Privacy Policy

GridBeater is operated by The Wattage Pty Ltd (ABN 16 679 197 927), an Australian solar installation business. When you use GridBeater, you're dealing with us.

Questions about this policy? Email us at hello@thewattage.com.au.

When you upload your electricity bill, we collect:

• Your contact details — name, email address, and phone number (optional). Used to send you your solar ROI result and, if you request one, a quote.
• Your electricity bill — the PDF or image you upload. Used to extract your usage data, electricity rates, retailer, and address details.
• Extracted bill data — suburb, state, postcode, daily usage (kWh), annual spend, current rate (c/kWh), feed-in tariff, retailer name, and whether you have solar. Used to calculate your personalised solar savings estimate.
• Inferred data — estimated house size and occupant count, solar system recommendation, ROI estimate. Generated by our AI analysis and used to produce your result.
• Usage data — pages you visited, whether you requested a quote, and timestamps. Used to improve the service and understand how people use GridBeater.

We collect this information because you asked us to analyse your bill. We couldn't give you an accurate solar ROI without it.

GridBeater uses AI to extract data from your bill and calculate your solar ROI. This is automated processing, but our team may review extracted bill details if the read is uncertain, if you request help, or if you request a quote.

Our AI is powered by Anthropic (Claude). Your bill data is sent to Anthropic for processing and may be handled outside Australia. Anthropic's API terms and privacy documentation govern how that processing is handled. We use the API for extraction; we do not knowingly submit your bills for model training. You can read Anthropic's privacy policy at anthropic.com/privacy.

If you believe the extracted data is wrong, you can correct it on the confirmation page before your result is finalised.

If you type in the install-address autocomplete field in a quote form, address-search text is sent to OpenStreetMap Nominatim after a few characters so we can show Australian address suggestions. If you do not want that lookup to happen, leave the optional install-address field blank and give the address to our team later.

We use your data to:

• Calculate your solar ROI and provide your personalised result
• Send your result and any quotes you request to your email address
• Forward your contact details and bill summary to The Wattage so they can follow up if you request a quote
• Improve GridBeater's accuracy and reliability over time

We do not sell your personal information (name, email, phone, or raw bill) to any third party.

We may use de-identified and aggregated data, with direct identifiers such as name, email, phone, and raw bill files removed, for the following purposes:

• Energy and solar industry research — we may publish aggregate insights such as average electricity rates by suburb, solar adoption trends, and retailer pricing comparisons, presented so individuals are not intentionally identifiable.
• Sharing with energy partners — we may share de-identified data (postcode, usage profile, tariff type, solar status — no name, email, phone, raw bill, or street address) with solar installers, battery manufacturers, EV charger suppliers, and energy retailers for the purpose of identifying relevant offers for households like yours.
• Referral programs — if we refer you to an energy comparison service or installer outside The Wattage's area, we may earn a referral fee. We will always disclose this at the point of referral.

De-identification reduces the chance of a person being identified, but it is not a perfect guarantee in every situation. We reduce this risk by not combining shared postcode or usage data with your name, phone, email, raw bill, or street address.

We do not sell your personal information.

We currently store extracted bill data and lead records in Neon Postgres. Original bill files may be stored privately when private file storage is configured, so our team can complete manual review, quote preparation, troubleshooting, and audit checks. These files are not public and are retrieved through authenticated admin access. Your data may leave Australia where noted above, including AI processing, hosting infrastructure, and private storage infrastructure.

How long we keep it:

• Uploaded bill files — processed for extraction and may be retained privately for manual review, quote preparation, troubleshooting, and audit checks unless you ask us to delete them.
• Extracted bill data and lead records — retained for sales follow-up, quote preparation, auditability, and service improvement unless you ask us to delete them.
• De-identified aggregated data — retained indefinitely for service improvement and market insight. De-identification reduces privacy risk, but it is not a perfect guarantee of anonymity.

Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988, you have the right to:

• Access your data — request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Correct your data — ask us to fix any inaccurate information
• Delete your data — request that we delete your bill, extracted data, and lead record
• Opt out of marketing — unsubscribe from any follow-up emails at any time

To exercise any of these rights, email us at hello@thewattage.com.au. We'll respond within 30 days.

GridBeater uses minimal tracking. We use operational logging and error monitoring to understand reliability and performance. This may include IP address, browser and device information, URL, timestamps, and error details. We do not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or advertising tracking.

We use functional cookies only, including bill access cookies and admin session cookies where needed. We do not use marketing or targeting cookies.

We take reasonable steps to protect your data from misuse, loss, and unauthorised access. Bill data is protected in transit using TLS. We use managed hosting, database access controls, and private operational access to reduce the risk of unauthorised access.

No system is perfectly secure. If you have concerns about a specific security issue, contact us immediately at hello@thewattage.com.au.

If you request a quote, The Wattage may contact you by email or phone to follow up. You can opt out at any time by replying "unsubscribe" or contacting us directly.

We do not send marketing emails to users who have not requested a quote or opted in to receive them.

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make material changes — especially to how we use or share your data — we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top. Continued use of GridBeater after changes are posted means you accept the updated policy.

If you believe we've breached your privacy, contact us first at hello@thewattage.com.au. We'll do our best to resolve it promptly.

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