Privacy Policy: How We Use and Share Your Information
This privacy policy covers the personal information that passes through Solar Panel Cost Calculator when you use the site or write to us. The main tool here is the solar cost and savings calculator, and it works out your estimate in your browser, so we never receive your answers. The site has no accounts, no contact form and no phone line. The survey request form is not open yet.
Today we collect very little: the technical details any browser sends when it asks for a page, which our host Cloudflare handles for us, and what you write if you email us.
Who We Are and How to Contact Us About Your Information
Solar Panel Cost Calculator Ltd is the data controller for the information described here, which means we decide what is collected and why.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Legal name | Solar Panel Cost Calculator Ltd |
| Type and place of registration | a private limited company registered in England and Wales |
| Company number | 16928471 |
| Registered office, also our postal address | 20 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU, United Kingdom |
| Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) registration number | ZA894721 |
| Email for anything about your information | [email protected] |
Write to [email protected] with any question about your information. For a question about the site, a figure or anything else, contact us.
What Information We Collect and Why
What we collect depends on what you do: nothing when you use the calculator, the technical details of each visit through our host, and your message if you email us. The table sets out each kind, with the reason and how long it is kept.
Your Information at a Glance
| What | Why | Lawful basis | Who receives it | How long it is kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your calculator answers, your postcode among them | To work out your estimate | Not needed: we never receive them | Nobody. They stay in your browser | We keep nothing. If a calculator put your answers in the page address, your browser history keeps that address until you clear it |
| The technical details your browser sends with each visit, such as your IP address, your browser type and the page you asked for | To deliver our pages and protect the site from attacks and misuse | Our legitimate interest in running a website that works and is protected from attacks | Cloudflare, our host, which handles them for us | We keep no copy of our own. Cloudflare's own terms set how long it keeps them |
| Your email to us: your email address and your message | To reply and to deal with any follow-up | Our legitimate interest in answering you | Nobody else. Our email service holds it for us | Only as long as we need to deal with your message and any follow-up, then we delete it. |
What the site stores on your device is set out in our cookie policy. We do not collect special category information, such as health or religion, and we do not ask for bank or card details.
When You Use the Calculator
The calculator works out your estimate in your browser. Your answers, your postcode among them, are not sent to us or to anyone else, and the calculator does not keep them on a server or in your browser's storage. We check the format of a postcode on your device only.
Some calculators put your answers into the page address, after a # sign, so that you can share the result. Browsers do not send the part after the # sign when they ask a server for a page, and that part of the address never holds your postcode. Anyone you send that link to can see the answers in it.
The figure you see is an estimate built from published data, and each formula behind it is set out in our methodology.
When You Ask for a Survey
The survey request form on this site is not open yet, so you cannot ask for a survey here today, and we send nothing to Leads 2 Trade Limited. Before the form opens, we will update this policy to say what the form collects, who receives it and how long we keep it.
We are paid by Leads 2 Trade Limited when a homeowner we refer asks for a survey. You are never charged. It does not change our figures. The payment is explained on the page about our arrangement with Leads 2 Trade.
When You Email Us or Make a Request
If you email us, we use your email address and your message only to reply and to deal with any follow-up, and we do not add you to any list. A request about your information goes to [email protected] and is handled in the same way.
Companies That Run Parts of Our Website for Us
Some companies handle information for us, only to run the site; the law calls them processors.
| Company | What it does for us |
|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Hosts the website, delivers its pages and protects it from attacks |
An email you send us is held by the email service that runs our mailbox.
How Long We Keep Your Information
We keep an email you send us only as long as we need to deal with your message and any follow-up, then we delete it. We keep nothing from the calculator, because we never receive it. We keep no copy of the technical details your browser sends to Cloudflare; Cloudflare's own terms set how long it keeps them.
Your Rights Over Your Information
Under UK GDPR you have the right to see the information we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to ask us to limit how we use it, and to object to how we use it.
| Right | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| See it (access) | You can ask for a copy of the information we hold about you. |
| Correct it (rectification) | You can ask us to put right anything that is wrong or incomplete. |
| Delete it (erasure) | You can ask us to delete your information. |
| Limit it (restriction) | You can ask us to hold your information without using it. |
| Object to it (objection) | You can object to how we use your information. |
| Complain | You can complain to us, and to the ICO. How to do it is set out below. |
To use a right, email [email protected] or write to our registered office. No special form is needed. We may ask for proof that the request is yours, and only as much as we need. We reply within 2 working days. Your calculator answers never reach us, so we cannot see or delete them: you clear them in your own browser.
How We Protect Your Information
We protect your information with specific measures, listed here, rather than promises.
- The calculator runs in your browser, so the answers and postcode you type never reach a server.
- The site has no accounts and no passwords, and no form on it sends anything to us.
- Our pages are served with headers that stop other websites from showing them inside their own pages, and that limit what your browser tells other sites about your visit.
- Our pages load no outside scripts, fonts or images.
Children
This site is written for adult homeowners. It has no accounts and asks no one for their age.
Automated Decisions and the Verdict
Where a calculator gives a verdict of Good fit, Borderline or Poor fit, the verdict comes from your answers, such as roof direction, shade and yearly use. It is worked out in your browser, so we never see it, and it is an estimate, not a decision about you. Change an answer and you can run it again. If you would like a person to look at your result, email [email protected].
How to Complain
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, tell us at [email protected]. We acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days and reply in full within 2 working days. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK regulator for data protection, on its website at ico.org.uk.
Changes to This Policy
We update this policy before we change what we collect or who receives it, for example before the survey request form opens or before we turn on analytics.