Link to energy is a partnership between Severn Wye Energy Agency and local authorities in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire.
As an independent charity, Severn Wye and its partners cannot make specific recommendations for particular companies, either within or outside of the Link to Energy network.
Our activities are partly funded by a small fee charged to the installer on successfully completed works. The contractual arrangement for each sustainable energy installation including cost, quality, performance and maintenance is a direct contract between the client and installation company only.
Severn Wye Energy Agency and its partners do not accept any liability for work undertaken by companies participating in the Link to Energy network. For renewables installations, the RECC quality assurance scheme provides an arbitration service in case of disputes, which is free in the first instance to both installer and clients.
In any other cases of concern or dispute we recommend that the customer contact the relevant accreditation body or your local Citizens Advice service for details of arbitration services.
As a member you may be referred to as part of ongoing grant schemes that we offer to clients. For all and future grant schemes membership of Link to Energy needs to be maintained. Member companies may be removed from the installer database if they do not comply with the network membership terms and conditions or should information be received from relevant accreditation bodies, consumer bodies or local authorities that states that the company or services and products they provide are not fit for purpose. Additionally if an accreditation that is required to carry out the work, has been withdrawn. Severn Wye will also consider past performance on previous projects receiving feedback from clients.
1 Background information
Severn Wye Energy Agency is a not for profit company and registered charity (Reg no. 1083812) which aims to promote more sustainable ways of using energy in buildings. A linked aim is to assist lower income and other vulnerable households to keep their homes warm enough at an affordable cost.
Our programme of work includes the provision of energy efficiency and renewable energy advice to householders, community groups and small to medium sized companies (SME’s). For further detail on the projects that we are involved in, please refer to the main Severn Wye Energy Agency website: www.severnwye.org.uk
The Severn Wye Link to Energy installer network was set up in 2007 as part of Stroud’s Target 2050 campaign which aimed to help households, businesses and community buildings work towards the target of an 80% cut in carbon emissions by 2050 through installing energy efficiency and renewable energy measures. This network of businesses has now expanded from its origins to cover all of Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire and is being developed in parallel with Severn Wye Activities in parts of Wales.
2 The Aims and purposes of the Severn Wye Link to Energy
- To enable building owners and occupants to find installers able to make improvements to the energy performance of their properties and to give them a choice of installers as local to them as possible
- To link local installers to local jobs
- To enable installers to identify providers of complimentary services so that they can deliver more complex solutions to customers
3 Terms of membership
3.1 Installer members of the network will be required to confirm that they hold current and adequate public liability insurance. If cover under the Member’s insurance shall lapse or not be renewed or be changed in any material way or if the Member is aware of any reason why the cover under its insurance policy may lapse or not be renewed or be changed in any material way, the Member shall immediately notify Severn Wye Energy Agency who may remove the member listing until confirmation has been received to confirm that cover is current and adequate.
3.2 Membership does not imply that Severn Wye Energy Agency or any local authority in any way recommend either the technical solution or the installer/supplier. Similarly, payment of any Severn Wye Energy Agency accessed grant should not be viewed as any sort of endorsement of the actual installer or the solution. Members must ensure that they do not represent to anybody (either expressly or by implication) that either Severn Wye Energy Agency or any local authority in any way endorse any particular technical solution that might be proposed by the member, or recommends any particular member.
3.3 The contractual arrangement for each installation or sale including cost, quality, performance and maintenance is a direct contract between the client and the member company. Neither Severn Wye Energy Agency nor any local authority accepts liability for work undertaken by companies participating in the Severn Wye Link to Energy.
3.4 The Severn Wye Energy Agency reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of membership at any time. By continuing to be a Member of the Network you agree to be bound by any variation made by us.
3.5 Members registration with the relevant competent person scheme (or trade association) for example Gas Safe, OFTEC, HETAS, FENSA, NIA can be represented within the members profile page. Severn Wye will check accreditation with members on an annual basis and for this, only check mandatory accreditations. It will be the customer’s responsibility to confirm other non-mandatory registrations with the members and appropriate bodies. Severn Wye will advise visitors to the site on where and how to do this.
Listed below are the competent person schemes that Severn Wye will check.
| Scheme full name | Short name | Contact number |
| Capita Gas Registration and Ancillary Services Limited | Gas Safe Register (GSR) | 0800 408 5500 |
| Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency Limited | CIGA | 01525 853 300 |
| HETAS Limited | HETAS | 01684 278170 |
| Oil Firing Technical Association Limited | OFTEC | 0845 6585080 |
3.6 Members are responsible for updating and ensuring the accuracy of the contact details and information relating to products and services that they list for their organisation on the database. If you have any problems with this process please contact Severn Wye Energy Agency using the contact details listed below.
3.7 Installer Members (not suppliers) agree to respond in an appropriate manner to all enquiries generated from this database within 3 working days.
3.8 Membership will initially be set for 12 months from date of registration. At the end of this twelve month period we will contact members to confirm continued membership, and to confirm details contained within the members profile.
3.9 Link to Energy members will not pass on customer details received via the database enquiry form to any other third parties without the customers’ prior explicit consent. Any customer details that the member records and stores should comply with current data protection regulations as stipulated in the Data Protection Act 1988. Members should explain their data protection policy to customers and remove customer details if requested.
4 Additional terms of membership for installers of renewable energy systems
4.1 Membership will be open to any installer of renewable energy systems who are currently accredited to install those technologies they are approved for under the Micro-generation Certification Scheme (MCS). These accreditations will be checked before the listing becomes publicly available.
4.2 Members will be required to be paid up members of the Renewable Energy Association Listed (RECC) quality assurance consumer code, for supplying micro heat and power generators to domestic customers. The membership will be checked before the installer listing becomes publicly available.
4.3 If the installer member does not hold an MCS accreditation but installs renewable technologies, the member must make customers aware of this prior to commencing any work, and before any payment is requested from the customer so that the customer can make an informed decision about whether to employ that installer.
5 Promotion of Link to Energy
5.1 Link to Energy is promoted through Severn Wye Energy Agency projects and to the households, community groups, and businesses that these projects are designed to benefit.
5.2 The list of installers and suppliers participating in Link to Energy is available on the Severn Wye Energy Agency website at www.linktoenergy.org.uk Members are welcome to create links to these pages.
5.3 Details of Link to Energy will be promoted at group presentations and public events attended by the Severn Wye Energy Agency.
5.4 Enquiries to the Severn Wye Energy Agency Warm and Well Energy advice line (0800 500 3076) regarding renewable energy or energy efficiency improvements will be referred to the online database once general advice about the suitability of measures has been provided.
6 Customer satisfaction
6.1 We expect installer members to respond in an appropriate manner to all enquiries generated from this database within three working days. Four working days after a customer has submitted an online enquiry to an installer (not supplier), the database will automatically email the customer to check that they have received a reply from the installer(s). If they have not been contacted, the customer will be offered the opportunity to re-submit the enquiry, or to feedback this information to Severn Wye Energy Agency.
6.2 Visitors to the database will be able to contact installers via an online customer enquiry form that will be emailed to their specified email address. Visitors to the database will be able to contact suppliers by linking through to the suppliers website, unless the supplier has approved installers registered on the Link to Energy website.
7 Payment of invoices/Referral fees
7.1 Link to Energy will also be used in a number of grant schemes run by Warm and Well. To this end there may be partial or full grants available for clients. Invoices will be paid by Severn Wye following completion and satisfaction from the clients. Payment terms are a standard 30 days after receipt of the invoice however where we hold grant funding the duration may be shorter.
7.2 Link to Energy is offered as a service to enable property owners to locate and contact local businesses that are able to offer sustainable energy solutions and products for their properties. As a Network member you’ll also get opportunities to meet other installers in your area, find out about relevant legislation, training and projects, and learn about new products at our meetings. To provide the Severn Wye Link to Energy we ask for a small referral fee from installers (not suppliers) from all successfully completed work that has been initiated through the service. No membership fees from installers are required, and we do not charge for leads that do not result in paid work.
7.2 The referral fees for completed work (where no other separate arrangements have been agreed, or for any work completed within the Gloucestershire and Worcestershire Target 2020 schemes where there are no referral fees) are as follows: •3% (plus VAT) of the total value of completed work (the total value of completed work should include VAT at the appropriate rate), where that work has been referred to an installer via the Severn Wye Link to Energy Network. This will be claimed on a periodic basis.
7.3 Separate arrangements can be made with ‘suppliers’ of sustainable energy products or services through ‘affiliate or partnership schemes’ where appropriate. If an affiliate scheme or similar referral tracking process is not available a small monthly membership fee of under £10 a month (£100 a year invoiced annually after the first months registration) will be charged to the supplier.
8 Operation of the database and statistical evaluation – Installer members
8.1 The database has been designed to allow householders and property managers to access contact information for installers within their local area, and therefore to support the work of companies within their communities where possible. The postcode/town/city entered by the customer will be converted to a location (longitude /latitude). This location will then be used to list the matches against companies offices from (of which there can be more than one per company) the database. If the search location is inside the radius for the company, then they will be included in the listings.
8.2 Companies will NOT be included in the results more than once if multiple matching offices are found.
8.3 The results will be listed in order of distance from the customer’s location.
8.4 The results can be filtered using the filter option;
- All | one or more from a list of technologies
- There are no further criteria that would influence placement listing within the search results.
8.5 Visitors to the database will be able to contact installers via an online customer enquiry form, or by contacting the Severn Wye Energy Agency by phone.
8.6 Where an enquiry is made using the online enquiry form, this form will be sent to the installer(s) nominated email address. The Severn Wye Energy Agency will also have access to the information contained within this enquiry for referral reporting reasons.
8.7 Where an initial installer search is made for the customer by a Severn Wye Energy Agency advisor on the telephone, the advisor will provide details of companies listed based on the proximity of the company to the customer and whether the company offers the measure or product requested. Where relevant, specific accreditations or memberships that enable access to finance will also be indicated (such as ECO). Recommendations to individual companies will not be made on any other basis. The advisor will then complete the online enquiry form for the customer. This will ensure that the enquiry is sent to the nominated member(s).
8.7 Seven days after a customer enquiry has been sent to the installer member an automatically generated email will be sent to the member requesting that the member update the status of this enquiry. A link from this email will allow the member to update the status of that enquiry on their profile page to one of the following and to add in notes or comments if considered necessary (which can be automatically emailed for the attention of the Link to Energy Administrators):
- Survey or work in progress
- Referral closed
- Installation completed
If the referral status has been set to ‘referral closed’ the member will receive no further communication regarding this enquiry If the referral status has been set to ‘survey or work in progress’, a further email asking the member to update the status of the enquiry will be sent to the member every 14 days until the status is set to either ‘Referral closed’ or ‘Installation completed’. If the referral status has been set to ‘Installation Completed’ the member is required to complete an additional online section that allows the member to specify the value of the work completed. An invoice will then be raised on the 1st of the following month as indicated in point 8.8
8.8 On the 1st of every month an invoice will be raised and sent to any members that have enquiry status’s set as ‘Installation completed’ with the value of the work also completed as required. The referral fees for work initiated by the Severn Wye Energy Agency are detailed in section 7.2 of the terms and conditions.
8.9 Payment terms: The member agrees to pay the referral fee by cheque or BACS within 30 days of the invoice being raised. If payment is not made within 30 days a statement will be issued as a reminder. If after a further 30 days payment has not been received membership to the Severn Wye Link to Energy may be revoked.
9 Statistical evaluation
9.1 The database will enable the Severn Wye Energy Agency to view and understand a number of statistics in regard to use. These will include:
- Total visits to the site
- Total number of searches
- Number of visits to installer member pages
- Number of enquiries made to installer members
- Installer Members will be able to view data on the number of visits, and enquiries made to their company page by visitors to the database by accessing their profile page.
10 Removal of members from the network
10.1 Members will be removed from the Severn Wye Link to Energy installer network if they no longer comply with the General Terms of Membership set out in these Terms.
10.2 Members may also be removed from the installer network should information be received from relevant accreditation bodies, consumer bodies or Local Authorities that states that the company or services and products they provide are not fit for purpose. Additionally if an accreditation required to carry out work has been withdrawn.
10.3 Members may be removed from the installer network should information be received from clients that the installations are below the expected quality. Severn Wye will endeavour to find solutions with the installer however the client satisfaction is very important and we expect that installers will find appropriate solutions.
11 Data protection
11.1 The Severn Wye Energy Agency will use information obtained from the use of the database for customer satisfaction, quality control, statistical evaluation and continual improvement purposes. Such processing will be conducted fairly and lawfully under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
11.2 A member has the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about them. If members would like a copy of some or all of this personal information, please send an email to the contact details set out below. We may make a small charge for this service.
11.3 Members can at any time request the erasure of all their personal data held by Severn Wye Energy Agency, and insofar as data retention is not required by other legal processes or public bodies, Severn Wye will confirm the deletion. Note that this will result in the termination of this and any other memberships or service contracts held between Severn Wye and the data subject.
11.4 Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behaviour information. The information is used to track visitor use of our website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. For further information about cookies visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the above websites tell you how to remove cookies from your browser. Please note that some of our website features (for instance, user login) may not function if you remove cookies from your browser.
12 Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability
12.1 The database, Severn Wye Energy and Warm & Well websites may contain references or hyperlinks to external third party websites. We have no control over third party websites and accept no responsibility for any content, material or information contained in them.
12.2 Members agree that use of the service and the site is on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis. Consequently we make no representations, warranties, conditions or other terms (whether express or implied) in relation to the provision of the service or the site, including without limitation as to completeness, accuracy and currency of any content and information on the database, or as to satisfactory quality, or fitness for particular purpose.
12.3 To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we exclude all liability (whether arising in contract, tort, breach of statutory duty or otherwise) which we may otherwise have to you as a result of: any error or inaccuracies in any information or material within or relating to the network database or the site; the unavailability of the database or the site for whatsoever reason; and any representation or statement made in the database or the site.
12.4 Under no circumstances shall we be liable to you for any loss or damage suffered (including without limitation direct or indirect losses) arising from your use of, or reliance on, the network database or the site (including the downloading or any software, program or information).
12.5 We do not exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, for any fraudulent misrepresentation made by us on the database or the site or for any other statutory rights which are not capable of being excluded.
13 Contact details
13.1 The contact details for Severn Wye Energy Agency are as follows:
Jess Callaghan – Project Manager
Telephone: 01452 835078
E-mail: jessc@severnwye.org.uk
Address: Unit 15 Highnam Business Centre, Highnam, GLOUCESTER, GL2 8DN
