Privacy policy

1. Who we are and what this covers

Ivy Energy Pty Ltd (ABN 38 681 703 248), trading as Aivy Energy (‘Aivy’, ‘we’, ‘us’), provides the Aivy app, battery optimisation software, operations services for solar and battery power stations, and a virtual power plant (VPP) platform for electricity retailers.

This policy explains how we handle personal information when you use the Aivy app, visit our website, enquire about or use our services, or deal with us as a business customer or partner. We handle personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified person, or a person who can reasonably be identified. Data from your battery or about your electricity use can be personal information when it is linked to you or your home.

If you use Aivy through an installer, battery brand or electricity retailer, their privacy policy also applies to the information they collect. We handle the information we receive as described here.

2. The information we collect

Account and contact details

Your name, email address, phone number, password or sign-in details for your Aivy account, and how you prefer us to contact you.

Your site and electricity plan

The address or postcode of your home or site, which we use for weather and tariff information; details of your electricity plan and retailer; and, if you choose to share them, your power bills, interval meter data and National Metering Identifier (NMI).

Battery, solar and device data

When you connect a battery, we receive data through the manufacturer’s cloud platform, such as the device model and identifiers, state of charge, power flowing to and from the battery, solar and grid, your settings and limits, and fault and status codes. We also record the actions Aivy takes and the changes you approve.

What you tell us

Messages you send to Aivy’s in-app assistant or to us, such as letting us know you’ll be away or that your routine is changing.

How you use the app and website

Technical information such as device type, operating system, app version, crash reports, pages visited and your IP address. Our website uses only technical cookies needed for it to work, such as security and language preferences. We don’t use advertising pixels or third-party visitor analytics on our website. The Aivy character on our website helps you find information; it isn’t a live chat and doesn’t record conversations.

Business customers and partners

Contact details of people at the businesses we work with, and project, site and operating information they share with us. Most of this is business information, but it can include personal information about individuals.

Information we don’t ask for

We don’t ask for sensitive information, such as health information, and we never need your bank card details to run the app. Please don’t send us passwords, identity documents or information we haven’t asked for. If you give us someone else’s details, make sure you’re allowed to. You can make a first enquiry using a preferred name.

3. How we collect it

• From you, when you create an account, set up the app, contact us or send us documents.
• From your battery and solar system, through the manufacturer’s cloud platform, once you authorise the connection. Our access is limited to what the manufacturer’s platform allows.
• From businesses you deal with, such as your installer or battery brand when they help set up or support Aivy, and an electricity retailer if you join its VPP plan or service through Aivy.
• Automatically, when you use the app or website.

Where we receive personal information about you from someone else, we take reasonable steps to make sure you know about it. You can browse our website without telling us who you are.

4. How we use it

• To run Aivy for you: forecast your solar, your usage and the weather, and plan when your battery charges and discharges inside the limits you set.
• To learn your home’s or site’s patterns over time and keep improving your plan.
• To prepare for events, such as charging your battery ahead of a storm warning.
• To spot problems early, such as a battery going offline or reporting a fault, and tell you what to do.
• To answer your questions through Aivy’s in-app AI assistant, and, when you ask us to, pass anything it can’t resolve to your battery brand’s after-sales team.
• To estimate how a different tariff, such as a time-of-use plan, could change what you pay.
• To connect your battery to a retailer’s VPP plan or service, only if you choose to join one.
• To answer enquiries, provide support, and operate and settle the services we provide to business customers.
• To keep our systems and your account secure, prevent misuse and meet our legal obligations.
• To improve our products, including our forecasting and AI models. Where we can, we use de-identified or aggregated data for this.
• To send you news and offers, only if you agree. You can opt out at any time.

5. Automated decisions and AI

Aivy uses computer programs, including AI models, to make some decisions about your battery. We explain them here so you know what happens and how you stay in control.

Personal information these programs use

Battery, solar and device data; your electricity use patterns; your site’s location for weather; your tariff and plan details; the limits and settings you choose; and anything you tell us about changes to your routine.

Decisions made by a program

• When your battery charges and discharges, and how much charge to keep, within the limits you set.
• Whether to charge your battery ahead of a storm warning.
• When to send you an alert, for example about a fault or a dropped connection.
• Estimates, such as how much a different tariff could save you.

Decisions a program helps with

Suggestions that need your approval before anything changes, such as lowering your backup reserve or joining a VPP plan.

Your control

You set the backup reserve and operating limits, and you can change them at any time. Changes to your limits always wait for your approval. Your battery’s own protections always come first, and Aivy can only do what the manufacturer’s platform allows. If you have a concern about how a decision was made, contact our Privacy Contact.

6. Who we share it with

We don’t sell your personal information. We share it only as described here, and only what is needed for the purpose:

• Service providers who host our systems and data, deliver messages and notifications, provide support tools, and help us understand app performance. They may only use it to provide their services to us.
• Battery manufacturers’ cloud platforms, to connect to and operate your battery as you authorise.
• Your battery brand’s after-sales team, or your installer, when you ask us to, or where it is needed to deal with a safety issue or a fault.
• Electricity retailers and VPP providers, only if you choose to join a VPP plan or service through Aivy, and only what the plan needs.
• Businesses that provide Aivy to you, such as your installer or battery brand, where needed to set up and support the service.
• Professional advisers, regulators, courts and law enforcement, where required or permitted by law.
• A buyer or successor, if all or part of our business is sold or restructured, under this policy.

We don’t give your details to equipment makers or other partners for their own marketing. We may share de-identified or aggregated information, which does not identify you, for research, reporting and grid programs.

7. Storage and overseas handling

Information from the Aivy app is stored on cloud servers located in Australia. Our website is hosted by Crazy Domains, and website enquiries are stored in our website database.

Some of our service providers, and some battery manufacturers’ cloud platforms, may store or access information outside Australia. Before we disclose personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to make sure the recipient handles it consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

8. Keeping it secure

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, change or disclosure. These include encrypted connections, access limited to people who need it, and monitoring of our systems. No system can be guaranteed completely secure.

If a data breach is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify the people affected and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

9. How long we keep it

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purposes in this policy, or as the law requires. When you close your account, we delete or de-identify your personal information within a reasonable time, except where we must keep it by law or to resolve a dispute. Backups are deleted on their normal cycle.

10. Your choices and rights

• See your information. Ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you. There is no charge for asking.
• Correct it. Ask us to fix information that is wrong, out of date or incomplete. There is no charge.
• Delete it. Ask us to delete your account and personal information. We will delete or de-identify it as set out in ‘How long we keep it’: we tell you if any records must be kept by law or to resolve a dispute, and copies in backups are removed on their normal cycle.
• Disconnect your battery. You can stop Aivy accessing your battery at any time by contacting us, or through your battery manufacturer’s account where it offers that option.
• Stop marketing. Use the unsubscribe link or contact us. We act on requests within five business days.
• Cookies. You can manage cookies in your browser. Blocking some cookies may stop parts of the website from working.

You don’t need to use a particular form. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request, and we aim to respond within 30 days. If we can’t do what you ask, we will explain why and how you can complain.

11. Children

Aivy is designed for adults who manage a home or business energy system. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children.

12. Questions and complaints

If you have a question or a complaint about how we handle personal information, contact our Privacy Contact. We will acknowledge it promptly, look into it and explain the outcome, and aim to resolve it within 30 days. If we need more time, we will tell you why.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

13. Changes to this policy

We update this policy when our services or the way we handle information change. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If a change is significant, we will let you know in the app or by email before it takes effect.

14. Contact us

Privacy Contact, Ivy Energy Pty Ltd
Adelaide, South Australia
Email: info@aivyenergy.com.au

You can ask for a free copy of this policy, or a copy in another accessible format.