Customer Privacy Policy

 

I. Purpose

To establish policies and procedures that protect the privacy and confidentiality of Stowe Electric Department (“SED”) customers’ Personal Information and Usage Data, and to ensure that SED's procedures and practices comply with applicable state and federal statutes and regulations. 

 

II. Policy

SED believes that customers own their Personal Information which includes any information that is personal to the customer, including but not limited to customers’ telephone numbers, email addresses, account information, and payment history. SED also believes that customers’ Usage Data are private and should be protected. Accordingly, SED treats such information as confidential. This privacy policy explains how SED uses customer information, when such information will be shared with third parties, and what safeguards SED takes to protect customer information. SED will not release a customer’s Personal Information or Usage Data except as explained in this policy.

 

III. Use of Personal Information and Usage Data

A. Personal Information

• To provide utility services to our customers, administer their accounts, and to bill our customers for their utility usage

• To improve our operational efficiency and to provide our customers with better serviceTo contact our customers in response to an inquiry that they send to SED

• To send our customers information about certain programs and services that may be of interest to them

• To authenticate and confirm the identity of our customers when they access their SED account

• To send our customers messages related to their utility services, support and administrative messages, technical notices, updates, alerts, and other information that they request of SED

 

B. Usage Data

• To generate billing statements, and track account billing and payment history

• To improve utility services to our customers

• To enable customers to see their usage data via secure access on the Internet

• To analyze utility usage to help customers select the best rate plan or take advantage of programs offered by SED and the Vermont Efficiency Utility (Efficiency Vermont or EVT)

 

Efficiency Vermont currently receives Customer Personal Information and Usage Data on a monthly basis. EVT may also use smart meter data in daily, hourly or 15-minute intervals to design and promote personalized energy efficiency services. Any customer may choose to opt out of personalized energy efficiency services by contacting EVT at info@efficiencyvermont.com or 888-921-5990. Customers who opt out of such services may still receive services from EVT, but those services will not be customized based on the customer’s smart-meter interval data. Customers who have opted out of these personalized smart-meter-enabled services can choose to opt in again at any time. EVT’s complete privacy statement can be viewed at their website, https://www.efficiencyvermont.com/about/privacy-policy.

 

C. Third Parties

SED may also provide data about usage and patterns in various formats to Efficiency Vermont or other third party service providers for various purposes all directed at improving system efficiency and customer service. These third party providers will be subject to the legal obligation to treat information confidentially and to not disclose it to unauthorized persons. Examples of such use include:

• To analyze rates and rate structures.

• To project usage demand patterns and plot growth of different substations or other areas.

• To improve our energy planning in order to better design and engineer our electric distribution systems.

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D. Data Security

Protecting our customers’ information is a top priority for Stowe Electric Department. We take extensive measures to ensure the integrity of our systems and protect customer Personal Information and Usage Data. We continuously implement and update administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect customer Personal Information and Usage Data from unauthorized access, destruction, or alteration. In addition, any account information entered by a customer while logged in to their online account, or that is displayed on SED’s website in a customer’s browser window, is secured using the latest industry standard security technologies. Current industry standard protocols such as Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”) attempt to protect the confidentiality of your personal and financial information. The customer’s browser must be capable of supporting security protocols. Please check with your browser manufacturer for details.

 

Approved by Board of Commissioners - 04/26/2017