The legal bits

1 What is the Consumer Data Right?

1.1 The Consumer Data Right (CDR), sometimes called Open Energy, is a regulatory regime that the federal government has introduced to give energy consumers greater transparency around energy usage and costs. By allowing eligible providers access to your energy data, the CDR enables you to make informed decisions about your energy service by giving you the power to compare the market and get a more detailed understanding of how and when you use energy, empowering you to find the right energy deal for you. Under the CDR, you can permit OVO Energy to share data with accredited third parties on your behalf. The data that you may share relates to your electricity contract, as well as information about you, your accounts and billing arrangements, as set out in more detail under 'What data is available?'

2 Is my data safe?

2.1 There are strict protocols that apply to both the collection of CDR data and subsequent use of that data under the Competition and Consumer Act, and the CDR Rules. See https://www.cdr.gov.au/what-is-cdr for more details about the CDR and how it works. To request access to your data through third parties, they must be accredited by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). They have set strict accreditation criteria and privacy and information security standards. The privacy of CDR data is also regulated by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). See 'Your privacy is important to us' below for more detail.

3 About this policy

3.1 This policy describes how OVO Energy manages your CDR data and your relevant rights under the CDR laws, including your rights to access and correct your CDR data, or make a complaint, if needed. Importantly, this policy does not govern how OVO Energy manages your personal information generally. Rather, our Privacy Policy continues to govern how your personal information is managed by OVO Energy outside of the CDR. We update our CDR policy when our practices change. You can always find the most up-to-date version on our website, and you can ask us to send you a paper or electronic copy of the latest version.

4 What data is available?

4.1 As a data holder under the CDR, we are required to make the following sets of data available for sharing:

4.2 Name and contact details can include details of the Account Holder or other individuals associated with the Account Holder's account. See 'Consumer Data Right Customer Relationships' below for more information.

4.3 Details about the CDR data that you have authorised us to disclose, can be accessed via your online OVO Energy CDR dashboard which you can access in your MyOVO account or via our app. We’ll share the CDR data that we’re required to under the CDR, this is known as 'required consumer data'. We currently do not accept requests for voluntary consumer data that we're not required to provide. We do not accept requests for product data. Product data requests in the energy sector are fulfilled by the government-operated services Energy Made Easy or Victorian Energy Compare. We don’t charge a fee to share your CDR data, and we share your data only if you provide consent. A data request made to us may cover data that is collected and held by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), such as electricity usage data or energy generation and storage data. AEMO is a secondary data holder, which means they cannot directly respond to data requests. Where required, we will request the relevant data from AEMO where the information is needed to respond to a data request.

5 How to share your CDR data

5.1 You can share your CDR data with accredited third parties so they can provide you with a product or service. You can check the list of accredited third parties here. The accredited third party will ask for your consent to collect your CDR data (on their site or app).

5.2 Once you give your consent to the third party, a redirection to OVO Energy will occur and we'll ask you to enter the email you have registered with us. We will then send you a One Time Password to the email you have entered.

5.3 Some customers may have multiple profiles such as a personal and business representative profile, and you will be able to choose which profiles you want to access. You can then choose which accounts you’d like to share, and we’ll confirm with you what CDR data will be shared.

5.4 Your customer details must align across your OVO Energy services and CDR profile(s). If your customer details do not align, you may be blocked from CDR participation as a security measure and you will need to Contact Us to have your details confirmed.

5.5 There may be some accounts that you cannot see when you are asked to authorise data sharing with an accredited third party. These accounts are 'unavailable' for data sharing. Let us know if you have a question about an unavailable account.

5.6 You’ll then be asked to authorise us to share your CDR data and verify the period of time that the data will be shared – this could be once-off or ongoing.

5.7 You can view your authorisations, or stop them at any time through the online OVO Energy CDR dashboard provided to you which can also be accessed via MyOVO or the app.

5.8 Important

We’ll never ask you to share your OVO Energy login details, password or verification code with a third party. To share your CDR data, you’ll need to be at least 18 years old, have an email address registered and authenticated by us, and have an eligible OVO Energy electricity account with us. OVO Energy does not offer joint accounts. If you want to change any data sharing authorisations you have in place, you will need to initiate this change with the accredited third party who you are sharing the data with. You will then be able to authorise this change in the online OVO Energy CDR dashboard.

6 Consumer Data Right Customer Relationships

6.1 Account Holder

6.1.1 An individual who is the Account Holder is the financially responsible person for the account. As the Account Holder you can authorise data sharing as long as the eligibility criteria are met.

6.2 Authority to Act

6.2.1 Where a State Trustee, Court Appointed Authority or a person with Power of Attorney has authority to manage an electricity account on the Account Holder’s behalf, the Account Holder or appointed person may assign that individual with an Authority to Act in relation to the account. An individual with an Authority to Act will be able to authorise data sharing and manage CDR preferences on behalf of the Account Holder, in line with the scope of their authority. You can add an authorised contact in MyOVO or the app by going to your profile page and clicking the “add authorised contact” button. This relationship is only applicable to individuals. A business customer must appoint a Nominated Representative to enable data sharing – see 'For Business Customers' below.

6.3 Nominated Representative

6.3.1 An organisation must assign at least one individual as a Nominated Representative for CDR data to be shared with an accredited third party, this will generally be the person or email address when the account is set up. OVO Energy is not required, nor authorised to disclose data for an organisation that has not appointed a Nominated Representative. Even though business customers will have one or more authorised contacts on their OVO Energy account, data cannot be shared under the CDR until at least one of those authorised contacts, or a newly assigned authorised contact, is appointed as a Nominated Representative.

6.4 Secondary User

6.4.1 A Primary Account Holder who is an individual may request an additional individual be allocated to their account for the purpose of sharing data, this is known as a Secondary User. To enable this relationship, the Primary Account Holder must first have the individual assigned to their account as an authorised contact person, this can be done by calling OVO Energy or advising us via your MyOVO account or the app - see Contact Us. The authorised contact will then be able to add other authorised contacts to the account. The Primary Account Holder can then assign a Secondary User instruction to allow that individual to be a Secondary User and share data from the Primary Account Holder’s account.

7 How to access and manage CDR data

7.1 For Residential Accounts

7.1.1 Account Holders

You can only access your CDR data if you have an eligible account. You can access this information by making a data sharing request. You can log onto your online OVO Energy CDR dashboard, your MyOVO account or the app to:

7.1.2 Authority to Act

If you have an Authority to Act in relation to an eligible electricity account, you will be permitted to authorise data sharing on behalf of the Account Holder. You can log onto your online CDR dashboard, your MyOVO Account or the app to view and manage the data sharing arrangements you have authorised on the Account Holder’s behalf.

7.1.3 Removal of Authority to Act

A person with an Authority to Act can have their status revoked by removing them as an authorised contact on the account. This can be done by either the Account Holder or the individual with an Authority to Act contacting us directly.

This will remove their access to the OVO Energy electricity account and their ability to authorise future data sharing from the account. However, you will need to contact us to revoke any existing data sharing arrangements they have authorised, as these will not automatically cease upon removal of the Authority to Act.

7.1.3.1 Important

To share CDR data, the Account Holder and any representatives assigned to the account (such as a person with an Authority to Act) will need to be at least 18 years old, have an email address registered and authenticated by us, and the Account Holder must have an active OVO Energy electricity account with us.

7.1.4 Secondary Users

Once a Secondary User Relationship has been created and a Secondary User Instruction has been assigned to your electricity account(s) they will then be provided with access to their own online OVO Energy CDR dashboard from which they can authorise and manage data sharing. For more information, please see the CDR Help & Support Guide.

7.1.4.1 Important

The Primary Account Holder and the Secondary User must be at least 18 years old and have an email registered and authenticated by us. The Secondary User must also be a customer authorised representative on the account in accordance with the National Energy Retail Rules or National Electricity Rules.

7.1.5 Removal of Secondary Users

If you are a Primary Account Holder, you may login via your MyOVO Account or contact us directly to remove a contact as an Authorised Contact, which will cease that individual from being a Secondary User.

This will stop their access to the account, and their ability to authorise data sharing. If your Secondary User has any active data-sharing arrangements when you disable their access or remove them from your account, these arrangements will be paused. If the Secondary User’s access is enabled again and the arrangement hasn’t expired, the data sharing will resume.

7.2 For Business Accounts

7.2.2 Nominated Representatives

If you are appointed as a Nominated Representative for a business, you can manage data sharing from the business' electricity account.

You can only access your business’ CDR data if the business has an eligible account. You can access this information by making a data sharing request.

You can log onto the online OVO Energy CDR dashboard, the your MyOVO Account or the app (where available) to:

7.2.1.1 Important

To share CDR data on behalf of a business, you’ll need to be an authorised contact on the business’ OVO Energy electricity account, be at least 18 years old and have an email address registered and authenticated by us. The business must have an active OVO Energy electricity account.

If the business has an eligible OVO Energy electricity account but is not set up for online access (meaning you don’t have a MyOVO Account), you can contact us for help. We’ll be able to validate and verify your contact details if you wish to share your business’ CDR data with an accredited third party. Only the Nominated Representative can update or correct the personal information we hold about them.

7.2.2 Removal of Nominated Representative

If your business account is available in MyOVO Account, you may log on or contact us directly to remove an individual as an authorised contact on the account, which will revoke their status as a Nominated Representative for CDR. This will remove their access to the business’ OVO Energy energy account and they will no longer be able to authorise data sharing from the account. You will need to contact us to revoke any active data sharing arrangements, as these may not automatically cease upon removal of a Nominated Representative. If the organisation no longer has any assigned Nominated Representatives, all active data sharing arrangements will cease. For more information on Nominated Representatives, business eligibility for CDR and how to authorise and manage CDR data sharing arrangements, please see our Help & Support page.

8 How to correct your CDR data

8.1 If any of your CDR data is incorrect, feel free to contact us using the details at the end of this policy and we’ll do our best to fix it.

8.2 Within 10 business days, we’ll let you know in writing if we have corrected your CDR data. If we find that the data was up to date, accurate, complete and not misleading, we may instead provide you with a notice of why we thought a correction was unnecessary or inappropriate. We will not charge any fees for this service.

8.3 In some cases, we provide data that is sourced from a third party, such as electricity usage data or energy generation and storage data from the AEMO. Where the correction request relates to AEMO data provided to us, we will initiate any correction procedures that are required of us under the electricity laws, or if the information relates to energy generation and storage (such as home solar or battery installations), we will provide details to you about how to request correction of the information.

8.4 We may not correct your CDR data if we have not previously been required or authorised to disclose the CDR data that you have sought to correct. If we have shared incorrect CDR data, we’ll let you know as soon as possible. We will also provide you with details of the third party we shared it with and how to request that your corrected CDR data is shared with the third party. If you’re an individual, you also have the right to access and correct personal information that we hold about you. For details, see our Privacy Policy referred to below in 'Your privacy is important to us'. If you are unsatisfied with how we handled your request to correct CDR data, you can raise an issue or complaint, see ‘Making a CDR complaint’ below.

9 Your privacy is important to us

9.1 We understand that your privacy is important to you, and we value your trust. That’s why we protect your information and aim to be clear and open about what we do with it. When we collect personal information, we follow the obligations set out in the Privacy Act. We train our staff in how to keep your information safe and secure. We use secure systems and environments to hold your information. We will only keep your information for as long as we need it.

9.2 If you want to know more about how we handle your personal information at OVO Energy, see our Privacy Policy https://www.ovoenergy.com.au/terms/privacy-policy/.

10 Contact Us

10.1 If you have a question, need to correct your CDR data, make a complaint or want a copy of this policy, you can contact us in the following ways:

Phone - 1300 937 686 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday

Email us - hello@ovoenergy.com.au

Use our webchat at - pages.ovoenergy.com.au/contact-us or via MyOVO or the app.

11 Making a CDR Complaint

11.1 If you’re concerned about how we’ve handled your CDR request or inquiry, you can get in touch using the above Contact Us section.

11.2 What happens after we receive your complaint?

We’ll confirm receipt of your complaint (usually by the next business day, or immediately if the complaint is made by phone).

We’ll consider the information you've provided to us and investigate the issue.

We’ll work with you to provide a fair resolution, which may include assisting you with managing your data sharing arrangements, or in some cases, seeking correction of your CDR data. If we’re unable to do this within 30 days, we’ll tell you the reason for the delay, the date you can expect to receive a resolution, and continue to update you on progress.

11.3 You can also read our complaints policy which you find at the link below -

For New South Wales customers - https://www.ovoenergy.com.au/terms/nsw/complaints-policy/

For Victorian customers - https://www.ovoenergy.com.au/terms/vic/complaints-policy/

For South Australian customers - https://www.ovoenergy.com.au/terms/sa/complaints-policy/

For Queensland customers - https://www.ovoenergy.com.au/terms/qld/complaints-policy/

11.4 If you’re not satisfied with how we have managed your Consumer Data Right complaint, you can contact your local Ombudsman at any time for advice or to make a complaint. The Ombudsman is independent, and their services are free.

11.5 You can also contact the Australian Privacy Commissioner who can be found at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

11.6 If your complaint relates to energy products or services, you can contact the Ombudsman for your state. Their details are set out for each state below.

11.6.1 New South Wales

Energy and Water Ombudsman NSW

Reply Paid 86550

Sydney South NSW 1234

Phone: 1800 246 545

Email: complaints@ewon.com.au

Website ewon.com.au

11.6.2 Victoria

Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria

Reply Paid 469

Melbourne Vic 8060

Phone: 1800 500 509

Email: ewovinfo@ewov.com.au

Website ewov.com.au

11.6.3 Queensland

Energy and Water Ombudsman Queensland

PO Box 3640 South Brisbane BC

QLD 4101

Phone: 1800 662 837

Email: complaints@ewoq.com.au or info@ewoq.com.au

Website ewoq.com.au

11.6.4 South Australia

Energy and Water Ombudsman South Australia

GPO Box 2947

Adelaide SA 5001

Phone: 1800 665 565

Website: ewosa.com.au