Your data

Two companies are involved when you use one of these calculators, and it is worth being clear about which is which.

The installer is the company you are dealing with. It is their calculator, their name on it, their prices in it, and your details go to them. They are responsible for your data.

Solar Desk makes the software they run it on. We keep the thing working for them. We are not quoting you, we do not contact you, and every email you receive comes from the installer rather than from us. If you have never heard of us until now, that is by design.

What is collected

Everything you type into the calculator, which is:

Your address, and the point you dragged the marker to on the map.
Your roof: its shape, its rough size or area, which way it faces, and what shades it.
Your electricity use: whichever way you chose to describe it, plus your unit rates, whether you have a smart meter, and whether you already have a battery.
What you configured: the number of panels, the panel, whether you added a battery and where it would go, and whether you were looking at paying monthly or in one go.
Your contact details: your name and email address, which are required, plus your phone number and preferred call time if you gave them.
The estimate itself, kept as it was on the day, so it can be read back later.

If you have an account, that also holds any messages between you and the installer, any files either of you uploaded, and a record of any quotation you accepted, including the exact wording you were shown and the total.

Steps 1 to 5 involve nobody but you. Nothing is sent to the installer until you fill in step 6 and press the button.

What you agreed to

At step 6 there is a short paragraph above the button:

I agree to Meridian Solar contacting me about this enquiry, using the details I have provided. My estimate and the answers behind it will be shared with them.

Your installer’s name appears where Meridian Solar does. Two things follow from it: that company may contact you about this enquiry, and they can see every answer you gave the calculator, which they need in order to quote you properly.

The exact wording you saw is stored with your enquiry, so what you agreed to is recorded rather than assumed.

Marketing is a separate question

Underneath the consent paragraph is a separate tick box, and it starts empty:

Separately, I am happy for Meridian Solar to send me occasional news and offers. You do not need to tick this to get your estimate.

Leaving it alone changes nothing about your estimate or about the installer contacting you regarding this enquiry. Ticking it is a different permission, and you have to give it deliberately.

One account per installer

If you get estimates from two companies that both use Solar Desk, you get two separate accounts, even with the same email address. Neither installer can see the other’s, and neither can tell that the other exists.

The same thinking runs through the sign-in page. When you ask for a sign-in link, the confirmation says the same thing whether or not you have an account with that company, so nobody can use the form to find out who is a customer.

Things worth knowing

Files are not scanned for viruses, in either direction. See sending and receiving files.
The installer keeps internal notes on your enquiry, of the “spoke to them Tuesday” sort. Those are theirs and never appear in your account. Messages, on the other hand, are visible to both of you.
Emails come from the installer. Their name, their colours, their wording. If you are searching an inbox for your estimate, search their name.

Having your details removed

Contact the installer directly, using the details on their own website or in any email they have sent you. Ask them to remove your enquiry.

They hold your data and they are the ones who decide what happens to it. Solar Desk runs the software on their behalf, which means we are not the people to ask and could not act on a request from us alone. Going to the installer is both faster and the right route.

If you also ticked the marketing box and simply want the newsletters to stop, that is a smaller request and worth saying separately, since it is a separate permission.