Terms and Conditions for the provision of the monitor alarm system to residential premises by SSE Energy Supply Limited (trading as “Southern Electric” or “SWALEC” or “Scottish Hydro Electric”).
1. Definitions explanation
1.1. Please refer to this section for our definitions and explanations of terms used throughout this document.
“Acceptance Letter” means the letter we send to you accepting you as a customer, confirming the price and details of the termination fees;
“Accessories” means the optional extras listed on the website which can be bought at additional cost;
“Agreement” means the application you’ve completed or agreed on the telephone, these terms and conditions; and the Acceptance Letter;
“Contact(s)” means any person(s) that you nominate to be contacted if a Notifiable Event occurs;
“Equipment” means the alarm system hardware consisting of: a control panel, keyfob, two wireless sensors and a wireless smoke detector provided by us to you;
“Monitoring Centre” means the platform which will dispatch alarm messages according to the rules you have set up; “www.myhomemonitor.co.uk” means the website through which you access all aspects of your account;
“Notifiable Event” means an alarm signal sent by your System and received by the Monitoring
Centre such as intruder, fire or personal threat; “our” means belonging to SSE Energy Supply Limited;
“PC” means personal computer;
“Password” means a secret word or combination of letters or numbers which is used by you or your Contacts to prove who you are when communicating with the Monitoring Centre or “www.myhomemonitor.co.uk”;
“Premises” means the address that you have notified us where you have installed the monitor alarm system;
“Price” means the price stated in the Acceptance Letter;
“Service” means the provision of the complete home protection system as described in Clause 2.1;
“Start Date” means the date on which you register the Equipment or 15 days after you receive the Equipment, whichever is earlier;
“System” means your monitor wireless intruder and fire alert system;
“Termination Fee” means the termination fees as set out in your Acceptance Letter; “we” and “us” means SSE Energy Supply Limited and/or our permitted successors and assignees. “you” means you, the customer with whom we have entered into this Agreement (includes other users at the Premises).
1.2. The headings in this Agreement are for your guidance only so do not affect the interpretation.
2. The service
2.1. The Service works by connecting your System to the Monitoring Centre, via your telephone line. If a movement sensor or smoke detector is triggered, your System will send an immediate alert to the Monitoring Centre. You and your Contacts will then be notified of the alert by telephone, text message or email as specified by you.
2.2 We’ll supply the Service from the Start Date until termination if:
a) you connect and register the Equipment in accordance with the instructions supplied;
b) you have access to suitable computer hardware, software, power supply and telecommunications equipment and services necessary to access and use the Service; and
c) we agree to accept you as our customer under this Agreement.
2.3. Your System is compatible with most residential telephone connections except ISDN.
2.4. Call barring services provided by your telephone provider may prevent the System from contacting the Monitoring Centre.
2.5. The Monitoring Centre will not contact the police or fire service on your behalf.
3. Equipment and use of equipment
3.1. You shall only use the Equipment at the Premises.
3.2. You undertake:
3.2.1. to comply with any instructions for the installation and use of the Equipment provided by the manufacturer or us including (but not restricted to) the User Manual and Quick Start Guide which are available online or by contacting customer services (contact number 0845 071 1007);
3.2.2. to install and register the Equipment within 15 days of receiving it; and
3.2.3. to ensure that your phone line is connected to the Equipment, is operational in order for the Equipment to communicate with the Monitoring Centre.
3.3. In using the Equipment, you shall at all times comply with the law and shall not infringe the rights of any other person.
3.4. You shall take all reasonable precautions to make sure that the Service is not used (by anyone) fraudulently or in connection with a
criminal offence; or to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety.
3.5. For safety reasons the Equipment must not be immersed in water nor used in such a way where the Equipment is likely to come into direct contact with water, steam or other liquids.
3.6. If you buy any Accessories these will form part of your Equipment.
3.7. You are responsible for replacing the batteries in your Equipment, when necessary.
4. Security
4.1. We’ll issue you with a registration key, account number and a user ID. In addition you‘ll be required to select an alarm code and a Password and for each of your Nominated Contacts you’ll be required to select a Password. You’re able to change Passwords at any time by visiting www.myhomemonitor.co.uk. These are essential for the secure use of the Service so you must keep these confidential and secure and ensure they’re used in accordance with the instructions provided.
4.2. You must supply 24 hour contact details to enable us to contact you if there is a Notifiable Event. When you are alerted of a Notifiable Event you or any of your Contacts must decide whether to contact the police or fire service.
4.3. If you think that your user ID and any Password has become known by someone not authorised to use it, or if any Password is being or is likely to be used in an unauthorised way, you must take all steps required to change the Passwords and if our assistance is required contact Customer Services.
4.4. If any of the information you give us changes (for example if you move home or your payment details change) you must let us know immediately.
4.5. Your use of the internet is entirely at your own risk and we strongly advise you to install a firewall and anti-virus software on your PC.
4.6. If we think there is likely to be a breach of security or misuse of the Service we may:
4.6.1. change your and any Contacts’ Passwords; and /or
4.6.2. suspend your and any Contacts’ access to the Service. We’ll notify you that we have done this.
5. Systems interference
5.1. We’ll notify you if your System exhibits an unreasonable level of activity.
5.2. If, after you have been notified of an unreasonable level of activity under Clause 5.1, your System continues to exhibit an unreasonable level of activity for any reason whatsoever or otherwise causes interference with the performance of the Monitoring Centre, we may give reasonable notice to you or your Contacts (as the circumstances require) that we’ll disconnect the System. While we’ll try and contact you prior to disconnection there will be some instances which require immediate disconnection.
5.3. If your connection to the internet causes interference in the performance of www.myhomemonitor.co.uk we may give reasonable notice to you (as the circumstances require) that we’ll disconnect that connection. For avoidance of doubt, in some instances this may involve immediate disconnection.
6. Price and payment
6.1. You will pay the Price in full for the Service by Direct Debit.
6.2. You must pay Value Added Tax and any other relevant tax due at the applicable rate.
6.3. If any amount is in dispute then you must pay the undisputed amount and when the dispute is settled and an appropriate adjustment is made you must pay the amount that is still owed.
6.4. If any payments are late we may charge you (i) interest at the rate of 4% per annum above the current Bank of England base rate and (ii) reasonable costs of trying to recover overdue payments.
6.5. We reserve the right to disable the Equipment in the event that you fail to pay any sums due under this Agreement.
6.6. Please note that you are responsible for any charges for the telephone line, internet and any calls made through the use of the Equipment. The System will use an 0845 number to communicate with the Monitoring Centre and calls will be charged by your telephone provider at local call rates. The System will send a test call to the Monitoring Centre once a week.
7. Suspension and restriction of the service
7.1. Whilst we’ll use all reasonable endeavours to provide the Service continuously, we may need to temporarily suspend part of the Service for operational reasons (e.g. for maintenance or upgrades). Before we do this we’ll give you as much notice as we can and we’ll try to restore the Service as soon as possible after any suspension.
7.2. We may have to alter Passwords or other codes or access numbers or technical specification associated with the Service for operational reasons, and where we need to do this we’ll give you as much notice as we can.
7.3. We may suspend the Service immediately upon giving you notice, where reasonably practicable, if:
7.3.1. you materially breach any part of this Agreement; or
7.3.2. we are under a legal obligation to do so; or
7.3.3. in our reasonable opinion it is necessary or desirable to do so; or
7.3.4. you do anything which jeopardises the Service including the security or the performance of the Service.
7.4. If the Service is suspended as a result of a breach of this Agreement by you:
7.4.1. before we restore the Service we may request some form of security in a form that we view as acceptable assurance that you will not perform any further breach of this Agreement;
7.4.2. this Agreement will continue and you will be responsible for payment of the Price;
7.4.3. we may make a charge to reflect our costs incurred in connection with suspending and/or restoring the Service. Unless otherwise agreed by us, this charge must be paid before the Service will be restored; and
7.4.4. restoration of the Service is at our absolute discretion.
8. Termination
8.1. The supply of the Service to the Premises will be terminated on the day you request, so long as you’ve given us at least 28 days notice. Any outstanding monies will be payable on termination and if you cancel within two years from the Start Date a Termination Fee will be payable.
8.2. We may end this Agreement by written notice if:
i) you materially breach any part of this Agreement; or
ii) we give you 28 days’ notice of our intention to terminate this Agreement; or
iii) we are unable to provide the Service for more than 28 days for whatever reason; or
iv) you’ve not used the Service for a period of twelve months. If we end this Agreement pursuant to Clause 8.2 (i) or (iv) above a Termination Fee may be payable and we may recover our reasonable charges incurred in discontinuing the Service.
8.3. If either party fails to fulfil any obligations under this Agreement (other than payment obligations) because of an event or circumstance outside its reasonable control that failure will not be a breach of this Agreement for the duration of that event or circumstance.
8.4. The termination of this Agreement will not affect the rights and obligations of either party existing before such termination.
9. Assignment
9.1. This Agreement is personal to you and you cannot transfer it to anyone else.
9.2. We may assign or transfer all or any part of our rights and obligations and sub contract all or some of our obligations under this Agreement to a third party without your written agreement.
10. Variation
10.1. We can vary the terms and conditions for the supply of the Service (including the Price).
10.2. If we vary the terms or conditions to your significant disadvantage, we’ll give you reasonable prior notice of the changes.
10.3. If, within 28 days of our giving notice of a variation, you notify us that you no longer wish the Service to be provided in accordance with Clause 8.1, then such variation shall not be effective in respect of this Agreement and for the avoidance of doubt no Termination Fee will be payable.
11. Enforcement of rights
11.1. We can enforce any rights and obligations under this Agreement even if there is a delay in doing so.
11.2. If this Agreement is found to be unenforceable in whole or in part by any court of law or other regulatory or competent body, this will not affect any other part of this Agreement.
12. Limitation of liability
12.1. We don’t limit or exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligent acts or omissions.
12.2. Neither party will be liable to the other for any loss or damage which is indirect, consequential, economic or financial including loss of profit, revenue, goodwill, business, contract or wasted expenses.
12.3. We won’t be liable to you for any losses due to you and your Contacts’ information not being kept up to date, or due to alerts not being received or being delayed due to response times of any telephone (including mobile) network or the internet.
12.4. We’ll only be liable for loss or damage which is a reasonably foreseeable consequence of our breach of this Agreement up to a maximum liability of £5,000 for one event or £10,000 for any series of connected events and all events occurring in any calendar year.
12.5. You acknowledge and agree that (i) we have no knowledge of the value of the Premises and its contents (ii) that the Equipment and the supply of the Service may not prevent unlawful entry occurring and (iii) that we cannot and do not guarantee that the Service will be fault free. Accordingly loss or damage to the Premises and death or injury to persons may occur even although our obligations under this Agreement have been fulfilled. It is your responsibility to maintain adequate insurance cover and security for the Premises and its contents.
13. Notices
Notices required under this Agreement will be in writing and delivered by hand, sent by post or by e-mail. We’ll send notices to the Premises. We’ll assume you’ve received the notice 2 working days after we’ve sent it unless we receive evidence to the contrary. You must send any notice by post to: monitor Customer Service Team, Scottish and Southern Energy, Regus House, Malthouse Avenue, Cardiff Gate Business Park, Cardiff, CF23 8RU and any notice by email to: support@myhomemonitor.co.uk.
14. Intellectual property
14.1. All information on our website, all documentation, plans, procedures, logos and other material provided by us in relation to the Service is our intellectual property or the intellectual property of third parties. You must not use this intellectual property for any purpose other than for receiving and using the Service.
14.2. You acknowledge that you will not and will not allow third parties to copy, modify, prepare derivative works or translation based upon, decompile or reverse engineer any part of our website or the software relating to the same.
15. Use of personal information
15.1. Information you provide or we hold may be used by us, our employees and/or our agents, including companies within the Scottish and Southern Energy group, to help:
a) identify you when you call;
b) detection and prevention of crime, fraud or loss;
c) administration of accounts, services and products; and
d) contact you in writing or by phone with information about other services and products offered by us and/or our carefully selected partners, unless you have told us otherwise.
15.2. Information can be shared between us and third parties who provide and/or receive services in relation to this Agreement in order to fulfil our obligations.
15.3. We may carry out credit and fraud prevention checks with licensed credit reference and fraud prevention agencies and they’ll retain a copy of the search. Information from your application and payment details of your account may be recorded by these agencies and may be shared with other organisations to help make credit and insurance decisions about you and members of your household and for debt collection and fraud prevention purposes.
15.4. We may monitor or record telephone calls, to help improve our customer service, for security purposes, for administering your account and debt recovery purposes.
16. Third party rights
16.1. This Clause 16 is only applicable if the Premises are in England or Wales.
16.2. A person who is not a party to this Agreement has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this Agreement.
17. Governing law
17.1. If the Premises are in Scotland this Agreement shall be governed by Scots Law. Any disputes arising shall be dealt with by the Scottish Courts.
17.2. If the Premises are in England or Wales this Agreement shall be governed by the Laws of England and Wales. Any disputes arising shall be dealt with by the English or Welsh Courts. Scottish Hydro Electric, Southern Electric and SWALEC are trading names of SSE Energy Supply Limited which is a member of the Scottish and Southern Energy Group. SSE Energy Supply Limited is registered in England and Wales (No. 3757502) with its registered offices at 55 Vastern Road, Reading, RG1 8BU.
SSE monitor T&Cs August 2008