Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

SolarDecision ("we", "our", "us") provides a solar recommendation tool for Australian homeowners. We are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following information to generate and deliver your recommendation:

• Address. Your street address, used for geocoding, solar API lookups, and address autocomplete.
• Electricity bill data. Usage, tariff rates, supply charges, billing period, and supply address — either uploaded as a PDF or entered manually.
• Solar quotes. If you provide your own quote, we collect system size and installed cost.
• Email address. If you choose to subscribe to receive your results by email or marketing updates.
• Contact form submissions. Name, email address, and message content.
• Browser storage. A theme preference (light/dark mode) is stored in your browser's localStorage. Session data (bill details, address, results) is stored in sessionStorage and cleared when you close the tab.

3. How We Handle Your Data

No accounts required. We do not require you to create an account or provide a name or email to use the core recommendation tool.

PDF processing. When you upload a PDF bill, the text content is extracted on our server. Once extraction completes successfully, the uploaded PDF file is removed. The extracted data is returned to your browser and the server-side extraction files are deleted promptly. See data retention in section 8 for details.

Results storage. Your recommendation data (usage, tariffs, system sizing, savings estimates) is stored in your browser's sessionStorage. It is sent to our server only at the moment of calculation and is not permanently stored in any database on our side.

Email subscriptions. If you subscribe to receive your results by email or marketing updates, your email address is stored in a Firestore database and processed through SendGrid for email delivery. You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time using the link in each email. We do not share your email with third parties for their own purposes.

Contact form. Messages sent through our contact form are forwarded to us via email using SendGrid. We retain the content of your message and your contact details only as long as needed to respond.

AI processing. If AI-based extraction is enabled, the text content of your bill is sent to OpenAI for data extraction. See section 5 for details.

Information we may hold. We may hold extracted bill details, contact messages, email subscription records, service logs, and provider records for limited operational, support, security, and compliance purposes. Using browser session storage may reduce retained server-side data, but it does not by itself remove Privacy Act or Notifiable Data Breaches obligations where personal information is otherwise held or processed by us or our service providers.

Automated decision-making. Our recommendation tool uses information you provide, such as address, electricity usage, tariffs, supply charges, quote details, and solar preferences, to generate automated estimates and recommendations. These outputs are decision-support information only. They do not approve, refuse, price, or supply any solar installation, finance product, rebate, or essential service.

Future reforms. From 10 December 2026, the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) will include additional requirements relating to automated decision-making. Entities covered by the Act will need to include privacy-policy information where a computer program uses personal information to make decisions reasonably expected to significantly affect rights or interests. We are monitoring these developments and will update this policy as the regulatory framework is finalised.

4. Why We Collect This Information

We collect, use, and disclose your personal information for the following primary purposes:

• To generate a personalised solar payback and savings recommendation based on your electricity usage and address
• To assess the solar potential of your roof using Google Solar API
• To enable address autocomplete during form entry
• To send you a copy of your results by email if you request it
• To send occasional solar insights and product updates if you separately opt in
• To respond to enquiries submitted through the contact form

5. Third-Party Services

To generate your recommendation, we disclose certain data to trusted third parties:

Each service processes data under its own privacy policy and terms. We do not sell or share your data for advertising or marketing purposes.

6. Analytics and Cookies

We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4), a web analytics service provided by Google LLC, to collect anonymised usage data such as page views, session duration, and referring website. This helps us understand how the site is used and improve the service.

GA4 is configured to anonymise IP addresses and does not share data with Google for advertising purposes. We do not use cookies, web beacons, or other tracking technologies. A UI theme preference (light or dark mode) is stored in your browser's localStorage — this is a purely visual setting and is not transmitted to us or any third party.

You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

7. Overseas Disclosure

Your personal information may be disclosed to recipients located outside Australia, including the United States (Google LLC, OpenAI Inc., Twilio Inc.). These recipients process data as described in section 5. By using this service, you consent to this overseas disclosure. We take reasonable steps to ensure that overseas recipients handle your information in a manner consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.

8. Data Security

We use industry-standard encryption (HTTPS/TLS) for all data in transit. Server-side data is processed in secured Google Cloud Run infrastructure. Email subscriptions are stored in Firestore with access restricted to authorised service accounts.

9. Data Retention

Uploaded PDFs are deleted after successful text extraction where processing succeeds. Server-side extraction files are deleted immediately after the extracted data is returned to your browser. Cached API responses (geocoding, solar insights) may be retained for up to 30 days to improve performance. Email subscription records are retained until you unsubscribe via the link in each email. Contact form submissions are retained until we have responded to your enquiry and for a reasonable period afterwards. Server logs and provider system records may retain data for longer periods for security and compliance purposes.

10. Marketing Communications

If you subscribe to receive your results by email, you will receive a one-off email containing your recommendation. If you separately opt in to marketing communications, you may receive occasional solar insights and product updates. You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link in each email. Unsubscribing from marketing will not affect the delivery of your results email.

11. Automated Decision-Making

Our recommendation tool uses information you provide — such as address, electricity usage, tariffs, supply charges, quote details, and solar preferences — to generate automated estimates and recommendations. These outputs are decision-support information only. They do not approve, refuse, price, or supply any solar installation, finance product, rebate, or essential service.

From 10 December 2026, the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) will include additional requirements relating to automated decision-making. Entities covered by the Act will need to include privacy-policy information where a computer program uses personal information to make decisions reasonably expected to significantly affect rights or interests. The final regulatory interpretation may evolve. We are monitoring these developments and will update this policy as the regulatory framework is finalised.

12. Your Rights

Under Australian privacy law, you have the right to:

• Request access to personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of your personal information
• Complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles
• Request information about automated decision-making that affects you (from 10 December 2026)

To exercise these rights, contact us at the email below. Since we do not maintain user accounts, we may need to request additional information from you to locate your data.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be noted on our website.

14. Contact

For privacy enquiries, complaints, or to exercise your rights: contact@solardecision.com.au

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).