Privacy Policy

When you use EcoView Tracker, you are trusting us with your information. We understand this is a significant responsibility and we work hard to protect your information and put you in control. This Privacy Policy is designed to help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it, and how you can update, manage, export, and delete your information.

This Privacy Policy is prepared in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA) of the Republic of South Africa, and applies to all personal information processed by Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd in connection with the EcoView Tracker platform.

1. About EcoView Tracker

Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd offers a range of utility management services through the EcoView Tracker platform. Our services include:

  • Smart utility metering and automated data acquisition for electricity, water, and gas
  • Automated billing with VAT-compliant PDF invoice generation and delivery
  • Tenant self-service portal — usage history, invoice access, and online payment
  • AI-powered anomaly detection and consumption analytics
  • Real-time dashboards and reporting for property managers and facilities teams
  • Multi-channel notifications via email, SMS, and WhatsApp Business
  • EskomSePush loadshedding alerts by suburb and site
  • Online payment processing via Paystack, prepaid wallet top-up, and debit order (DebiCheck/ACB)
  • Site reconciliation, compliance reporting, and audit trail management

You can use EcoView Tracker in a variety of ways depending on your role — as a property manager administering a portfolio, a tenant accessing your usage and invoices, or as a developer or facilities manager overseeing utility infrastructure.

2. Information Eco Southern Energy Collects

We want you to understand the types of information we collect as you use the EcoView Tracker platform.

2.1 Information You Provide to Us

When you create an EcoView Tracker account or sign a service agreement with Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd, you provide us with personal information that may include:

  • Full name, email address, and contact telephone number
  • Company or organisation name, physical address, and VAT number
  • Username and password for platform access
  • Payment information for subscription billing and debit order authorisation
  • Unit number, property details, and meter registration information
  • Files, documents, and meter reading photos uploaded to the platform
  • Information submitted through contact, support, or onboarding forms

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

We collect information about how you use the EcoView Tracker platform. This includes:

  • Apps, browsers, and devices used to access the platform
  • IP address, browser type, and operating system
  • Pages visited, features used, and actions taken within the platform
  • Login timestamps, session duration, and access patterns
  • Device identifiers for mobile application users

2.3 Meter and Utility Data

As a smart utility management platform, EcoView Tracker collects, stores, and processes the following metering data:

  • Meter readings and consumption data (electricity, water, gas) from connected meters
  • Real-time and historical usage data transmitted from gateways and IoT devices
  • Meter serial numbers, hardware identifiers, and connectivity status
  • Anomaly flags and alert event logs generated by the platform's AI detection engine

2.4 Location Information

We collect location information to enable features such as EskomSePush loadshedding alerts relevant to your suburb or site. Location data is also used for site registration and meter mapping within the platform. Your location may be determined from:

  • Physical address provided during account setup or site registration
  • IP address as a general location indicator
  • GPS or sensor data from your device, where you have granted permission

2.5 Payment and Transaction Information

Where you make payments through EcoView Tracker, payment processing is handled by Paystack (Pty) Ltd, a licensed payment service provider. We do not store full card numbers or banking credentials on our platform. We retain transaction references, invoice amounts, payment dates, and payment status for billing and audit purposes.

3. Why Eco Southern Energy Collects Data

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

3.1 To Provide Our Services

We use your information to deliver EcoView Tracker services — including processing meter readings, generating invoices, running billing cycles, enabling tenant portal access, and processing payments on your behalf.

3.2 To Maintain and Improve Our Platform

We use your information to ensure the platform works correctly, to troubleshoot issues you report, and to make improvements. Understanding which features are most used helps us prioritise development and improve the experience for all users.

3.3 To Develop New Features

We use information collected through existing services to develop and test new capabilities, such as additional utility types, AI-powered reporting, and new notification channels.

3.4 To Personalise Your Experience

We use the information we collect to customise the EcoView Tracker interface for you, including showing property-relevant data, relevant tariff schedules, and usage benchmarks appropriate to your portfolio.

3.5 To Communicate With You

We use your contact information to send you invoices, billing notifications, platform updates, service alerts, loadshedding notifications, anomaly alerts, and responses to support requests. We will keep a record of your support requests to help resolve any issues you encounter.

3.6 To Ensure Security and Prevent Fraud

We use the information we hold to detect, prevent, and respond to fraud, unauthorised access, security risks, and technical issues that could affect Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd, our clients, or their tenants.

3.7 To Comply With Legal Obligations

We process certain personal information as required by law, including for VAT reporting, financial record-keeping, audit purposes, and in response to lawful requests from South African regulatory authorities.

We will ask for your consent before using your personal information for any purpose not described in this Privacy Policy.

4. Your Privacy Controls

You have choices regarding the personal information we hold and how it is used.

4.1 Accessing and Updating Your Information

When you are signed in to EcoView Tracker, you can review and update your personal information at any time by visiting your account settings. You may update your contact details, notification preferences, and billing information through the platform.

4.2 Rights Under POPIA

As a data subject under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013, you have the following rights regarding your personal information held by Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd:

  • Right to access: Request confirmation of whether we hold your personal information and obtain a copy of that information.
  • Right to correction: Request that we correct inaccurate, misleading, or outdated personal information.
  • Right to deletion: Request the deletion of your personal information, subject to our legal and contractual retention obligations.
  • Right to object: Object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
  • Right to data portability: Request your personal information in a structured, machine-readable format.
  • Right to lodge a complaint: Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe your rights under POPIA have been infringed.

4.3 Notification Preferences

You can manage your email, SMS, and WhatsApp notification preferences within your EcoView Tracker account settings. You may opt out of marketing communications at any time while still receiving essential service notifications such as invoices and payment confirmations.

5. Sharing Your Information

Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd does not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information to third parties without your consent, except as described below.

5.1 Service Providers and Operators

We share personal information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating the EcoView Tracker platform, subject to appropriate data processing agreements and confidentiality obligations. These include:

  • Google Cloud Platform — cloud hosting, database infrastructure, and storage (ISO 27001 certified)
  • Supabase — database management and authentication infrastructure
  • Paystack (Pty) Ltd — payment processing (PCI-DSS compliant)
  • BulkSMS and WhatsApp Business API providers — SMS and WhatsApp notification delivery
  • EskomSePush — loadshedding schedule data by suburb
  • Cloudflare — content delivery network and DDoS protection

All service providers are required to process personal information only in accordance with our instructions and this Privacy Policy.

5.2 With Your Consent

We will share personal information outside of Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd only when we have your explicit consent to do so.

5.3 For Legal Reasons

We may share personal information when we have a good-faith belief that access, use, or disclosure is reasonably necessary to:

  • Comply with applicable South African law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request
  • Enforce our Terms of Service or Service Agreements, including investigation of potential violations
  • Detect, prevent, or address fraud, security breaches, or technical issues
  • Protect the rights, property, or safety of Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd, our clients, tenants, or the public

5.4 Business Transfers

If Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, we will continue to ensure the confidentiality of your personal information and notify affected users before personal information is transferred or becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

5.5 Property Manager and Tenant Relationship

Where a property manager uses EcoView Tracker to manage tenant accounts, the property manager acts as the responsible party for their tenants' personal information. Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd acts as an operator processing that information on the property manager's behalf. Property managers are responsible for ensuring they have a lawful basis for sharing their tenants' personal information with the EcoView Tracker platform.

6. Keeping Your Information Secure

EcoView Tracker is built with security as a foundational principle. We implement the following measures to protect your personal information:

  • Encryption of data at rest and in transit using industry-standard TLS protocols
  • Row-level security on all database tables — each user and property manager can only access their own data
  • Multi-factor authentication (MFA) support for all administrator accounts
  • HIBP (Have I Been Pwned) integration — compromised passwords are blocked at account creation
  • HMAC-signed meter data ingestion, payment webhooks, and API endpoints
  • Signed and time-limited PDF download URLs — invoice links expire after access
  • All platform infrastructure hosted on Google Cloud Platform (ISO 27001, SOC 2 certified)
  • Access to personal information restricted to authorised Eco Southern Energy personnel on a need-to-know basis
  • Regular security reviews and penetration testing of platform infrastructure

If we detect a security incident that affects your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by POPIA.

7. Exporting and Deleting Your Information

7.1 Exporting Your Data

You can request a full export of your personal information and account data held by Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd at any time by contacting us at francis@ecosouthernenergy.co.za. On cancellation of a service agreement, we will provide a CSV export of meter readings, invoice history, tenant data, and payment records within 5 business days.

7.2 Deleting Your Information

To delete your personal information, you may:

  • Request deletion of specific data items from your EcoView Tracker account
  • Request deletion of your full account and associated personal information
  • Submit a written deletion request to francis@ecosouthernenergy.co.za

Please note that deletion requests are subject to our legal and contractual retention obligations — for example, we are required to retain financial records, VAT invoices, and audit logs for a minimum of 5 years under South African law. Where we are unable to delete information for legal reasons, we will inform you of the retention basis.

8. Retaining Your Information

We retain personal information for different periods depending on what it is, how we use it, and your account settings:

  • Account information is retained for as long as your account is active with EcoView Tracker
  • Meter reading data and consumption history is retained for the duration of your service agreement plus 5 years for audit purposes
  • VAT-compliant invoices and payment records are retained for a minimum of 5 years as required by SARS
  • Audit logs and access records are retained for a minimum of 3 years
  • Support and correspondence records are retained for 2 years after your last interaction with us
  • Data you choose to delete will be removed from active systems, with backup copies deleted within 30 days

When personal information is no longer required, we follow a secure deletion process to ensure it is completely removed from our systems or retained only in anonymised form.

9. Compliance with POPIA and South African Law

Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd is committed to full compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA). As the Responsible Party, we process personal information lawfully, minimally, accurately, and securely in accordance with the eight conditions for lawful processing set out in POPIA.

9.1 Information Officer

Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd has designated an Information Officer responsible for ensuring compliance with POPIA. You may contact our Information Officer at:
Francis Kampfer — Information Officer
Email: francis@ecosouthernenergy.co.za
Address: 1269 Gordon Hood Road, Centurion Central, Pretoria, 0046
Company: Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd | Reg 2023/688309/07

9.2 Information Regulator

If you believe your rights under POPIA have been infringed, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:
Information Regulator of South Africa
Website: www.inforegulator.org.za
Email: inforeg@justice.gov.za
Address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
Enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za

9.3 Cross-Border Data Transfers

EcoView Tracker's infrastructure is hosted on Google Cloud Platform within data centres that may be located outside South Africa. Where personal information is transferred across borders, Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd ensures that the recipient country or organisation provides an adequate level of protection consistent with POPIA requirements. Google Cloud Platform maintains ISO 27001, SOC 2, and GDPR certifications. All cross-border data transfers are governed by appropriate data processing agreements.

10. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

EcoView Tracker uses the following technologies to collect and store information:

  • Browser cookies — to maintain your login session and remember your preferences
  • Local storage — to improve platform performance and reduce load times
  • Session tokens — to authenticate your identity securely during each session
  • Server logs — to monitor platform performance and diagnose technical issues

EcoView Tracker does not use third-party advertising cookies or share browsing data with advertisers. You can manage cookie preferences through your browser settings, though disabling cookies may affect platform functionality.

11. Children's Privacy

EcoView Tracker is a business-to-business platform designed for use by property managers, developers, utilities managers, and facilities managers. It is not directed at or intended for use by individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If you believe a minor's information has been submitted to our platform, please contact us immediately at francis@ecosouthernenergy.co.za.

12. About This Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all services offered by Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd through the EcoView Tracker platform, including web-based, mobile, and API-based access. This policy does not apply to third-party services that may be integrated with EcoView Tracker, such as payment processors, which maintain their own privacy policies.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

Eco Southern Energy (Pty) Ltd reviews this Privacy Policy regularly and will update it to reflect changes in our services, applicable legislation, or our data processing practices.

We will not reduce your rights under this Privacy Policy without your explicit consent. When changes are made, we will update the Effective Date at the top of this document and notify active clients by email at least 30 days before the changes take effect.

For significant changes — such as new data categories, new third-party processors, or new retention periods — we will provide prominent notice through the EcoView Tracker platform and by direct email notification.

Continued use of EcoView Tracker after the effective date of any update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.