What we collect, and what we do with it
Last updated .
The short version
- The quote check needs no name, email or address. We keep the numbers you enter, without your name.
- An installer only gets your details after you ask us for an introduction and accept it.
- Our analytics use no cookies and keep nothing on your device.
- To see, correct or delete what we hold about you, email hello@asksolar.ie.
Who we are
AskSolar is run by Mawla Ltd, a company registered in Ireland (company number 580150) and based in Dublin. Mawla Ltd decides how your data is used, so it is the data controller. Contact us at hello@asksolar.ie.
Free for homeowners. AskSolar may charge an installer a flat fee if you ask us for an introduction and you accept it. Every quote is checked against the same published rule, and no installer can pay to change a verdict. The price check never sends your details to an installer.
What each part of the site collects
Checking a quote
The numbers you enter: system size, battery size, price, whether the grant is off, and any extras you tick. No name, email or address, and no browser details. We keep those numbers, which page you used (the home page or the check page) and a short tag for how you arrived (such as “share” for a shared link, or “direct”), to count checks and to test the price rule.
Uploading a quote is switched off at the moment, so nothing you upload is read or kept.
The cost estimator
The answers you give (system size, battery, your usage or bill), the page you used, and the name of the website that sent you here, if any (just its name, such as google.com, not the page). No browser details. We keep them without your name. If you're signed in, the estimate is saved to your account.
Asking for a second quote
Your county, what you want and when, and your email. Your name and phone number are optional. If you came from a quote check, we also keep that check's system size, battery size and result with your request. We use them to reply to you and to email you a confirmation. If you later accept an introduction to an installer, we pass your details to that installer only.
Asking a question
Your question is matched against our published answers on our server. It isn't saved and doesn't go to any AI service.
Signing in or saving an estimate
Your email address, so we can send you a sign-in link, and anything you choose to save to your account. We only create an account when you ask for one.
Analytics
We use PostHog to count page views and a few events, such as “a check was completed” with its verdict. It runs in memory only: no cookies, nothing stored on your device, and a new anonymous visitor on every page load. It never receives what you type into a form. It does receive page addresses, and a shared check link (or a link that fills in the check) carries the check's numbers, never a name. Like any web service, PostHog sees your IP address and browser details when your browser sends it an event. We remove access links and ad click IDs from page addresses before they are sent.
Vercel Web Analytics counts page views without cookies. Access links are removed from page addresses before they are sent to it too.
Installers
If you run an installation firm and join as a founding installer, we keep your business contact details and the terms you signed. Billing is handled by Stripe.
When an installer sees your details
Never from the quote check or the estimator. The price check never sends your details to an installer.
If you ask us for a second quote, we look for a founding installer who covers your county. We only pass your details to an installer after you have accepted an introduction to that installer. If none covers your county yet, we tell you. No installer can buy access to your details.
Who handles data for us, and where
- Vercel hosts the site. Our server code runs in Vercel's Dublin region; its global network may carry requests through other countries. Vercel Web Analytics is part of the same service.
- Supabase stores our database and runs sign-in, in the EU.
- PostHog runs our analytics, in the United States.
- Resend sends our emails, such as your confirmation and sign-in links, from the United States.
- Stripe handles installer billing only. Homeowners never pay us anything.
- When AI answers are switched on, Vercel AI Gateway passes questions and uploaded quotes to Anthropic and OpenAI, in the United States. They're switched off at the moment.
Where a company is outside the EU, the transfer relies on the safeguards it offers, such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.
Why we're allowed to use it
- To do what you asked: reply to a request, send a sign-in link, keep what you saved.
- Our legitimate interest in running a free service and checking that it works: the anonymous counts, analytics and the numbers from checks.
- Our legal duties, such as keeping installer billing records for tax.
How long we keep it
- Second-quote requests: deleted 12 months after our last contact with you.
- Requests we couldn't match with an installer: deleted after 6 months.
- Numbers from quote checks and the estimator: kept without anything that identifies you, unless you save an estimate to your account.
- Accounts and what you saved: until you ask us to delete them.
- Analytics events: for PostHog's standard retention period.
- Emails you send us: 12 months after we last reply.
- Installer billing records: 6 years, as Irish tax law requires.
- Server request logs, which include the address of each page requested: kept by Vercel for a short time, then deleted.
Your rights
You can ask to see what we hold about you, to correct it, to delete it, to get a copy, or to object to how we use it. Email hello@asksolar.ie from the address you used with us. We reply within one month and don't charge for it.
If you're not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Data Protection Commission at dataprotection.ie.
Firms listed in our installer directory
Our directory lists solar installation firms in Ireland. We compiled it from public business information: company websites and Google business listings. For each firm it holds the business name, website, the services and counties the firm says it covers, and its Google rating and number of reviews, with the date we checked them.
Some firms are sole traders, so a business name can also be a person's name. We use the listing, in our legitimate interest, to help homeowners find installers in their county. We don't send marketing to listed firms, and a listing never means a firm receives anyone's details. The order is set by public Google reviews, never by payment.
To correct or remove your firm's listing, email hello@asksolar.ie with the listing's address on asksolar.ie. We act on it within one month, and usually much sooner.
Terms for homeowners
Prices, verdicts and estimates on AskSolar are indicative. They come from a published rule and the numbers you enter, not a survey of your home. They aren't financial, tax or engineering advice. Always get more than one written quote from an SEAI-registered installer and check the details with them before you sign.
AskSolar isn't an installer, doesn't sell panels and isn't affiliated with SEAI. The service is free for homeowners. See how the price check works and who runs AskSolar.
Changes to this page
When this page changes, we update the date at the top.