These Terms, together with our Privacy Notice, set out the services we provide to you and how we process your personal data. In these Terms, we refer to Utility4business (company number 0800 0472626) as “we”, “us” and “our” etc. and to you, the customer, as “you” and “your” etc. “Party” shall mean either us or you and “Parties” shall mean both us and you.
By signing our Permission Letter, using our website, or otherwise receiving the benefit of any services we provide to you, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy which together form an agreement (“Agreement”) between us and you. We may amend these Terms and our Privacy Policy from time to time and we will notify you of any material changes. You can always find the most recent version available on our website (hinttutilities.com) and your continuing use of our services will be subject to the most current Terms on our website.
We act as a Third-Party Intermediary (“TPI”), defined by Ofgem as an organisation that can give business utilities-related information and advice with the aim of helping customers buy business utilities and/or manage their business utility needs. Whether you have contacted us directly or we have contacted you, you are under no obligation to use our services. However, as a TPI we can support you when getting business utilities quotations from certain UK-based third-party utility suppliers (“Suppliers”, each a “Supplier”). We may also act as a Third Party Intermediary (“TPI”) for other business-related services including but now exclusively Water, Telecommunications and Green energy solutions such as Solar PV installations.
In providing our services, we may obtain quotes from a number of different suppliers on your behalf, and we may contact you from time to time regarding your current energy requirements. Where you decide to proceed with a particular Supplier and purchase products or services from that Supplier, you acknowledge that you will enter into a separate contract with that Supplier which is completely separate from our Agreement with you. We are not a party to any such contract between you and the Supplier and nor will we have any liability thereof.
Many Suppliers do not offer a cooling-off period after you agree to a contract with them. Many contracts will have an early termination fee applied if you wish to change Supplier before the contract end date. It is important that you read, understand, and accept the terms and conditions of any Supplier that you agree to contract with.
You should be aware that there is no obligation for any Supplier to supply you and this is down to the Supplier. Each Supplier may determine which customers they choose to supply based on factors such as, but not limited to, the size of supply or your credit rating and even business type. Some Suppliers may refuse to accept or offer a contract with or to businesses in what that supplier deems a ‘high-risk’ sector or business type. What constitutes ‘high-risk’ will vary across Suppliers but may include takeaway businesses, pubs, restaurants, etc.
We act as an intermediary broker between you and Suppliers, and we do not assume any wider obligations to you other than those expressly set out in these Terms. We do not recommend or endorse any products or services and we are reliant on the information you give us to provide you with different energy tariffs and options. We may arrange contracts on behalf of Suppliers based on the prices we have quoted to enable you to enter into a contract directly with that Supplier. Upon completing a contract either verbally or in writing, we will then send that contract to the Supplier, and we shall use reasonable endeavours to facilitate a smooth energy switch where practicable.
You warrant that you are acting in the course of business and that we are entitled to treat you as a business customer. You also warrant that you have full authority to enter into the Agreement.
Whilst we have commercial partnerships with certain Suppliers, we are not appointed representatives or agents for any Suppliers. We act completely independently when choosing which suppliers to present to you and any information provided by us in any form is on an “as is” basis. When performing our services, we take many factors into account. Whilst price is a key factor in our criteria when selecting energy options for you, the offers we present to you may not be the cheapest on the market at any given time. While we will do our best to provide you with the most competitive pricing options that we identify for your business in the market, we cannot guarantee that the prices that we present are the cheapest available in the market at any particular time. The prices offered by Suppliers will depend on a number of factors, including your credit score, payment history, preferred payment method, suppliers’ levels of customer service, energy usage profile or your personal preference (for example, green energy).
We will assist you in arranging a business utility contract based on the information provided by you. Any information you provide to us will be confirmed by us with you by email, telephone or by letter. It is your responsibility to ensure that all the information is true, accurate, complete, reliable, and current in all respects. You must inform us promptly if there are any errors and/or if any amendments are required. If any of the information needs to be amended or rectified, this may result in your utility supplier transfer being delayed or rejected by the Supplier. You acknowledge and agree that in order to provide our services we may pass the information including your personal data to Suppliers for the purpose of obtaining quotations from such Suppliers. We will obtain your consent prior to sending any such information to any Supplier. More information on how we process your personal data is set out in our Privacy Notice.
You agree that any documents/market insights, reports, supplier, or pricing information supplied to you in connection with providing our services to you are owned by us or our third-party licensors. We may agree to provide you with copies of some or all of these documents upon written request, subject to your written agreement not to disclose any such documents and/or the information contained within them to any third parties without our prior written consent. Depending on the nature of your request this may incur an administration fee.
As a result of you using our energy procurement services, you acknowledge that we may be paid a commission by energy suppliers. We typically receive an average uplift of 0.9p per kWh consumed for the duration of your contract. You acknowledge and understand that you may pay additional fees and energy charges to your Supplier as a result of engaging us to provide services to you. Our commission is typically 100% variable and based on energy consumed during a contracted period.
As a result of you using our water procurement services, you acknowledge that we may be paid a commission by Suppliers. We typically receive a commission from water suppliers based on the volume of water consumed for the duration of your contract. The average typical commission for an SME business is £450. You acknowledge and understand that you may pay additional fees and water charges to your Supplier as a result of engaging us to provide services to you.
As a result of you using our telecommunications procurement services, you acknowledge that we may be paid a commission by Suppliers. We typically receive a commission from telecommunications suppliers based on the value of the contract for the duration of your contract. The average typical commission for an SME business is between £20 and £300 per product. You acknowledge and understand that you may pay additional fees and water charges to your Supplier as a result of engaging us to provide services to you.
If the supplier fails to go live, is cancelled or you subsequently decide to not proceed with providing your custom to the Supplier in respect of which Hintt Utilities has performed a business quotation and contract submission, Hintt Utilities shall be entitled to charge you a minimum administration fee charge of £250, and we reserve the right to claim back full commission on a case-by-case basis.
From time to time you may be able to benefit from other products available from suppliers within the Hintt Utilities portfolio in which case these Terms shall also apply but any references to energy are substituted for that product or service.
We will provide our services using reasonable care and skill and in compliance with applicable law. Except as expressly provided in these Terms, all warranties of any kind for the services are expressly excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law. Any time or date given for performance is indicative only and time shall not be of the essence of the Agreement.
All trademarks, service marks and all other intellectual property rights are the property of their respective owners, including, without limitation, Utility4business. The ownership of all intellectual property rights relating to our services shall remain with Utility4business, its licensors or partners. You agree not to take any action to jeopardise, limit, or interfere in any manner with any of our or a third party’s intellectual property rights.
Nothing in these Terms shall limit or exclude our liability for:
Subject to clause 19:
To the fullest extent permitted by law, all implied terms and warranties are excluded from the Agreement.
You or we may terminate the Agreement at any time for whatever reason.
In the unlikely case that you need to make a complaint about the services provided by us, such complaint must be made to us in the first instance by contacting your account manager or emailing: complaints@info@hinttutilities.com. You acknowledge that if you have any complaint about our services you will in the first instance follow our complaints procedure.
If you have a complaint about your energy supplier or supply contract in the first instance you should contact us and then if you are dissatisfied you should contact the Supplier directly and then, if necessary, the Energy Ombudsman. Your account manager may be able to assist you with this process.
If you are a Micro-Business*, Ofgem’s advice is that if you have any issue or complaint you should contact the Citizens Advice consumer service helpline.
We take protecting our clients’ data seriously. We will not pass information to third parties other than the business utility suppliers to which you are either currently contracted with or have chosen to move your business utilities to. We will not engage with other Third-Party Intermediaries.
We will record all telephone calls with you for legitimate business purposes including so that we can improve the services we offer. All calls are encrypted for security and integrity purposes and to ensure that we comply with our requirements under data protection laws. Records of all calls will be kept by us for 7 years from the date of the particular call. Suppliers may retain your personal data in line with their own retention periods and privacy notices and you should ensure you familiarise yourself with any relevant documents or notices before agreeing to their terms and contracting with them.
