PRIVACY POLICY
Effective on May 21, 2019
Frontier Utilities
Privacy Policy
Thank you for visiting the Frontier Utilities (“Frontier
Utilities”) family of websites. Frontier Utilities entities and affiliates
(subject to change from time to time) are collectively referred to in this
privacy policy as “Frontier Utilities,” “we,“ us,” or “our,” and this website
(including any other websites operated, licensed or controlled by us, as this
Site or any other such websites may change from time to time) are sometimes
referred to as the “Site” or the “Frontier Utilities Site” or “our
websites.” We know that how information about you is collected, used and
shared is important, and we make every reasonable effort to protect that
information. This Privacy Policy applies to all Frontier Utilities activities
and the use of all products, services, websites, and mobile applications
offered by Frontier Utilities (“Services”) and describes the kind of
information Frontier Utilities will collect and how we may use that
information.
Certain information contained on this Site may
refer generally to all Frontier Utilities activities, or, as the context
indicates, to specific jurisdictions, products, services or activities,
including but not limited to mobile applications and connected devices.
Frontier Utilities operates through various legal entities to provide retail
electricity, natural gas, and energy services in states open to retail
competition (“Energy Services”).
By using our
websites, our mobile applications and/or the Services, you represent that you agree
with our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, found elsewhere on the Frontier
Utilities Site. If you do not agree with our Privacy Policy or Terms of Use,
please do not use the Frontier Utilities Site or Services.
Information
We Collect and How We Use It
If you supply us
with your information, including personally identifiable or personal
information, we will only use such information consistent with our policies
regarding the establishment of Energy Service accounts, our Terms of Use and
this Privacy Policy. In connection with our efforts to better serve you, we may
share your information with our affiliates or with contractors, consultants and
other third parties with whom we have agreements, as further described below.
As permitted, or as required by applicable law or regulation, and as described
in this Privacy Policy, we may use or disclose your information without
providing prior notice or seeking additional consent from you.
We collect information in a number of ways,
including via input into the Site, and via telephone, mobile device or
application, e-mail, or on paper. Please note that certain personal information
must be supplied by you for credit approval and in order to establish and
maintain an Energy Services account -- we may ask you to provide information
including but not limited to your name, address, telephone number, e-mail
address, social security number or other government-issued identification
number, date of birth, and credit card number. We may ask you for
information about your energy use and home to provide you with particular
Energy Services. We may combine your personal information with data
supplied by third parties for these purposes; we do not however collect your
personal information from you automatically or without your knowledge.
We may
automatically collect certain other information when you visit our websites or use
our mobile devices or applications and may combine such information with
information you provide us in connection with the Services. This other information
tells us such things as how many users visit our site and which pages they have
chosen to access. This information assists us with maintaining and designing a
user friendly website for you to enjoy. We collect this information through
cookie and web-beacon technology. This other information includes
click-stream data, HTTP protocol elements, search terms and, HTTP cookies,
which will be used for completion and support of the current activity on the
Site, system administration and research and development. To assist customers
with technical problems, we also may collect local website configuration
information, including browser type, operating system, and browser
settings. In addition, our web servers automatically collect information
about your computer when you visit our website. This information may include
the type of browser software you use, your operating system, the IP address
assigned to your computer or Internet connection, your internet service
provider (ISP), the referring and exit pages, and the date and time you used
our site. We may combine such information with personal information you have
previously provided, and we may also use this information to assist customers
with technical problems. Our websites do not respond to "Do Not Track"
signals or other similar mechanisms used by some web browsers to attempt to
limit tracking related to your visits to a website.
We may also conduct customer surveys to improve
our services, and contests, sweepstakes and other prize promotions that require
you to provide personal information that is necessary to administer the
contest, sweepstakes or promotion and to notify winners.
We will use your information to identify you,
maintain and establish your account, communicate with you, provide the Services
to you, facilitate payments, and to send you marketing or promotional material
about the Energy Services. We use your information to operate, maintain, and
provide you the features and functionality of the Site and Services. We may
also use your information for our internal analytics and research purposes,
such as improving our forecasting models for electricity usage and operating
and improving the Services we provide to our customers.
From time to time, we may use customer
information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in this
Privacy Policy. If our information practices change at some time in the future,
we will post the policy changes to the Site to notify you of these changes and
provide you with the ability to opt out of these new uses. If you are concerned
about how your information is used, you should check back at the Site
periodically.
Sharing Your
Information
In the normal
course of business Frontier Utilities shares information with certain third
parties. We do not knowingly share any personally identifiable information that
is provided by our customers to third parties except as provided in this
Privacy Policy, when requested to do so by a governmental agency having
jurisdiction, by a court of competent jurisdiction or other operation of law,
or when we believe that disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent
physical harm or financial loss in connection with an investigation of
suspected or actual illegal activity.
Except in the event of a business transfer, as
detailed below, Frontier Utilities will not without your consent share your
personal information for any third party commercial or marketing purposes
unrelated to the activation, delivery and usage of products and services you
have requested, including the Services. Subject to any applicable legal
restrictions, we may share personal information about you with our affiliates
and with non-affiliated vendors, consultants and other providers that we use to
support our business or provide service to you, including any rewards partner.
Such parties are contractually required to maintain strict confidentiality of
your personal information and may not use it for other purposes.
If you do provide
consent for non-affiliated third parties to market their products and services
to you, we may share personal information about you for that purpose. We may
send offers to Frontier Utilities customers on behalf of other businesses, but
we do not give that business the name, address, telephone number or email
address of our customers. We may also share information with affiliates,
non-affiliated third parties and business partners that is in aggregated or
anonymous form so that it does not reveal personal information or identify you
individually, and may work with those entities to do research, including for
marketing purposes, and to provide and improve products and services.
We reserve the
right to disclose and/or transfer personal information to a third party in
connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale (including any transfers made as
part of insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings) involving Frontier Utilities or
its affiliated companies or as part of a corporate reorganization, stock or
asset sale, or other change in corporate control. Should such a sale or
transfer occur, we will use reasonable efforts to direct the transferee to use
the information you have provided through this web site in a manner that is
consistent with this Privacy Policy.
Advertising
We may send out periodic e-mails informing
customers of special offers or new products or services. Individuals who
do not wish to receive Frontier Utilities promotional e-mails on new products
and services may opt out of them buy using the unsubscribe link in the email or
contacting Frontier Utilities at care@frontierutilities.com. We make every effort to promptly process all
unsubscribe requests within 10 business days. You may not opt out of certain
non-commercial, Services-related communications, such as energy account
verification, purchase and billing confirmations and reminders, changes or
updates to features of the Services and/or services, or technical and security
notices.
We may also permit
third-party advertising partners to use cookies and other technology to collect
information about your browsing activities over time so that they may play or
display ads to you on other devices you may use, and on other websites, mobile
apps or services, including social media sites. The information we share is provided
through cookies or similar tracking technologies, which recognize the device
you are using and collect information, including click stream information,
browser type, time and date you visited the site and other information. We may
also share a common account identifier (such as an email address or user ID) to
help us identify you across devices. We and our third-party partners use this
information to make the advertisements you see online more relevant to your
interests. Depending on your browser or mobile device, you may be able set your
browser to delete or notify you of cookies and other tracking technology by
actively managing the settings on your browser or mobile device. You may also
be able to limit interest-based advertising through the settings on your mobile
device. To learn more about interest-based advertising and how you may be able
to opt-out of some of this advertising, you may wish to visit the Network
Advertising Initiative’s (NAI) online resources, at
http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices, and/or the Digital Advertising
Alliance’s (DAA) resources at www.aboutads.info/choices. You may also be able
to opt out of some interest-based ads served by mobile ad networks at
http://youradchoices.com/appchoices.
How
We Protect Your Information
We take reasonable
efforts that are customarily used in our industry to maintain security and
confidentiality by utilizing administrative, technical and physical safeguards
in an effort to protect against unauthorized disclosure, use, alteration or
destruction of any personal information you provide on this website or using
our Services, which includes allowing access only to authorized individuals and
destroying personal information that we decide not to retain in a manner
designed to make it unreadable or indecipherable. Personal information provided
by customers using our online forms is kept secure, in accordance with legal
requirements and practices customarily used in our industry, in an effort to
prevent unauthorized use of personal information. We use secure socket layer
technology to help keep the personal information you provide on the Site
secure.
Agents,
contractors or partners of Frontier Utilities may have access to your personal
information in order to provide services for Frontier Utilities but are
contractually required to keep your information confidential and are not
permitted to use your personal information for any purpose other than to carry
out the services they are performing for Frontier Utilities. We do not rent or
sell our customer lists or other personally identifiable information or
data. We will not share personal information about you with third parties
for them to market or promote their products or services, without your consent.
We cannot however
ensure the absolute security of all information collected through this website
or the Services. You remain responsible for maintaining the secrecy
of your unique passwords and account information. We are not responsible for
the practices employed by websites or services linked to or from the Services,
or their information or content, or for third parties that you authorize to
access your information. When you use a link to go from our Site or
Services to another website, our Privacy Policy does not apply to third-party
websites or services. Your browsing and interaction on any third-party website
or services, including those that have a link or advertisement on our Services,
are subject to that third party’s own rules and policies. If you believe your
information has been compromised, please contact us immediately.
Review
of and Changes to Your Personal Information
You may review or
change some of the personal information you have provided to us. Some account
information, including without limitation the service address and the account
holder name, may not be changed. If you need to correct or update your personal
information provided to us, contact us toll-free at 866-926-8192.
Children
May Not Use the Frontier Utilities Website
Our Site is
intended to be used by adults only, and is not directed towards children under
the age of eighteen. If you are under eighteen, you are not eligible to use the
Frontier Utilities Site. If you believe that we have collected personal
information from children under the age of eighteen, please notify us
immediately so that we may take steps to eliminate such information.
A Warning About E-mail That We
Send; A Warning About "Phishing"
We may send you e-mails from time
to time to provide you with energy-saving ideas and other useful information,
updates regarding our services, and special offers (whether available directly
from Frontier Utilities or from one or more of our business partners). Also, we
may from time to time call the phone number associated with your account.
We will not send you an e-mail
asking you to reply by sending personal or account information, or threatening
to disconnect or close your account unless you provide personal or account
information. If you receive such an email it may be an attempted identity theft
that is commonly called “phishing”. If you are concerned about clicking links
provided within an e-mail sent by Frontier Utilities, we strongly recommend
that you open your web browser and manually input the address for our web site.
Doing so will ensure that you do not open some third-party web site disguised
to look like our website.
For more information about
“phishing,” please visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website at www.ftc.gov.
Changes in Our
Privacy Policy
We reserve the
right to alter or amend this Privacy Policy at any time and without prior
notice to you in order to reflect changes in our online information practices.
We also recommend that you check back with this Site periodically so that you
may be kept informed regarding any changes to the Frontier Utilities Privacy
Policy. You should also visit our Terms of Use in addition to this Privacy
Policy each time you visit the Frontier Utilities Site.
Third Party Links
The Frontier Utilities Site may
contain links to third party websites that are not subject to this Privacy
Policy. If you visit these websites, we encourage you to read their privacy
policies before providing them with any personal information.
State Law
You may have privacy rights under applicable state law in
addition to those outlined in this Privacy Policy.
Contact
Us
You
can contact us about this Privacy Policy by writing or email us at the address
below:
Frontier Utilities
5161 San Felipe Suite 320
Houston, Texas 77056
Email: care@frontierutilities.com
Phone: 1-866-926-8192
Revised May 21, 2019
© 2019 Frontier Utilities, LLC. PUCT #10169