Terms of Service

1. Introduction

Welcome to Foundation-1. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Foundation-1 website, services, and applications (collectively, the "Service"). By accessing or using our Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use our Service.

2. Our Services

Foundation-1 provides an energy-migration platform that supports indicative screening, utility-bill normalization, case-specific assessments, staged customer authorizations, managed KYC and pathway-specific term sheets issued after KYC. Foundation-1 does not promise approval, savings or delivery through the website.

3. Foundation-1's Role

Foundation-1 originates, assesses and coordinates energy-migration transactions. Foundation-1 is not a bank, credit provider, engineering contractor or electricity utility. Approval decisions are made solely by the bank or asset-finance provider concerned; the energy infrastructure is owned and delivered by the appointed partner and its contractors; wheeled energy is supplied by the licensed provider. Foundation-1 is not responsible for, and does not control, the decisions, pricing, timelines or performance of these third parties. Nothing on the Service constitutes financial, legal, tax or engineering advice.

4. Indicative Reports Are Not Offers

The first migration report is indicative and may use customer-entered assumptions and representative area tariff ranges. A bill-audited assessment is not an approval or a formal commercial offer. Estimates of savings depend on assumptions, including future utility tariff increases, that no one can guarantee. After KYC, only a term sheet issued for your pathway and accepted by you defines approved terms, and only a signed definitive agreement creates a binding transaction.

5. Staged, Non-Binding Progression

The migration journey is deliberately staged for your protection: profile, mutual NDA with POPIA consent, bill evidence, bill-audited proposal, non-binding Expression of Interest, readiness, formal proposal and KYC. Until you sign a definitive agreement with the relevant counterparty, no step on this platform obliges you to transact, and you may stop at any point.

6. Your Information and Limited Sharing

We process personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 (POPIA), for the purpose of your migration case only. Case documents are held in private storage behind unguessable secure links. We share only your utility bills and signed Expression of Interest, and only with the bank and the wheeling provider's engineers for assessment of your project, as consented to in your case NDA. We do not sell your information or use it for unrelated marketing.

7. Client Responsibilities

You warrant that the information and documents you provide are accurate, complete and supplied with authority to do so, and that signatories hold the authority they claim. You are responsible for keeping your private case link confidential; anyone holding the link can access the case. Lost links can be rotated at any time via the recovery page.

8. User Eligibility and Accounts

To use certain features of the Service, you must open a secure case. You represent and warrant that the information you provide is accurate and complete. You must be at least 18 years of age and act for a business when using the migration platform.

9. Documents and KYC

You must provide accurate and complete permitted evidence when requested. Foundation-1 manages KYC through the secure case-specific process and may coordinate authorized delivery to the bank where required. Do not send KYC documents through the general enquiry form or ordinary email; use only the secure channel specified for your case.

10. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any illegal purpose or in violation of any local, state, national, or international law.
• Violate or encourage others to violate the rights of third parties, including intellectual property rights.
• Interfere with security-related features of the Service.
• Engage in activity that disrupts or interferes with the migration platform or its case records.
• Attempt to decipher, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer any of the software used to provide the Service.
• Submit documents or information you are not authorised to share, or impersonate another business or person.

11. Intellectual Property

The Service, including all text, graphics, logos, and software, is the property of Foundation-1 and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. Assessment methodologies, pricing models and reports generated by the platform remain Foundation-1's property; you receive a licence to use reports produced for your case for your own business purposes.

12. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, FOUNDATION-1 SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, RELIANCE ON INDICATIVE OUTPUTS, OR THE ACTS OR OMISSIONS OF THIRD-PARTY FUNDERS, SUPPLIERS OR CONTRACTORS. NOTHING IN THESE TERMS EXCLUDES LIABILITY THAT CANNOT LAWFULLY BE EXCLUDED.

13. Indemnity

You indemnify Foundation-1 against claims, losses and expenses arising from information or documents you supply being inaccurate, incomplete or supplied without authority, or from your breach of these Terms, except to the extent caused by Foundation-1's own negligence.

14. Termination

We may suspend or close access to the Service where these Terms are breached or where required by law. You may close your migration case at any time by written request; POPIA rights to access, correction and deletion survive closure.

15. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

16. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time. If a revision is material, we will provide at least 30 days' notice prior to any new terms taking effect. By continuing to access or use our Service after those revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised terms.

17. Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, contact Foundation-1 at info@foundation-1.co.za or support@foundation-1.co.za.