What are the benefits to you as a customer?

Being a customer of SDEN provides the following benefits:

• Providing you with a continuous supply of heat and hot water
• Our energy is priced fairly and is comparable with the total cost of gas in an individual domestic boiler including the cost of running, maintaining and replacing that boiler
• Our green supplies come at no additional cost
• Profits are invested into services for Sutton’s residents and businesses
• Our heat supplies are low carbon, only occasionally using fossil fuels as back up
• We have the opportunity to combine heat from other businesses which will help them lower their carbon footprint

System

 

Pricing Policy and Charges

We charge a combination of a fixed and variable rate – the same as any other energy supplier. To maintain price parity, the variable rate will track wholesale gas prices and our fixed rate “the standing charge” will track changes in national consumer price indices and labour costs.

The total cost of the energy supplied to SDEN customers over time (i.e. the combination of the Standing Charge and Unit Charge) is comparable to the costs of running, maintaining, and replacing a conventional individual gas boiler heating system. This is the industry standard method of determining a comparable charge, which is known as ‘price parity’. SDEN benchmarks its prices against the Heat Cost Calculator (HCC) and carries out regular price checks. This method is endorsed by both Government and independent consumer bodies, and as such has been adopted by SDEN. For clarity, our charges cover the lifecycle cost of your heat supply, which includes running, maintaining and replacing the heating system.

• You will have your own individual meter, the same as any other utility such as electricity or water
• You will be billed monthly for the heat supply, plus the standing charge
• You will receive free checks from our team to ensure it is working correctly

Although you will receive a regular monthly bill, we do record the initial meter reading and final meter reading for your account when you move in and move out of the property. Please tell us if you would like to receive these readings when you register with us.

Pricing

Our Charges to You are made up of a Standing Charge payable monthly irrespective of the consumption of the Heat Supply to Your Home and a Unit Charge representing the consumption of the Heat Supply to Your Home. 

Each year, SDEN may conduct an annual price review, which is made in agreement with the developer of your property, Barratt David Wilson Homes/Barratt London.

A price review has been conducted for the 2020/21 Service Period and we anticipate these changes to result in an overall reduction in cost for the majority of our customers. More details of these changes are set out below.

The Unit and Standing Charges quoted below are shown inclusive of 5% VAT (unless stated otherwise) and have been rounded to two decimal points, although will appear to four decimal points on your statement. Please note that prices quoted as inclusive of VAT will appear different to those shown on your statements where VAT is added to the overall cost of the service. 

Unit Charge (inclusive of VAT) 

The Unit Charge has been reviewed against wholesale gas prices in accordance with your RSA. As wholesale gas prices have decreased, we are pleased to confirm that this results in a reduction of 21.8% in the Unit Charge. The new Unit Charge for the 2020/21 Service Period is 4.76p per kWh (4.53p per kWh exclusive of VAT).

To ensure customers benefited from the Unit Charge reduction as soon as possible, this was backdated to apply from 1st April 2020. Our Unit Charge is correct as of 1 April 2020 and is valid until 31 March 2021.

Standing Charge (inclusive of VAT)

The Standing Charges has also been reviewed in accordance with your RSA, resulting in an increase of 5.8% (rounded to one decimal point). The new Standing Charges are set out below and were introduced from 1st July 2020.

Our Standing Charges with effect from 1 July 2020 are as follows:

£0.99 per day (approximately £30.68 per month* and approximately £361.17 per annum**) for a 1 Bedroom Home

£1.00 per day (approximately £31.15 per month* and approximately £366.73 per annum**) for a 2 Bedroom Home

£1.02 per day (approximately £31.62 per month* and approximately £372.29 per annum**) for a 3 Bedroom Home

£1.04 per day (approximately £32.09 per month* and approximately £377.85 per annum**) for a 4 Bedroom Home

*Based on a 31 day month

**Based on a 365 day year

In calculating this adjustment to the Standing Charge we have made a change to the definition of “Relevant Factors” that we use to adjust the Standing Charge. This is to replace the Retail Prices Index excluding mortgage interest payment (RPIX) as a Relevant Factor with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). CPI generally rises at a slower rate than RPIX and this replacement results in a slower increase in the Standing Charge for customers therefore better reflects the change in SDEN’s fixed costs over time.

Other Charges and Payments

SDEN’s other Charges and Service Payments have been reviewed in accordance with the RSA and the new values are set out below.

Methods of Payment

We offer a number of methods to pay your bill.

If you wish to pay by Direct Debit, please complete the relevant form in your Residential Supply Agreement. If you pay by Direct Debit, you will qualify for our annual Direct Debit discount, which is currently £37.94.

We also offer payment by:

Cheque – payable to Sutton Decentralised Energy Network Limited. Please put the account number shown on your bill on the back of the cheque and either post this to 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, SM5 2JG or drop it into us at SDEN Ltd, 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, SM5 2JG between Monday and Friday 9:00 – 17:00.

Bank Transfer – please see your bill for our bank details and use your account number as the payment reference.

Online – you can pay your bills by going to our payment portal. Details of how to access this are on your bill.

Moving into a home supplied by SDEN

To ensure that you have heating and hot water when you move into your new home, you will need to set up an account with us. To do this, you will need to complete and sign the form at the front of the booklet containing your Residential Supply Agreement, available as a separate document. Please return the form to us via email or post in the address provided in the Contact Us tab.

We will aim to set up your account within seven days of receiving your completed form and you will receive a unique customer reference number that you will need to quote in all correspondence with SDEN.

I am moving out of my home. What should I do?

If you are moving out of your home, you will need to terminate your Residential Supply Agreement with us by providing 7 days’ written notice. You can do this by completing the Moving Out Form. Please click this link for a copy.

After you have given us such a notice you must provide a forwarding address so that we may contact you in respect of any charges that you may owe us, or any amounts that we may owe to you. We will take a final meter reading on the date this agreement terminates.

Please be aware that unless you give us notice that you no longer own or rent your home you will continue to be liable for our charges, whether or not you occupy it until you notify us that you have moved or another person takes responsibility for the heat supply to your home.

Service Standards

In the event that problems occur in our network, requiring repairs, we will follow the standards as set out below.

Planned interruption

There may be some instances where we are required to suspend heating and hot water supplies to fix a problem in our network.

If this is necessary, we will provide prior notice of not less than 5 days of scheduled maintenance works to the system or the development heating system that interrupt the supply of heat to your home.

We’ll always aim to keep any interruption to a minimum. However, in the event we provide you with less than five working days’ notice from the start time of a planned interruption to the service, we’ll refund you with £21.17 per instance if claimed by you within 3 months, payments will be no more than £317.56 per incident. 

Unplanned interruption

The heat supply will be available to the point of connection to your home’s heating system within 24 hours of the start of any unplanned interruption.

On failure to achieve this, a fixed compensation payment of £31.76 per instance will be paid to you if claimed by you within 3 months, payments will be no more than £317.56 per incident.

Meter repair or replacement

The meter accuracy will be maintained within the requirements and an initial accuracy is of +/-3%.

If we fail to replace a faulty meter 28 days after a fault is shown to exist, we will refund you with £26.46 per instance, if claimed by you within 3 months payments will be no more than £211.71 per Service Period.

Exceptional circumstances – times when our Service Standards won’t apply

Please note, our Service Standards won’t apply in the following exceptional circumstances:

• We are required by law to shut down the system or the development heating system provided that the need to shut it down does not relate to or arise out of any breach of your agreement with us or any negligent act or omission by us.
• We have suspended the Heat Supply because we believe on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to do so to avoid:
  • endangering the life of any person; or
  • endangering any physical property, provided that both the relevant damage to such property and its economic impact are likely to be material, provided, in each case, that the need to suspend the Heat Supply does not relate to or arise out of the agreement or any negligent act or omission by us.

Refunds

If you request a refund and we agree there’s one due, we’ll credit your bank account within ten working days. If we fail to meet this deadline, we’ll credit your account with an additional £20 on top of refunding you of course. Such payments will be not more than £200 per Service Period.

Energy Efficiency Advice

The cold season is here and, due to the pandemic, more people across the country are working from home. It’s important to be mindful of how you are using your heating and hot water on a daily basis, as it may be higher than usual due to spending more time at home.

To help customers manage their consumption, SDEN has also compiled an energy saving tips leaflet. We encourage you to take a couple of minutes to read these quick tips, for simple and effective suggestions that may help you to reduce your bills even further this winter.

We would also like to remind customers experiencing financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic to contact us as soon as possible. Please visit our COVID-19 update page for full details.

Vulnerable Customers

Sutton Decentralised Energy Network wants to protect its vulnerable customers and offer appropriate support.

To help and support our customers we keep a Priority Services Register (PSR) which records who our vulnerable customers are, their specific needs, and how we can help.

Please find our policy on Helping our Vulnerable Customers here. This is also available (both in hard copy or electronically) upon request via:

Letter to 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, Sutton, SM5 2JG;

Phone 020 8770 4852, lines open Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00;

Or email to contactus@sden.org.uk.

Privacy Policy

1. About this notice

This notice applies to the activities of Sutton Decentralised Energy Network (“SDEN” (also referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice)) in its capacity as data controller as defined by the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’).

SDEN is committed to ensuring that your personal data are kept safe and handled in compliance with relevant laws and regulations. This privacy notice sets out how SDEN collects and uses your data. We ask that you read it carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal data, your rights in relation to your personal data and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy policy or notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you. This privacy policy supplements any other notices and is not intended to override them.

2. The personal data we collect and use

Information collected by us

In the course of our activities as an energy service provider, we may collect and process the following personal data:

1. Your name 
2. Your property address
3. Correspondence Address and Postcode (if different to property address)
4. Contact telephone number(s)
5. Email address(es)
6. Your Signature 
7. Move in/completion/occupancy date 
8. Move out/termination date
9. Security questions for security and identification purposes
10. Additional customer information, such as additional information about your personal circumstances and individual needs, which ensure that we can deliver our service to you and assist you responsibly
11. Customer representative information, including name, address, contact details and payment information
12. Customer household information, including information about other individuals living at your home. This may include name, contact details and relationship to the account holder and any other information we may require on a case by case basis
13. Preference when communicating with you
14. Your landlord’s name and contact details (if you are a tenant)
15. Account information including your unique account number, unique customer identification, contact details, household details, property type, premises details, meter numbers, meter details, tariff details, financial and payment records, payment status, online account status, security questions, notes added to your account and your account history
16. Heating and hot water consumption information including use and consumption pattern 
17. Transaction and payment details, which include Direct Debit details, bank account details you provide to make payment for your heat supply and payment plan details. If you pay someone else’s bill, we will have a copy of your payment 
18. Records of your discussions and correspondence with our customer service team and our agents and contractors, including call recordings, emails and letters from you and your representatives. We keep a record of queries, comments, suggestions and complaints that you send to us and our responses 
19. Information about discounts and which discounts are applied to your account
20. Vulnerable customer status and whether you require priority services.  This may include special category data, such as health information (for example, if you have a disability).
21. Records of when you have exercised your statutory rights under data protection law and our response

Information collected from other sources

We may collect personal data from the following third parties for the purposes of providing our services:

1. Entities in the same group as us
2. Credit and anti-fraud reference agencies
3. Operations and maintenance engineers and their contractors
4. Property site developers, their contractors and legal representatives
5. Local authorities
6. Housing associations
7. Landlords
8. Energy network operators and distributors and their contractors
9. Authorised representatives associated with your account
10. Public registers such as the Land Registry

The purposes for which we use your information 

This data allows SDEN to:

1. Deliver our service in accordance with the terms and conditions of our contractual agreement with our customers
2. Contact our customers and their representatives regarding their account and important service information and updates
3. Respond to and resolve customer queries, issues and complaints
4. Review, monitor and investigate energy consumption 
5. Issue monthly statements to our customers, collect payments and manage payment plans
6. Conduct debt collection exercises
7. Provide updates to customers about billing and important information relating to the service
8. Provide performance reports to management and shareholders of SDEN
9. To work with agents, suppliers and contractors to ensure service delivery of your heat and hot water
10. Ensure staff and contractors safety is maintained at all times
11. Undertake credit and anti-fraud checks and understand your creditworthiness and financial position
12. Send electronic marketing communications to customers with their consent. 

What if I don’t want to share my personal data?

You are not obligated or required to share any personal data listed above. However, if you do not provide us with the data described above, we may not be able to deliver our service to you.

3. Lawful basis for processing your data

Where we process your personal data because of our contractual agreement with you, for example: 

Reason or purpose	Personal data processed
Delivering our service to our customers and holding details of your account	All personal data listed at section 3
Take payment for our service and debt collection	Your contact details (and those of any additional account holders or representatives) Account information  Financial information Transaction and payment information
Perform credit and anti-fraud checks	Your contact details (and those of any additional account holders or representatives) Account information  Financial information Transaction and payment information
Communicating with you regarding our services (including billing)	Your contact details (and those of any additional account holders or representatives) Account information Transaction and payment information
Responding to your queries and complaints	The personal data required to allow us to deal with the specific circumstances and nature of your query or complaint Your contact details (and those of any additional account holders or representatives) Account information Heating and hot water consumption information Transaction and payment information Vulnerable customer status
Investigating your energy consumption on your request	Your contact details (and those of any additional account holders or representatives) Account information Heating and hot water consumption information
Providing you with important service information (e.g. site-wide issues affecting your property)	Your contact details (and those of any additional account holders or representatives) Your contact preferences (and those of your representatives)

 

Where we process your personal data because we have a legal obligation to do so, for example: 

Reason or purpose	Personal data processed
Responding to emergency situations (e.g. severe water leak)	Your contact details (and those of any additional account holders or representatives) Account information Vulnerable customer status
Investigating crime and fraud associated with your account	The personal data required to investigate the issue, which will be dependent on the circumstances

 

Where we process your personal data because we have a legitimate business interest, for example: 

Reason or purpose	Personal data processed
Provide performance and risk reports for corporate governance	Customer queries and complaints information Energy use and consumption data including patterns and trends
Continuous commitment to monitor, maintain and improve our service	All personal data listed at section 3
Recording on your credit file any debt information associated with your account	Your contact details (and those of any additional account holders or representatives) Account information
Protection of our staff, agents and contractors	All personal data listed at section 3
Staff training	All personal data listed at section 3
In support of legal claims brought by us or our customers	All personal data listed at section 3
Maintaining an accurate and up-to-date record of your data	All personal data listed at section 3
Debt recovery relating to former customers	Your contact details (and those of any additional account holders or representatives) including any forwarding addresses provided Account information Financial information Transaction and payment information

 

Where we process your personal data because you have provided your consent, for example: 

Reason or purpose	Personal data processed
Sending you electronic marketing communications, such as information about our services, offers and discounts	Your contact details Your contact preferences
Processing special category data, such as health information, for the purposes of providing specialised services to vulnerable customers	Vulnerable customer status

4. Who else do we share your personal data with?

To enable us to deliver our service to you, we may share your personal data with the following third parties:

1. Entities in our corporate group e.g. London Borough of Sutton. The London Borough of Sutton is a joint data controller of your data with SDEN and details of their privacy policy can be accessed here
2. Our operations and maintenance contractor, Veolia, and their engineers. Details of their privacy policy can be viewed here
3. Our data collection and management provider, Sycous (Mabdeck). Details of their privacy policy can be viewed here
4. Our legal representatives
5. Other people authorised to represent and access your account
6. Any person or legal entity approved by you
7. Your housing association
8. Your property developer or landlord
9. Your bank
10. Debt collection agencies
11. Credit and anti-fraud reference agencies

5. Priority services register and vulnerable customers

To help and support our customers we keep a Priority Services Register (PSR) which records who our vulnerable customers are and the specific needs of each of these and how we can help. For further information please visit out vulnerable persons policy below.

This ensures we can meet vulnerable customers needs by enabling us to:

• Ensure that all our staff and contractors are aware of your situation and understand your needs. This will allow us to provide the necessary aid upon request.
• Upon request we can arrange a password for entry into your home from staff and contractors. This can help protect you from bogus callers.
• In the case of an interruption to your hot water and heating supply, we will provide a fast response to resolve this.
• In the case of a prolonged disruption, supply alternative heating arrangements.
• Provide your bill in an alternative format or phone you to talk through your bill.
• Send your bill, or provide a copy of your bill, to an alternative contact.
• If you are having difficulties in paying, we can arrange a payment plan to help manage the costs over the year.
• Provide advice to help you use energy efficiently to reduce costs, as well as details of sources which can give you additional and impartial information or assistance.
• Offer support to help you understand where the different charges on your bill come from, and what they mean.

You can view our vulnerable customers policy here.

6. Contacting SDEN 

Via our designated phone line for customers

If you contact SDEN via telephone we will ask for security information including your name, address, account number, email address and telephone number to verify that we are speaking to you. If you are unable to confirm your account’s security information over the phone, we may ask you to contact us with the details of your query via the email address registered to your account. 

During the duration of a call with you, we will record your contact details, account details and nature of your query for our records. We may also add notes to your account to ensure that we maintain a record of your issues raised. Where appropriate this information may be shared with partner organisations set out in section 5.

Via our @sden.org.uk email accounts

If you contact SDEN via email you must do so from the registered email address held on your account to ensure that we can verify that we are speaking to you or your authorised representative. If you email us from an account that is not registered with us, we will request confirmation from the registered email address, before we can progress your query or complaint. During email exchanges between SDEN and you, details are recorded for our records and added to your account to ensure that we maintain a record of your issues raised. Where appropriate this information may be shared with partner organisations set out in section 5.

7. Your personal data rights

You may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• the right to be informed about the personal data we collect, how your personal data are being used and from whom we collect your personal data when we obtain it from other sources; 
• the right to access the personal data we hold about you; 
• the right to request the correction of inaccurate personal data we hold about you; 
• the right to request the restriction or deletion of your personal data in some circumstances; 
• the right to request that we share elements of your data either to you or another service provider; 
• the right to object to us processing your personal data in some circumstances; and
• the right to withdraw your consent at any time to those processing activities which we carry out on the basis of consent, listed in section 4.  You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us using the contact details provided below. 

To exercise any of the above rights, or if you have any questions relating to your rights, please contact us using the details below. We may require evidence of your identity before we are able to complete your request.

For details on how to submit a subject access request with SDEN please visit the following link.

8. What can I do if I have concerns about my personal data?

We hope we can help clarify and resolve any issues we have with you directly, however you also have a legal right to raise a complaint with the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office). If you wish to find out more about how you can go about doing this you can visit https://ico.org.uk/. 

9. International data transfers

When we share your information with third parties, your personal data may be transferred to countries outside of the UK and the European Economic Area that do not have equivalent data protection laws.  For example, we store our data on cloud services that are located in the United States.  Where this is the case, we have in place appropriate contracts with these third parties to ensure that your data is protected, including standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission.  If you would like to see a copy of these agreements, please contact us using our details below.  

10. Keeping your personal data secure

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for and/or for as long as we are legally require to hold data in order to fulfil our statutory obligations. 

We have put in appropriate procedures and policies in place to ensure your data are not accidentally lost, stolen or used without the permission of SDEN. We limit the number of employees and contractors who have access to your data to ensure there is a reduction in the points your data are transferred. This means that they are not permitted to process data for their own purposes or gain and are only using your data to undertake specific functions as set out in this arrangement with SDEN.

11. How to contact us

If you wish to know more about the privacy policy and how are manage your data at SDEN, or wish to find out more on how we can protect your data then please contact us via contactus@sden.org.uk or write to us at Registered Office 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, Surrey, SM5 2JG.

Customer FAQs

Independent support

The following organisation may be able to give you specialist, independent advice and information:

Citizens Advice Consumer Service

Free, independent, confidential and impartial advice on consumer issues including energy.

Call: 03454 04 05 06

Visit: citizensadvice.org.uk