Terms and Conditions

Smarter Business Terms and Conditions (“Terms”)

Please read these Terms and Conditions (“Terms and Conditions”) carefully before using the https://smarterbusiness.co.uk/ website and/or the service(s) offered by Smarter Business Ltd. It is important that you read these Terms and Conditions as these principal terms will come into effect once you use any of Smarter Business’ services.

Your access to and use of the service is conditioned on your acceptance of and compliance with these terms. These terms apply to all visitors, users and others who access or use the service.

By accessing or using the service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you disagree with any part of the terms, then you may not access the service.

Definitions

Standing charge – The amount you pay each month to cover the cost of supplying your business with gas and electricity and keeping your business connected to the energy network.

Change of Tenancy (CoT) – Refers to moving in or out of commercial premises.

Letter of Authority (LOA) – A legal document that authorises Smarter Business to correspond with services on behalf of you or your business – known as the ‘principal’. The letter will specify the tasks the third party can handle for the principal.

Credit Score – Each business is rated on a scale of 1-100. The higher your score is, the better. If you have a high rating, it indicates a stronger financial position.

Fixed Energy Contract – A fixed price for your gas and electricity on any given day. The Customer will then continue to pay this established price for the duration of the 1 to 5 year contract, subject to the Terms and Conditions of the chosen supplier.

Flexible Energy Contract – An energy contract that allows you to purchase energy in tranches throughout the duration of your contract. These products may allow the client to reforecast the quantity of energy required throughout the contract and take advantage of fluctuations in wholesale energy prices.

Micro Business Customer – A non-domestic consumer that meets one of the following criteria:

➢ Employs fewer than 10 employees (or their full-time equivalent) and has an annual turnover or balance sheet no greater than €2 million; or
➢ Uses no more than 100,000 kWh of electricity per year; or
➢ Uses no more than 293,000 kWh of gas per year.

Climate Change Levy (CCL) – A tax on the electricity, natural gas, coal and liquid petroleum gas used by businesses, agriculture and the public sector. The CCL has been introduced to help the UK meet its emissions targets, which will help combat climate change. The CCL is intended to encourage businesses to use less energy more efficiently.

Third Party Intermediary (TPI) – Includes switching websites, energy brokers and energy efficiency advice providers who interact with energy consumers. TPIs can offer advice and products to assist with a range of functions, including energy procurement, efficiency and management.

Take or Pay – Under the take-or-pay clauses, the customer (buyer of a supplier/seller) is required to either pay the price corresponding to certain pre-agreed quantities of natural gas and offtake said quantities, or pay their corresponding price regardless of whether or not the quantities have been purchased.

Volume Tolerance – A volume tolerance clause is part of some of the Terms and Conditions of the energy contract you sign (supplier dependent). It means you must use a certain percentage of your calculated annual energy consumption. Most suppliers have an arbitrary 80/120 threshold set. This means you must use a minimum of 80% of your calculated annual energy consumption and a maximum of 120%. If you fall outside these thresholds, each supplier has their own penalty which they may impose on you.

Deemed Contract – A deemed contract is normally in place when any type of customer moves into new premises and starts to consume gas, electricity (or both) without agreeing a contract with a supplier. A deemed contract may also exist when an existing contract comes to an end but the customer continues to consume energy.

Targeted Charge Review (TCR) – The TCR is an Ofgem-led (the energy regulator) project to review the pricing methodology from industry parties to align them with modernising the electricity network. Included in the review are changes to the following industry charges which help form the structure of electricity contract pricing.

Distribution Use of System (DUOS) Charges: Taking effect from 01 April 2022, Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) will decrease on average 50% of the residual charges (p/kWh) and replace these as a fixed cost within the standing charges. Capacity charges (previously billed as a p/kVa/day), will be incorporated into the fixed charge based on “capacity bands”; examples of these charges can be seen in the Distribution Use of System Charging statements published by the DNO’s. The percentage of cost that moves into the fixed charge differs across each of the distribution networks.

Transmission Network Use of System (TNUOS) Charges: Taking effect from 01 April 2023, the National Grid will decrease their residual charge from the variable rate by 90% (HH £/kW, NHH p/kWh) and replace this cost with a fixed rate per day based on capacity bands. Final publication of these charges will be released in December 2021.

Contracts & Failure to Go Live

While not all contracts go live, every effort should be made to support the registration process. In order to avoid any undue liability, please be advised that should you not fulfil your contractual requirements with your chosen supplier, you may be charged an early termination fee.

How We Work

Smarter Business is a TPI that does not charge you any upfront fees for its procurement services. For our procurement services, we will not ask you to enter into a contract to use our services and we will not ask for permission to agree to an energy contract on your behalf. Our business is based on providing great customer service and negotiating competitive prices for our customers.

We will ask you for a Letter of Authority. This simply gives us permission to talk to our panel of suppliers about your energy needs and to gather historic usage data from your existing supplier and our industry data. We can then effectively negotiate prices from our panel of suppliers. We will then present prices and options to you directly from the utility suppliers who we believe are most appropriate. These prices will include a commission for us. You are under no obligation whatsoever to accept any of these offers.

By agreeing a contract via our service, you are accepting that your chosen supplier will then pay Smarter Business a fee or commission for the introduction and management of the transfer process. Depending on the supplier, the current industry norm used for remuneration from suppliers to energy brokers/consultants is an ‘uplift commission fee’ which is included in the price we offer, typically by way of an uplift or flat fee within your unit cost or standing charge for energy. Commission payable to us will come directly from your chosen supplier. The commission Smarter Business receives from suppliers is therefore included in the price you pay. There are no additional payments that the customer has to pay directly to Smarter Business.

The commission we receive from each supplier also pays for the additional services we may offer you, including ongoing support, a dedicated Sales Consultant, regular bill checking (where applicable), query management, dispute resolution, regulatory advice and renewal management as part of our service to you.

To quantify commission, the below example best explains how it’s calculated for energy. Smarter Business may secure a Proposed Day Rate (pence) price of 13.00p/kwh and then add an uplift of 1.00 p/kw. This would then make the price 14.00 p/kwh. The uplift depends on the amount of work we have undertaken, time invested and services provided, your energy usage and spend, length of contract, credit risk etc.

Based on the above example, an energy client using 10,000 kWh would spend £1,400 on energy per annum. We would therefore receive an assumed commission of £100.00 which allows us to continue offering our services to you.

Commission values vary depending on the amount of energy used by the customer throughout the contract period, which does fluctuate.

By using our services, you agree that Smarter Business is an independent energy brokerage and is not instructed to act as your agent or representative. In the event that the relationship between you and Smarter Business is held to be fiduciary in nature, by accepting a quote and entering into our standard terms and conditions, you agree that the uplift applied to your account is properly applied in return for utility management services and does not constitute a ‘secret commission’ pursuant to which any fiduciary duties owed to you are broken.

Cooling Off Period

There is no cooling-off period after you agree to the contract (even when this agreement is made via verbal consent rather than in writing).

Government Regulated Charges

Smarter Business cannot be held responsible for the change in any contract prices presented where the change has been accounted for under the supplier’s terms and conditions.

Consumption Confirmation

In the eventuality that your business operations change (or) there is a likelihood of change, kindly notify Smarter Business should these changes directly affect your consumption as this affects pricing and you may be charged more.

Services

The site and/or services are aimed at businesses operating in the UK for commercial price comparison services between various energy and other service providers and overseeing the change of one provider to another (the Services). Outside of business energy and bill checking/invoice services, we offer a range of other multi-product services, including merchant services, business telecoms, business water/wastewater, business waste management services and facilities maintenance. Please review our website for a list of services offered.https://smarterbusiness.co.uk/

The services described on our site are solely for UK businesses and are therefore governed by the law of England and Wales.

You confirm that you will provide us with the relevant information such as (and not limited to) copies of relevant data (e.g. bills) in order for us to carry out the relevant searches and, where appropriate, contact your existing suppliers or relevant industry platforms on your behalf. You agree to allow us to retain copies of this relevant information.

Any agreements or arrangements that you enter into with any supplier will be subject to the terms and conditions of the relevant supplier. You acknowledge that where relevant, we may pass your details to suppliers or potential suppliers for the purpose of attracting offers to supply services from such suppliers or potential suppliers.

Share of Savings

Customers who are registered for Bureau Services are eligible to request an analysis of their historical invoices (as part of any of our services to you) which may lead to a saving of up to 50%. A charge will therefore be levied to any savings/refunds or credit obtained as a result thereof.

Our Liability

The material displayed on our site and our services are provided without any guarantees, conditions or warranties as to their accuracy, completeness, fitness for purpose or legality. You agree that sole responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, fitness for purpose or legality of information relating to suppliers’ information, goods or services shall rest with each supplier and you. To the extent permitted by law, we, other members of our group of companies and third parties connected to us hereby expressly exclude:

All conditions, warranties and other terms, which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity.

Any liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage incurred by any user in connection with our site or in connection with the use, inability to use, or results of the use of our site, any websites linked to it and any materials posted on it, including, without limitation, any liability for:

● Loss of income or revenue;
● Loss of business;
● Loss of profits or contracts;
● Loss of anticipated savings;
● Loss of data;
● Loss of goodwill;
● Wasted management or office time; and
● For any other loss or damage of any kind, however arising and whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise, even if foreseeable.

The above does not affect our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter, nor any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

Force Majeure

Neither party shall have any liability under or be deemed to be in breach of this Agreement for any delays or failures in performance of this Agreement which result from circumstances beyond the reasonable control of that party. This will include, but is not limited to, fire, lightning, explosion, war, flood, malicious damage, default of suppliers or subcontractors, or any act of local or national government or authority and any cause or circumstance whatsoever outside the reasonable control of the parties. If such circumstances continue for a continuous period of more than three months, either party may terminate this Agreement with immediate effect by giving notice to the other party.

Severance

If any provision of the applicable Agreement is prohibited by law or judged by a court to be unlawful, void or unenforceable, the provision shall, to the extent required, be severed from the applicable Agreement and rendered ineffective as far as possible without modifying the remaining provisions of the applicable Agreement, and shall not in any way affect any other circumstances of or the validity or enforcement of the applicable Agreement.

GDPR/Data Protection

Smarter Business is fully compliant with all GDPR provisions, including but not limited to the provisions for mandatory standard contractual requirements, data processing records, breach notification process, right to erasure, data privacy policy, fair processing notices, and all applicable data protection requirements.

Smarter Business needs to gather and use certain information about individuals. These may include customers, suppliers, business contacts, employees and other people the organisation has a relationship with and/or may need to contact. Smarter Business takes data protection seriously – security rules must be followed when handling any data.

The Customer acknowledges and agrees that certain customer details, including the Customer’s full name, billing/site address and other contact details may be submitted to third party categories for the purpose of Smarter Business performing our services to our customers. Non-sensitive personal data will be processed by and on behalf of the Customer in accordance with Smarter Business’ Privacy Policy, as set out in our comprehensive Privacy Policy.

The Customer, having signed a Letter of Authority, permits Smarter Business to acquire information for their supply details with a said supplier for the purpose of engaging commercially. This allows Smarter Business to provide a quotation or facilitate any contract or transfer.

Confidentiality

The Contract is a tri-party agreement. It is not intended to benefit any other person or third party in any way, and no such party will be entitled to enforce any provision of the Contract. The information disclosed by each party is confidential and may not be used or disclosed to any third party without the other’s prior written consent.  We will not engage with any third party and we will not accept letters of authority issued by you to by such third parties without our prior written consent, notwithstanding that each of us may disclose such confidential information as may be required by law, court order or any governmental or regulatory authority. 

Correspondence

Maintaining customer confidentiality is our top priority. Our business policy strictly prohibits the sharing of customer calls and/or emails at individual level. We prioritise the privacy and trust of our clients and ensure that their communication remains confidential within our organisation.

Termination

Smarter Business Ltd. reserves the right to immediately terminate our agreement with you if:

● You commit a breach of this agreement; or
● You fail to remedy a breach within 7 days of receipt of notice of the breach;
● We have reasonable grounds to suspect that the information you have provided to us or a supplier is untrue or fraudulent.

The right to terminate this agreement shall not prejudice any other right or remedy we may have in respect of any breach or any rights, obligations or liabilities accrued prior to termination.

Trademarks

The Smarter Business Ltd logo is a trademark of Smarter Business Ltd.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the parties agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

Our Website Usage & Terms and Conditions

For further information, please visit the following comprehensive breakdown of our Terms and Conditions in regard to the use of our website.

Welcome to our website. If you continue to browse and use this website, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions of use, which together with our privacy policy govern Smarter Business relationship with you in relation to this website.

If you disagree with any part of these terms and conditions, please stop using the site immediately. The term ‘Smarter Business’ or ‘us’ or ‘we’ refers to the owner of the website whose registered office is 1 Austin Park, Yeoman Road, Ringwood, Hampshire, BH25 3FG. Our company registration number is 7076039 The term ‘you’ refers to the user or viewer of our website.

The use of this website is subject to the following terms and conditions of use:

The content of the pages of this website is for your general information and use only. It is subject to change without notice.

This website uses cookies to monitor browsing preferences. Further information on the cookies we use can be found in our privacy and cookie policy.

Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.

On submitting your details for a business energy comparison, we will call you on the number provided to discuss your options and guide you through the next steps. You have the right to request that we do not call you but this will mean we cannot provide you with the full service you have requested by completing the form.

This website contains material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions.

All trademarks reproduced in this website, which are not the property of, or licensed to the operator, are acknowledged on the website.

Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence.

From time to time, this website may also include links to other websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information. They do not signify that we endorse the website(s). We have no responsibility for the content of the linked website(s).

Your use of this website and any dispute arising out of such use of the website is subject to the laws of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.