Your personal information
Karit is committed to ensuring your privacy is protected and understands your concerns regarding the confidentiality and security of the personal information you provide to us. This Privacy Policy sets out how we safeguard your privacy and comply with our obligations under the relevant laws such as the Privacy Act 1988(Cth) (for Australia), Privacy Act (1993) (for New Zealand) and to the extent applicable, the European Union General Date Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the GDPR) (Collectively known as the Privacy Acts) and has been published to provide you with an outline of how and when personal information is collected, stored and used by us. Reference to Karit and “we, us or our” means Karit Limited and its related entities, bodies corporate, contractors and agents.
We are committed to upholding the principles and regulations of the Privacy Acts (as applicable).
The Karit Privacy Policy
This website is operated by Karit Limited: NZBN 9429046162458 (Karit) under the domain name karitpower.com and includes subsidiary domains www.karit.co.nz, www.karit.online and www.karit.com.au. This policy refers to all activities of Karit.
What is personal information
Personal information includes any information or opinion about an individual who can be reasonably identified from their information or opinion. The information or opinion will be personal information whether it is true or not and regardless of whether we have kept a record of it.
What personal information we collect
The kind of personal information we collect about you will depend on the services we provide. They may include information such as your name, address, contact number, date of birth, gender, postcode and other contact details, educational qualifications, employment history and complaint details (where applicable).
We do not generally collect personally identifying information about individuals except when that information is provided voluntarily and in accordance with our various application and/or signup forms. We only collect personal information that is necessary for one or more of our functions, activities or services.
Once personal information has been provided to us, it will only be used for the purposes for which it was collected and related purposes which would reasonably be expected, and will not be used otherwise unless:
- You have consented to the use or disclosure; or
- The use or disclosure is authorised by law; or
- We reasonably believe the disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to life, health or safety.
We may collect personal information about you from other organisations. For instance, we may collect personal information about you from:
- Publicly available sources of information, such as public registers;
- Other organisations, who, jointly with us, provide products and services to you.
How we collect personal information
We usually collect personal information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. For example, we may collect your personal information when you complete a form (including an application for employment with us), use our website or contact us in person or electronically or on the phone.
How we use and disclose personal information
Karit collects personal information to understand and meet the needs of its customers and provide the products and services they require.
We may collect information on the following:
- Customers
- Suppliers
- Employees
- Shareholders
- Personal contacts of corporate clients or suppliers
- Applicants for employment with Karit
- Other people who come into contact in the ordinary course of business
In general, Karit may use or disclose personal information for the following purposes:
- Effective conduct of our business and perform our internal administration operations;
- Maintain our records and internal reports;
- For a particular purpose (with your consent)
- We want to carry out a credit check to consider your credit worthiness
- Assessing a customer’s eligibility for our product and services
- Providing products and services to customers
- We need to do so to manage the provision of energy services to you or it is a matter covered by our customer contract
- Billing and debt-recovery functions
- The network distribution service provider has requested the information where necessary to assist in resolving complaints on us or physical connection issues faced by you or the network distribution provider
- Maintaining an opt-in newsletter database
- Communicating with contractors and suppliers
- Providing employment administration for Karit employees
- Management and enhancement of our products and services, including by surveying customers on their current and future needs
- Assess an applicant’s suitability for employment with us
- Comply with legislative and regulatory requirements and otherwise fulfil our legal obligations.
Marketing and customer preferences
We also may use your personal information to promote and market products and services to you (Marketing Information), including through electronic methods such as email and SMS (for example our opt-in newsletter). This is to keep you informed of products, services and special offers and may continue after you cease to acquire services from us at any time, you may opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us, by using the opt-out facilities specified in our direct marketing communications or by using the contact details set out below under “Contacting us”.
Credit Agency Disclosure
We may give personal information about you to a credit-reporting agency, whether before, during or after the provision of credit to you, for the following purposes:
- To obtain a customer credit report about you
- To allow the credit-reporting agency to create or maintain a credit information file containing information about you
- The information we provide to a credit-reporting agency is limited to:
- Your name, sex, date of birth, current address and previous 2 addresses
- The name of your employer
- Your driver license number
- The fact that you have applied for credit and the amount
- The fact that Karit is a current or potential credit provider to you
- Information that, in our opinion, suggests you have committed a serious credit infringement (i.e. you have acted fraudulently, or shown an intention not to comply with your credit obligations)
- A cheque drawn by you has been dishonoured more than once
Sensitive information
Sensitive information is information or an opinion about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual preferences or practices, criminal record or health information.
We will obtain your consent prior to collecting, using or disclosing your sensitive information, unless law requires the collection of the information.
Management of personal information
Karit has appropriate hardware and software technology, and organisation measures to ensure that the personal information we hold is accurate, up-to-date and secure. We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure however, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.
We expect our employees and contractors who handle personal information to comply with the relevant Privacy Act and will take appropriate action in response to breaches of the obligations imposed by the relevant and applicable law from time to time. If we use external service providers we will seek organisations and individuals who also comply with these requirements however we do not accept responsibility for the misuse of personal information by these external parties.
We will also take reasonable steps to securely destroy or de-identify personal information where we no longer need it for the purposes for which we collected it, unless it is required to be retained as a record by any authority.
Your username and password
If you are a Karit customer, you are responsible for appropriately protecting your username, email address and password. Your username and password can only be used in connection with your energy usage information for your property or properties. We will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of someone else using your password or account (whether with or without your knowledge). You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your username, email, address and password or any other breach of security.
Access to and correction of your personal information
Subject to any exception under the Privacy Act, you may request access to and seek correction of your personal information held by (or on behalf of) Karit.
You can request access to and seek correction of your personal information held by us at the contact details below. Depending on the personal information you seek you may be asked to complete the request in writing, verify your identity and if the inquiry involves extensive administration time or resources, to pay a fee. If the latter is the case, we will advise the likely cost in advance to help refine your request if required and provide such information within a reasonable time.
If you inform us of any inaccuracies, we will consider any recommendation by you to change or correct information and advise you of any action taken.
We will allow access or use all reasonable efforts to correct the information that we hold about you unless we consider that the relevant Privacy Act or other relevant laws permit or require us to withhold the information or not make the correction.
If we cannot provide you with access to your personal information, or cannot correct it if requested, we will provide a written notice of our reasons for refusal.
Privacy concerns or complaints
If you have any concerns or complaints about the treatment of your personal information by us then please contact Karit by using the contact details below.
The Company will promptly investigate your complaint and notify you of the outcome. If you are still not satisfied you can in some cases refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (Ph: 1300 363 992 or via the website www.oaic.gov.au) (for Australia), Office of the Privacy Commissioner (Ph: 0800 803 909) (for New Zealand) or European Commission (Ph: +32 2 299 11 11) or via the website www.ec.europa.eu.
Contacting us
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy or about the way we manage your personal information you can contact Karit via the following:
Email: customer [at] karit.com.au
When contacting us, please include your name, email address and/or telephone number and clearly articulate your question and/or complaint. We will acknowledge receipt and respond to you within a reasonable period of time.
Updates to this policy
We reserve the right, at our discretion, to make changes to this policy from time to time for any reason. Any changes to our operations and practices will be displayed on our website. It is your responsibility to check the website from time to time, and before providing further personal information to us, in order to determine whether there have been any changes. By continuing to use our website and otherwise deal with us, you accept this Policy as it applies from time to time.
If you do not agree to any part of this Privacy Policy, you can contact us or stop accessing or using our website and services.
This Privacy Policy was last updated on 29 April 2024.