales;
“FAQ” means frequently asked questions as they appear on our Website from time to time;
“In-Home Display” or “IHD” is a device offered to you by your Energy Supplier which may be connected to your Smart Meter when it is first installed and which shows you your energy usage and the cost of such usage;
“Labrador” is Labrador Ltd., a company registered in England and Wales with company number 08489878, whose registered office is at 8 Greencoat Place London SW1P 1PL, otherwise referred to as ‘we’, ‘us, ‘our’;
“Labrador Home Hub” is a device that allows us to read and access your energy consumption directly from your Smart Meter;
“Privacy Policy” means Labrador’s privacy policy in force from time to time, accessible here; “Services” has the meaning given in Clause 3.1;
“Smart Meter” is a gas or electricity meter which meets the government’s Smart Metering Technical Specifications (SMETS);
“Switch” means the process of switching you from your existing energy tariff to a different energy tariff, which may also involve moving you to a new Energy Supplier;
“Switching Service” the service of effecting Switches for you in accordance with these Terms;
“Terms” means these terms and conditions, as may be updated from time to time.
“Website” means www.thelabrador.co.uk
“Writing” or “written” includes email.
Our Service
The services and products that Labrador may provide to you pursuant to these Terms include (but are not limited to) the following:
the provision of our Website and its use, access or browsing by you;
the use of our Labrador Home Hub;
the use of your Customer Account;
the access to our Energy Console via your Customer Account; and
subject to Clause 3.7 the provision of a Switching Service that we may provide to you as set out herein;(together the “Services‘)
When you accept these Terms, we will open a Customer Account for you and provide you with the login details. The Customer Account is password protected and you should not share this with anybody else. The Customer Account allows you to access your Energy Console through any compatible web browser. Please note that you are responsible for any access made using your password or other user details. If we suspect abuse of your password, we may suspend access to our Services.
Should you already have a smart meter, or wish to have one installed, we may use the Labrador Home Hub to read your Smart Meters and collect your electricity and gas usage as often as possible, generally every few seconds. This information is stored securely in our systems and summarised for you on our Energy Console. We may bring out additional features and enhancements to our Energy Console and these will be made available to you automatically. There is no requirement to have a smart meter should you wish to retain a traditional meter.
We aim to carry out regular Assessments to help you generate savings by making Switches. We shall make the Switch automatically on your behalf (which we call our “Opt out” service), except where you notify us that you do not want us to make Switches automatically and would prefer a recommendation (which we call our “Opt in” service). In that event we will provide you with an Opt In Alert (which we may send by text message), and we shall process the relevant Switch once we have received confirmation from you that you wish to proceed with it. This will normally be done by clicking the ‘accept” option set out in our Alert.
Whilst we make every effort to use accurate information, if we are provided with inaccurate data from energy industry data sources about you, your home, your meter(s) and your energy usage, we cannot accept liability. Labrador does not directly contribute to formal industry data flows, we only read what other parties submit, process and can access. Most relevant industry data is the responsibility of energy suppliers. If you have any concerns about inaccuracies, you need to raise this with your energy supplier and either make the relevant corrections in your Labrador account or ask us to do so.
We are not liable for any inaccuracies contained in industry data flows. Labrador does not directly contribute to formal industry data flows, we only read what other parties submit, process and can access. Most relevant industry data is the responsibility of energy suppliers. If you have any concerns about inaccuracies, you need to raise this with your energy supplier.
From any industry info, we are entitled to make assumptions. This is particularly the case if we only get partial results from your industry data search. These assumptions will be contained in your Labrador account and you will be notified to check your account. We will be entitled to proceed based on those assumptions unless you change or correct those assumptions. If we initiate a Switch before you have had the chance to do so, you will retain the right to cancel any Switch within 14 days.
The kinds of assumptions we may make can include (but are not restricted to) assuming you have the same gas supplier as electricity supplier, assuming you have similar gas usage in terms of low, medium and high based on your historical electricity consumption, assuming your current tariff payment type matches your payment preference (unless where your current supplier does not support that preference).
The Assessment we may make will be based on the tariffs available to us at the time. We are entitled to rely on this data when we make the Switch or recommend one. By definition, there may be other deals that become available after we have made the Assessment or which are not available to us, and Energy Suppliers may change or withdraw deals after the Assessment is made.
We will normally provide you with all of the Services, however in certain cases we may be restricted by some Energy Suppliers from providing the Switching Service for a limited period of time, unless you contact us and ask us to provide the Switching Service.
If the Labrador Home Hub is not compatible with the Smart Meter installed at your home we shall be under no obligation to provide the Labrador Home Hub.
Where we advertise that our service can result in you no longer having to send meter reads on a switch, this applies only to households who have smart meters that are being maintained by the relevant supplier. Where applicable, we can help you obtain smart meters and can give you advice as to how you can ensure an energy supplier maintains them.
Our Appointment as your agent
By using our Services you have appointed us as your agent as set out in this Clause, and we accept such appointment. If you do not wish to appoint us as your agent or wish to cancel our appointment you must inform us in writing at contact@thelabrador.co.uk. It may take 14 calendar days for this to take effect.
By appointing us as your agent, you authorise us to:
conduct Assessments and make a Switch on your behalf where appropriate;
make the enquiries of you and/or third parties which we need to ensure that a Switch is effected efficiently, including but not limited to:
determining the technical specifications of your Smart Meter installation; who it was installed and/or financed by; and who your current Energy Supplier is; and
accessing information about you that we need to provide the Services; contacting a new Energy Supplier on your behalf and passing the necessary information about you to carry out the Switch and monitoring the status of the Switch;
select a new Energy Supplier for you as described above and to set up an account with that entity for the supply of gas and/or electricity on your behalf, for which you will be solely contractually liable;
make arrangements with your Energy Supplier to pair the Labrador Home Hub with your Smart Meter(s) where applicable;
share your usage data with your Energy Supplier, should we decide to do so, for the purposes of them providing their services to you (where applicable, this may include us providing meter readings to your supplier under 21B.1 of the current Electricity Supply Standard Licence Conditions and the current Gas Supply Standard Licence Conditions (or equivalent conditions should these be amended in the future) in order that your supplier shall be obliged to continue to bill you against actual usage in the event they are unable to access this data direct from your smart meters. Please note that Labrador cannot guarantee that suppliers shall do this, albeit their licence conditions do require them to do so.
make the enquiries and take the action we need to allow us to properly discharge our obligations to you pursuant to these Terms.
When we make an Assessment as your agent, we will notify you of any decision we make in connection with the choice of a new energy tariff and will provide you with our reasons showing the usage upon which we base our energy comparison.
Following a Switch you will have a 14 day ‘cooling-off’ period during which you will have the right to cancel the product or service application that we make on your behalf.We will endeavour to make that cancellation on your behalf. If for any reason we are unable to do so, we will notify you and it will be your responsibility to contact the Energy Supplier and request the cancellation. You must also inform us of your decision.
In order to provide our Services, we may (in our absolute discretion) apply for products or services on your behalf. You acknowledge and agree that you (and not Labrador) remain the party to any such supply contract with the relevant supplier. This also means that you remain liable to pay for the relevant product or service and the arrangements relating to methods of payment.
Your Responsibilities under these Terms
You confirm that you are 18 years of age or over and have an address in England, Scotland or Wales and are the person responsible for your energy bills.
You will ensure that any information you provide us is true, accurate, complete and current. Please promptly advise us of any change to your details at contact@thelabrador.co.uk.
Where required, you have obtained the consent from all other residents in your household to use our Services.
Where a smart meter is in place, or is requested to be installed you confirm that to have a Labrador Home Hub that you have home broadband and that you are willing to permit our Labrador Home Hub to be connected to it in order to share your energy usage data with us (just to let you know, it will use the equivalent of about 1 hour of web browsing a month, being 20MB and costs around £2.50 in electricity per year).
Where a smart meter is in place, or is requested to be installed you will install or allow for our Labrador Home Hub to be installed in your home and keep it connected to your broadband at all times. If we become aware that it has been disconnected, we will promptly inform you of this, and require you to reconnect it. If you fail to comply with such an instruction, we shall be entitled to terminate the Services, and we may require you to return the Labrador Home Hub, failing which we reserve the right to charge a fee of £50 plus VAT.
Where a smart meter is in place, or is requested to be installed you shall follow all reasonable instructions we give in relation to the installation and operation of the Labrador Labrador Home Hub or to otherwise comply with these Terms.
Other than where we are restricted from providing the Switching Service pursuant to Clause 3.7, you agree not to switch directly to an Energy Supplier yourself without first informing us at contact@thelabrador.co.uk. If you do switch directly, we reserve the right to request that you return the Labrador Home Hub, failing which you will become liable to a fee of £50 (plus VAT).
When sent a Labrador Home Hub you agree to log on to your Customer Account as soon as possible after the Labrador Labrador Home Hub has been installed.
Where you have a smart meter installed you agree to share your energy usage information with us via any means. Should we send you a Labrador Home Hub, this will include at intervals more frequent than half-hourly. We will not share any personally identifiable data to a third party other than to Energy Suppliers and other third parties involved in the supply of energy to whom we need to provide this information to carry out Switches, to help (if and where appropriate) with the installation of your meters and pairing of your Labrador Labrador Home Hub, and to endeavour to maintain your smart meter functionality. Your energy usage data may be shared by us as follows:
an aggregate and/ or analysis of your usage with our Channel Partner(s), as is required to compare products and services and identify those that best suit your needs;
an aggregate and/ or analysis of your usage with your Energy Supplier, as may be required to assist them in providing energy to you and invoice you for it;
in order to close your existing account with your current Energy Supplier and set up your account with your new Energy Supplier pursuant to our Services;
maintain smart meter operation of your Smart Meters.
You agree that you remain responsible for paying your Energy Supplier on such terms and conditions as may be specified by that Energy Supplier and that we have no responsibility whatsoever for any payments that may be due by you to your Energy Supplier;
You shall ensure that all persons who access our Website through your internet connection and/ or who are residents of your household are aware of these Terms, and that they comply with them.
When issued a Labrador Home Hub you must inform us in writing if you move out of the place where the Labrador Home Hub is installed. If the Labrador Home Hub is marked as being the property of a third party (i.e. not Labrador), you must leave it in the place you are moving from, in which case we will arrange for the delivery a new Labrador Home Hub to your new home. If there is no marking or if you purchased it yourself, please take it to your new home and contact us so that we can pair it with the Smart Meter there (as long as it is in England, Scotland or Wales). If there is no Smart Meter we will:
endeavour to work with the relevant Energy Supplier to arrange the installation of a Smart Meter; or
Switch you to a new tariff that will include the installation of a Smart Meter; according to your Switching Preferences.
If you move out of the place in which the Labrador Home Hub is installed, then these Terms will cease to apply to you unless you take the Labrador Home Hub with you to your new home.
Use of our Service
To use our Services if you have a smart meter, you agree to the following:
to have a Labrador Home Hub installed, either instead of or in addition to an IHD. If your Smart Meter only supports one connected device, you agree to have a Labrador Home Hub installed.
If you have a Labrador Home Hub installed instead of an IHD, you confirm that you reject the IHD.
us obtaining, sharing and processing your energy usage data from your Smart Meter via the Labrador Home Hub at more frequent intervals than half hourly.
You may not use our Service, including our Website and/or the Labrador Home Hub in the following manner:
for anything other than private use;
in any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation;
in any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect;
to send, knowingly receive, upload, download, copy, use or re-use any material which may be viewed as not being in the spirit of our Services and our values;
to transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation; or
to knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware.
You may not:
gain or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Labrador Home Hub (whether physical access or otherwise), our Website, the server on which our Website is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site;
attack or attempt to attack our Website and/ or device via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack;
copy, adapt, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or modify any aspect of our Service in whole or in part; or
otherwise knowingly damage, interfere or disrupt our Service and/ or any part of it be it owned by us or a third party
If you breach these Terms in a manner that gives rise to criminal proceedings, we will co-operate fully with the relevant authorities. In such circumstances we reserve all our legal rights to take such action as we see fit.
Our Rights
We reserve the right to suspend or terminate part or all of the Service, including in order to:
deal with faults, conduct maintenance or introduce new facilities or services;
update the Website and/or our systems; and
deal with unforeseen events and incidents beyond our reasonable control, which may include without limitation: lightning, flood, severe weather, fire, explosion, terrorist activities, or failure of public or private telecommunications networks and any acts of the UK Government or any devolved government, other competent authority, or industrial disputes.
Unless you have purchased the Labrador Home Hub, it will remain the property of Labrador or such third party that has contracted to acquire it from us or to finance it as part of your Smart Meter installation (and please see Clause 5.12 about what to do on moving).
We aim to update our Website regularly, and may change the content at any time. If the need arises, we may suspend access to our Website, or close it indefinitely. Any of the materials on our Website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.
We reserve the right, from time to time, to change these Terms. The Terms that are applicable to your use of the Service will be the version that is displayed on our Website at each date you access the Services.
Our Liability
The material displayed on our Website is provided without any guarantees, conditions or warranties as to its accuracy, though we try to make it as accurate as possible.
We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors; for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; and for breach of your legal rights in relation to our Services.
We provide our Website and Services for domestic and private use. You agree not to use our Website or Services for any commercial or business purposes, and we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.
Where our Website contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.
We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer product, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our Services or to your downloading of any material posted on our Website, or on any website linked to it.
If your Labrador Home Hub stops working, we may replace it free of charge. However, we are under no obligation to do so. If we send you a new Labrador Home Hub, you are obliged to plug it in, in accordance with Clause 6.
Intellectual Property and Privacy Policy
We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in the Labrador Home Hub, our Website and the Services. No right to use any of our intellectual property is granted save as strictly necessary to use the Services.
We process information about you in accordance with these Terms and our Privacy Policy.
Complaints
We aim to provide you with an excellent service at all times. If you are unhappy with our Service for any reason, please contact us.
We will aim to send you a formal acknowledgement of your complaint within 48 hours and to resolve it as soon as possible. After we have had an opportunity to investigate your concerns, we will issue you with a final response.
If you aren’t satisfied with our response, we have voluntarily signed up to the Ombudsman Services’ Consumer Ombudsman Scheme and depending on the nature of your complaint, you may have the right to refer your case to them at:Consumer Ombudsman PO Box 1263 Warrington WA4 9DF Telephone 0333 300 1620 email: complaints@consumer-ombudsman.org website: http://www.consumer-ombudsman.orgwe will advise you if such a right of referral applies to you. If you want to raise a formal dispute about any of our online services, you can also use the European Commission’s Online Dispute Resolution Portal at https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/odr.
If you are unhappy with any product or service you have obtained from a third party or have any complaint regarding any third party, you should address your complaint directly to that third party. If you require their contact details, please contact us and we will be happy to assist if we can.
Legal
Each of the paragraphs of these Terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.
We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to another organisation. We will always tell you in writing if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer will not affect your rights under these Terms.
The contract made under these Terms is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms. Neither of us will need to get the agreement of any other person in order to end our contract or make any changes to these Terms.
If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these terms, or if we delay in taking steps against you in relation to you breaking this contract, that will not mean that you do not have to do these things and it will not prevent us taking steps against you at a later date.
These Terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the Services in the English courts. If you live in Scotland, you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the Services in either the Scottish or the English courts. If you live in Northern Ireland, you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the Services in either the Northern Irish or the English courts.
Contact
If you have any queries, please contact us at:Labrador Ltd 8 Greencoat Place London SW1P 1PL email: contact@thelabrador.co.uk
If we have to contact you we will do so by telephone, by SMS text or by writing to you at the email address or postal address you provided when you registered on our Website.