GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE SUPPLY OF BROADBAND

Terms and Conditions for the provision of broadband services to residential premises by SSE Energy Supply Limited (trading as “Southern Electric” or “Scottish Hydro Electric”).

Acceptable Use Policy means our policy as published on our Website

Agreement means the duly completed application form signed by you and returned by post or email, these terms and conditions, any document specifically referred to herein and our agreement to your offer.

Charges means the charges for the Services as stated on your application form.

Equipment means:

For our Standard Services: 1 USB/ADSL modem, 2 ADSL filters, and 1 line cord.

For our plug services: 1 ADSL router, 1 ethernet powerline adapter, 2 ADSL filters, and 2 ethernet cables.

ISP means internet service provider.

PC means personal computer.

Party means either you or us.

Premises means the premises where the Services are to be received.

Services means the supply of the Equipment and the provision of internet services

Start Date means a date of which you will be notified or as soon as practicable thereafter.

Technical Helpline means telephone number 0870 600 0353 (operating 08.00 to 22.00 7 days a week excluding bank holidays) or such other number as we may provide you.

we and us means SSE Energy Supply Limited (company registration number 3757502).

Website means www.southern-electric.co.uk/blink or www.hydro.co.uk/blink .

you means you, the customer, with whom we have entered into this Agreement.

2.1. Our obligations to provide and to continue to provide the Services to you at the Premises are conditional upon:
2.1.1. you renting and continuing to rent throughout the duration of this Agreement a BT access line (connected to a modern exchange);
2.1.2. the postcode given to us by you in respect of the Premises being identical to the postcode detailed on your BT account relating to your line rental
2.1.3. us having notified to you that the Services are available at the Premises and that we accept your application;
2.1.4. your PC meeting our minimum recommended specification as detailed on our Website;
2.1.5. your PC and its operating software functioning correctly and normally;
2.1.6. you having completed a direct debit mandate and application form;
2.1.7. you being at least 18 years old;
2.1.8. the Equipment being either connected by you in accordance with the instructions supplied; and
2.1.9. you at all times complying with the terms of this Agreement.

2.2. We shall use reasonable endeavours to supply the Services to the Premises with effect from the Start Date unless and until suspended by us in accordance with this Agreement or terminated by either you or us in accordance with this Agreement. The Start Date is an estimate only and we will not be liable to you for any delay in availability of the Services. In supplying the Services we will use our reasonable skill and care but are unable to guarantee fault free performance. Please call the Technical Helpline for assistance.

2.3. You shall only use the Equipment at the Premises.

2.4. We shall not be responsible if you are unable to use the Services if your apparatus and/or equipment (including, but not limited to your PC, network interface card and/or USB port, and mains wiring in your premises) is malfunctioning or incompatible with the Services, or your PC does not conform to the minimum specification published by us. It is your responsibility to ensure your equipment and other apparatus is maintained and in working order. Due to the nature of the Internet, we do not guarantee the speed of data access you will experience.

2.5. If you are unable to use the Services for any reason (except where it is wholly attributable to our negligence or wilful default or omission) you shall remain liable to pay the Charges.

2.6. You have no right to transfer or sell any dialled number or IP address allocated to you by us or British Telecommunications plc. All such dialled numbers and IP addresses shall remain the property of British Telecommunications plc

3. Equipment and Access

3.1. Nothing in this Agreement shall transfer ownership of the Equipment to you.

3.2. You shall be responsible for ensuring that the Equipment is at all times kept safely and properly used at your Premises. You undertake:
3.2.1. to comply with the manufacturer's instructions and/or any other instructions which we have supplied and/or notified to you;
3.2.2. not to dispose of or deal with any of the Equipment in any way by, for example, trying to sell it or hire it to anyone else, or by putting it up as security for a loan, mortgage or charge, or allow any of the Equipment to be seized under any legal process.
3.2.3. not to remove, tamper with or obliterate any words or labels on the Equipment; and
3.2.4. to be responsible for any loss or damage to the Equipment, regardless of how it happens.

3.3. You shall notify us immediately if any part of the Equipment is lost, damaged (otherwise than by fair wear or tear) or destroyed.

3.4. The limit of our broadband network is (for our Standard Services) the USB port on the ADSL modem or (for our plug services) the ethernet port on the ADSL router and you shall use only the USB port or as appropriate the ethernet port to access the Services.

3.5. You shall only use the Equipment in compliance with our Acceptable Use Policy and shall at all times comply with the law and shall not infringe the rights of any other person.

3.6. If you have chosen our plug services then save for claims under a warranty in respect of the Equipment you are solely responsible for the set-up and operation of any Local Area Network that you create and run using the plug services and we shall have no liability therefore.

3.7. For safety reasons the Equipment must not be immersed in water nor used in such as way where the Equipment is likely to come into direct contact with water, steam or other liquids.

3.8. You hereby give us (our employees, agents, contractors or any person authorised by us) upon request safe and proper access to the Premises to execute any works on your Premises or, in connection with the operation of the Services and the Equipment and to enter, inspect and remove any of the Equipment.

4.1. We reserve the right to restrict access to the Services and to impose data traffic restrictions at our discretion, in order to implement new facilities, allow data retrieval and maintain reasonable distribution of available capacity.

4.2. We may suspend the Services immediately upon giving you notice, where reasonably practicable, if:
4.2.1. we are entitled to terminate this Agreement; or
4.2.2. we need to carry out any maintenance, repairs or improvements to any part of the network Equipment used in providing the Services; or
4.2.3. we are under a legal obligation to do so; or
4.2.4. you breach or allow someone to breach our Acceptable Use Policy; or
4.2.5. in our reasonable opinion it is necessary or desirable to do so; or
4.2.6. you do anything which jeopardises the Services or any network to which you are from time to time connected.
4.3. If the Services are suspended as a result of a breach of this Agreement by you:
4.3.1. before we restore the Services we may request some form of security in a form that we deem acceptable as assurance that you will not perform any further breach of this Agreement;
4.3.2. we may make a charge to reflect our costs incurred in connection with suspending and/or restoring the Services. Unless otherwise agreed by us, the charge must be paid before the Services will be restored; and
4.3.3. restoration of the Services is at our absolute discretion.

4.4. You shall ensure at all times during which we provide you with the Services that:
4.4.1. no virus is introduced into the Equipment and/or connected systems and no steps are taken so as to facilitate such an introduction by any other party and we strongly advise you to install firewall and anti-virus software on your PC;
4.4.2. no use of the Services will invade the privacy of other internet users, including but not limited to by sending unsolicited e-mails, newsgroups or message board postings and no use of the Services will collect or transfer personal data in breach of applicable data protection laws;
4.4.3. you will maintain confidentiality of your login names, passwords and other confidential information relating to your access to the Services;
4.4.4. you will not use the Services in order to ‘spoof’ other computer networks; and
4.4.5. you will not do or permit anything to be done which may damage the name and reputation of SSE Energy Supply Limited or any company which is a member of the SSE Group of companies.

5.1. You shall pay the Charges in full for the Services provided under this Agreement irrespective of number of users of the Services.

5.2. The Charges shall be paid monthly in arrears by direct debit commencing the first full month following the date on which the Services were made available to you. The payment for any part-month prior to the first full month during which you use the Services shall be pro-rated and included in your first direct debit payment. We shall send to you a direct debit mandate confirming the amount of the Charges prior to the Service being made available.

5.3. You must pay Value Added Tax and any other applicable tax duties at the applicable rate.

5.4. We may vary the Charges or method of payment by giving you no less than 28 working days prior written notice.

5.5. In the event that your account with us falls into arrears because either your direct debit is refused by your bank or cancelled by you or your direct debit amount is adjusted by you so as to be insufficient to cover your monthly payment then we reserve the right to levy, and you shall pay, a charge to cover any cost to us in recovering any sums owed by you to us.

5.6. If any amount is in genuine dispute then you must pay the amount not in dispute and upon settlement of the disputed sum an appropriate adjustment will be made accordingly.

5.7. If any account(s) remain outstanding beyond the date payment is due then we shall be
entitled to charge you interest at the rate of 4% per annum above the prevailing base rate of the Bank of England. We may also add reasonable charges to your next invoice or statement to reflect our costs in trying to recover any overdue payments.

6.1. This Agreement and the obligation on us to provide the Service to the Premises shall be for a period of 12 months from the Start Date: Thereafter this Agreement can be terminated in accordance with clause 6.2.

6.2. Either Party may terminate this Agreement;
6.2.1. By giving the other Party at any time 28 days written notice of termination PROVIDED that you shall not be terminate this Agreement before the expiry of 12 months from the Start Date.
6.2.2. Immediately by written notice if the other Party is in material breach of this Agreement (including failure to pay the Charges or any term which might effect our ability to provide the Services to you or any other customer) and such breach is incapable of remedy, or, if capable of remedy, has not been remedied within 28 days of a written request by the terminating party to do so; or
6.2.3. Immediately by written notice if the other Party becomes insolvent within the meaning of the Insolvency Act 1986 as amended or substituted from time to time or has a receiver or administrator appointed or commences to be wound up, other than for the purposes of reconstruction, or enters into any scheme or arrangement with one or more of its creditors or is subject of any insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings; or
6.2.4. Upon written notice if we cease to have the capability or right (for any reason) to provide the Services.

6.3. In addition to the provisions of clause 6.2 we may terminate this Agreement with immediate effect and recover any reasonable charges and/or debt recovery costs incurred, if:
6.3.1. we have at any time required you to pay us a security deposit in accordance with this agreement and we have not received it; or
6.3.2. you fail any credit or fraud prevention check or we have good reason to suspect fraud or money laundering; or
6.3.3. we have good reason for believing that any information you have given us is false or deliberately misleading.

6.4. Upon termination of this Agreement unless notified in writing to the contrary, you must return the Equipment to us by using a pre-paid heavy duty envelope provided to you by us on termination. The Equipment should be returned to us in a reasonable condition save for reasonable wear and tear.

6.5. If this Agreement is terminated and you fail to return the Equipment to us in accordance with Clause 6.4 we reserve the right to charge you and you shall be liable to pay:
6.5.1. if this Agreement is terminated within the first 12 months after the Start Date, the difference between the Equipment and the cost to us of new equipment; or
6.5.2. if this Agreement is terminated after 12 months have elapsed from the Start Date, £50 (fifty pounds) towards the cost to us of a new modem.

6.6. Notwithstanding the rest of this Clause 6, if you fail to return the Equipment to us on termination of this Agreement you shall be liable to pay any costs and expenses we incur in the recovery and replacement of the Equipment.

6.7. You shall at all times remain liable for all Charges arising under this Agreement until the effective date of termination or the date that we have ceased to supply the Services, whichever is the later.

6.8. The expiry or termination of this Agreement shall not affect the accrued rights of either Party prior to such expiry or termination.

7.1. You shall be liable for any damage, loss or injury (including injury resulting in death) to the Equipment and any property or person by reason of anything done or omitted by you arising out of or in any way connected with your use of the Services under this Agreement.

7.2. Except where the Services and/or Equipment is defective (unless this is due to matters beyond our reasonable control), we will not be liable in any way for any loss or damage which is caused to your own equipment or apparatus arising as a result of its use in conjunction with our Equipment or Services.

7.3. Our total liability to you in respect of claims for loss or damage arising from or in connection with any incident or series of related incidents shall not exceed two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling (£250,000).

7.4. We shall not be liable to you for any breach of this Agreement to the extent that such breach is due to any event or circumstance beyond our reasonable control.

7.5. Nothing in this Agreement shall exclude or limit our liability to you for death or personal injury resulting from our negligence, or any of our officers, employees or agents while acting on our behalf.

7.6. We do not exclude or limit any of our liabilities which cannot by law be excluded or restricted, from a breach by us of our statutory duties or for fraudulent misrepresentation by us.

7.7. We shall not in any circumstances whatsoever be liable to you for:
7.7.1. any loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of use, loss of contract, anticipated savings, wasted expense, loss of destroyed data, or for damage or compensation for loss of use of the Services; or
7.7.2. any indirect or consequential loss.

7.8. For the avoidance of doubt and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing we shall not be liable for any loss or damage caused by the introduction, presence or activity in your PC or the internet of any computer virus or hacker notwithstanding your use of any firewall or anti-virus software.

7.9. We exclude all liability in respect of the accuracy, completeness, fitness for purpose or legality of any information accessed using the Services, and we exclude all liability of any kind for the transmission, or the reception of, or the failure to transmit, or to receive any material of whatever nature.

7.10. If you enter into or seek to enter into transactions with third parties in relation to the sale, rental or provision of goods and services via the Services, we will not be a party to such transactions and will not be liable whether in contract, delict/tort (including liability for negligence), or otherwise for any loss, cost of damage incurred by you arising out of or in relation to the transaction or attempt to enter into a transaction (including but not limited to failure to transmit or distortion of any messages sent via the Service).

7.11. We accept no responsibility for third party services or for the contents of any third party material which may be accessed via the Services and in addition we reserve the right to block access to any such information at our sole discretion.

7.12. We are providing our Website on an ‘as is’ basis and make no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to our Website or the accuracy or completeness of its contents and disclaim all such representations and warranties.

7.13. We accept no responsibility for any damage or loss, howsoever caused, suffered by you or others as a result of the accuracy or otherwise of information provided by you. You are responsible for making and keeping a copy of your scripts, files, or data as a backup.

8. Legislation and Licence Obligations

No provision of this Agreement is intended to confer any right or impose any obligation which is incompatible with our statutory or regulatory rights and obligations. This Agreement shall be construed accordingly.

In the event that you suspect or are aware of any matter or incident that either causes danger or requires urgent attention in relation to the Services or affects or is likely to affect the maintenance of the security, availability and quality of the Services then you must immediately notify us by contacting us at the telephone number detailed on or with your latest account and/or statement.
We shall be entitled to discontinue or restrict or suspend the Services for so long as it is necessary or expedient in the event of an emergency, a safety issue or as a result of any legislation or regulatory requirement and you shall refrain from using the Services upon our instruction.
You undertake not to use or improperly deal with the Services or (if applicable) any Equipment so as to create a risk to health and safety or damage to property in respect of yourself or any other person.

Information you provide or we hold (whether under this Agreement or otherwise) may be used by us, our employees and/or our agents to:
10.1.1. identify you when you make telephone enquiries whether in relation to this Agreement or otherwise;
10.1.2. assist in the detection of fraud or loss;
10.1.3. assist in the administration of accounts, services and products offered by the Scottish and Southern Energy group now or in the future; and
10.1.4. contact you in writing or by phone with information about other services and products offered by us and/or our carefully selected partners. We will not contact you in this way unless you have previously consented.

10.2. We may also disclose your information to other companies in the Scottish and Southern Energy group for any of the purposes set out above. A list of such companies is available on request.

10.3. Subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 as amended, by signing this Agreement you consent to us sharing your personal data with:
10.3.1. British Telecommunications plc (ADSL provider) and Solwise Telephony Limited (Equipment manufacturer); and
10.3.2. any company which is a member of the Scottish and Southern Energy Group; for
the sole purpose of providing you with the Services.

10.4. In entering this Agreement you authorize us to use and store information relating to any call routed through the Equipment including, without limitation, information as to the origin, destination, duration, route and time of the call for the purpose of collating statistics thereof which will assist us in our network planning.

10.5. In order for us to advise you of any services and products and/or any discounts which may be available, we will process information about your use of the Services.

10.6. In connection with this Agreement, we may carry out credit and fraud prevention checks with one or more licensed credit reference and fraud prevention agencies and they will retain a copy of the search. Information from your application and payment details of your account may be recorded by any of these agencies and may be shared (by these agencies) with other organizations to help make credit and insurance decisions about you and members of your household and for debt collection and fraud prevention purposes. This includes those who have moved house and are in default.

10.7. If you require details of those credit reference and fraud detection agencies from which we obtain and with which we will provide information about you, then please write to us.

10.8. We may monitor or record telephone calls to or from us for security purposes, in order to improve our standards of customer service and for administering your account and debt recovery purposes.

11. Assignment

11.1. This Agreement is personal to you and may not be assigned or otherwise transferred by you without our prior written consent.

11.2. We may assign or novate all or any part of our rights and/or our obligations under this Agreement and subcontract any of our obligations under this Agreement without your consent provided that the transferee shall be able to comply with the relevant rights and/or obligations so transferred.

11.3. Upon assignment or novation we may elect to transfer your security deposit and any accrued interest to the transferee who shall assume the rights and liabilities of this Agreement.

We reserve the right to vary any of these terms or conditions(excluding price) in this Agreement on 7 days notice to you.

Any delay on our part in enforcing any term, condition, right or remedy in respect of this Agreement shall not be deemed to be a waiver of any such term, condition, right or remedy in respect of this Agreement.

If any part of this Agreement is not permitted or is held to be ineffective by any court of law or other regulatory or competent body, then this will not affect any other part of this Agreement.

Notices required under this Agreement shall be in writing and delivered by hand or sent by post. We shall serve notices to your billing address. You shall serve notices to blink, Southern Electric/Scottish Hydro Electric, PO Box 360, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 2YJ.

16.1. This clause 17 is only applicable if the Premises are in England or Wales.
16.2. A person who is not a party to this Agreement has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this Agreement.

This Agreement and any disputes arising from it shall be governed by either the Laws of England and Wales in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales if the Premises are in England or Wales or the Laws of Scotland in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish Courts if the Premises are in Scotland.