Terms of Service

Water Borehole Assessments is a trading name of Aquifer Energy Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 15719835, with its registered office at 29 Main Street, Long Whatton, Leicestershire LE12 5DF. Our VAT number is GB482297951. In these terms, "we", "us" and "our" mean Aquifer Energy Ltd.

You can contact us by email at info@aquifer.energy. If we need to contact you, we will use the email address you give us when you order.

These terms apply to every order for a hydrogeological assessment placed through this website. Please read them before you order. By ticking the box on the order form and paying, you agree to them.

Some of these terms apply differently depending on whether you are a consumer (an individual buying wholly or mainly for purposes outside your trade, business, craft or profession, for example a homeowner) or a business customer (anyone else, including farms, estates, companies, developers, drillers and public bodies). Where a clause applies to only one of these, it says so.

"Assessment" means the hydrogeological assessment you order. "Report" means the written report we deliver. "Site" means the land and proposed borehole location you identify in your order.

We offer two assessments, described on this website at the time you order:

• <20 m³/day assessment, for proposed abstractions of up to 20 cubic metres per day; and
• >20 m³/day assessment, for proposed abstractions of more than 20 cubic metres per day, which includes additional assessment relevant to abstraction licensing.

Each assessment is a desk study. We prepare it from your order information and from published and available data, which may include geological mapping, borehole records, aquifer properties, abstraction and environmental datasets. It does not include a site visit, intrusive investigation, drilling, test pumping, water sampling or laboratory analysis.

The following are not included unless we agree them separately in writing, and may be charged for: site visits; drilling specification or tender documents beyond the recommended borehole design in the report; drilling supervision; test pumping; water quality sampling; preparing or submitting applications to regulators; and attending meetings or hearings.

We will perform the service with the reasonable care and skill expected of a competent geological and hydrogeological consultant.

After you submit your order and pay, we will email you to acknowledge it. The contract between us is formed when we send that acknowledgement.

We may decline an order, for example if the site is outside the United Kingdom, the information provided is insufficient, or the requested assessment is not suitable for the proposed use. If we decline your order, we will tell you and refund the full amount paid.

If the assessment tier you selected does not match the volume you need (for example you selected the <20 m³/day assessment but need more than 20 m³/day), we will contact you. You may upgrade by paying the difference, or cancel for a full refund if we have not started work.

You must give us complete and accurate information, including the site address, the proposed borehole location, a site plan showing the land available, the intended use of the water and the expected peak daily volume. You must also tell us about anything you know that is relevant, such as existing or former boreholes, wells, springs, septic tanks, fuel stores, contamination or previous land uses at or near the site.

We rely on the information you provide. We are not responsible for errors in the report caused by information that is incorrect or incomplete. If the borehole location or intended use changes after we deliver the report, the report may no longer apply.

You confirm that you own the site or have the landowner's permission to commission the assessment.

The prices are as shown on the website when you order: £775 plus VAT (£930 including VAT at 20%) for the <20 m³/day assessment, and £1,350 plus VAT (£1,620 including VAT at 20%) for the >20 m³/day assessment.

Payment is due in full when you order. Card payments are processed by Stripe. We will issue a VAT invoice by email.

If the rate of VAT changes between your order and delivery, we will charge VAT at the rate that applies when the service is supplied.

We will tell you the estimated delivery date when we acknowledge your order. Delivery dates are estimates and time is not of the essence. We will keep you informed if we expect a delay.

We will deliver the report as a PDF to the email address you gave us.

If we need more information from you and do not receive it, the delivery date will be extended accordingly. If you do not respond within 60 days of our request, we may close your order and refund the price less a reasonable charge for work already done.

The report gives our professional opinion of the likely ground and groundwater conditions at the site, based on the information available to us when we prepare it. Ground conditions can vary significantly over short distances and cannot be known with certainty until a borehole is drilled and tested.

Accordingly, we do not guarantee and the report does not warrant:

• that a borehole at the site will find water, or any particular quantity of water;
• the depth at which water will be found, the geology encountered, or the borehole depth required;
• the yield, sustainability or long-term performance of any borehole;
• the quality of the water or that it will be suitable for any use without treatment; or
• that a regulator will grant any consent, licence or permit.

The report relies in part on data from third parties, including public bodies. We use reasonable care in selecting and interpreting that data, but we cannot verify all of it and are not responsible for errors in it.

Regulatory information in the report reflects our understanding of the requirements when the report is issued. It is not legal advice. Regulations and regulators' policies change. You are responsible for obtaining any consents, licences, permits, planning permission, notifications and registrations needed for your borehole and for drilling, testing and using it.

The report is prepared for the site, borehole location and purpose described in your order. It should not be relied on for any other location or purpose. Data and regulation change over time, so we recommend that a report is not relied on more than 12 months after its date without checking with us first.

Your driller is responsible for the safe and proper construction of the borehole, including compliance with health and safety law, ground conditions encountered during drilling, and protection of services and structures. Our recommended design is a guide for the driller and does not replace their own professional judgement on site.

The price includes answering reasonable questions about the report from you or your driller for 30 days after delivery.

If the report contains a factual error that is our fault, tell us and we will correct it free of charge.

You have the right to cancel the contract within 14 days of the day after the contract is formed, without giving a reason.

When you order, you ask us to start work straight away, within the cancellation period. If you cancel after we have started, we will refund the price less an amount proportionate to the work done up to the time you tell us you are cancelling.

Once we have delivered your report, the service is fully performed and you no longer have the right to cancel. You acknowledged this when you ordered.

To cancel, email info@aquifer.energy with a clear statement of your decision. You may use the model cancellation form below, but you do not have to. We will refund you within 14 days of being told of your cancellation, using the payment method you used.

You may cancel by email before we start work and receive a full refund. If you cancel after we start work, we will refund the price less a reasonable charge for work done. No refund is available once the report has been delivered.

We may cancel the contract if events outside our control (clause 13) prevent us from performing it, or if you do not provide information we need (clause 7.3). If we cancel for a reason other than your failure to provide information, we will refund everything you paid for work not delivered.

We own the copyright and all other intellectual property in the report. Once you have paid in full, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use and copy the report for the purpose of designing, drilling, testing, licensing and operating a borehole at the site.

You may share the report with your driller, other contractors, professional advisers, regulators, planning authorities, lenders and insurers for that purpose. However, the report is prepared for you alone. No one else may rely on it unless we agree in writing, and we accept no responsibility to anyone else who uses it.

A person who is not a party to this contract has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any of its terms.

We may use technical information gained from the assessment, such as geological and groundwater data, in an anonymised form that does not identify you, for our general professional knowledge and future work.

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law.

Because of the nature of the assessment explained in clause 8, we are not responsible for the costs of drilling, deepening, re-drilling, testing, equipping, treating, decommissioning or abandoning any borehole where ground or groundwater conditions differ from those predicted in the report, unless the difference results from our failure to use reasonable care and skill.

We are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking these terms or our failing to use reasonable care and skill. Loss or damage is foreseeable if it is obvious that it will happen, or if it was contemplated by you and us when the contract was made. We are not responsible for loss or damage that is not foreseeable.

We supply the assessment for domestic and private use. If you use it for any commercial or business purpose, we have no liability to you for loss of profit, loss of business or business interruption.

Nothing in these terms affects your legal rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, including your right to have the service performed with reasonable care and skill. Advice about your legal rights is available from Citizens Advice.

Subject to clause 12.1, we will not be liable to you, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, for any loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of contract, loss of anticipated savings, loss of crops or livestock, wasted expenditure, or any indirect or consequential loss.

Subject to clause 12.1, our total liability to you arising under or in connection with the contract, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, will not exceed the price you paid for the assessment.

The terms implied by sections 3 to 5 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 are, to the fullest extent permitted by law, excluded, except the term that we will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill.

Any claim must be notified to us in writing within six years of the date of the report.

We are not responsible for delays or failure to perform caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as unavailability of third-party data or systems, illness, extreme weather, or failure of telecommunications or IT. If this happens, we will contact you as soon as possible and take reasonable steps to minimise the effect. If the delay is likely to be substantial, you may cancel and receive a refund for any part of the service not delivered.

We will use your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy.

If you are unhappy with our service, please email info@aquifer.energy with your order reference. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and aim to resolve it within 20 working days.

We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation. We will tell you if this happens and will make sure the transfer does not affect your rights. You may transfer your rights to someone else only with our written agreement.

If a court finds part of these terms unlawful, the rest will continue in force.

If we do not insist immediately that you do something you are required to do, or delay taking steps against you, that does not mean you no longer have to do it or prevent us from taking steps later.

For business customers, these terms and your order are the entire agreement between us. You acknowledge that you have not relied on any statement, promise or representation not set out in them. Nothing in this clause limits liability for fraudulent misrepresentation.

We may update these terms from time to time. The version on the website when you place your order applies to that order.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. For business customers, the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction. If you are a consumer, you can bring proceedings in the courts of England and Wales, or, if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, in the courts of your home country.