CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS STATEMENT
CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS STATEMENT
Privacy Notice for California Residents
Effective Date: January 1, 2020
Last Reviewed on: Dec. 27, 2019
This Privacy Notice for California Residents supplements the information contained in Green Mountain Energy Company’s privacy policy posted at greenmountainenergy.com, and applies solely to all website visitors, users, customers and others who reside in the State of California (“consumers” or “you”). We have issued this notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) and any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this notice.
Information We Collect
Our company collects information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or device (“personal information”). In particular, we have collected the following categories of personal information from consumers within the last twelve (12) months:
Category | Examples | Are Certain Examples Within This Category Collected? |
A. Identifiers. | A real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, Social Security number, driver's license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers. |
Yes |
B. Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)). |
Some personal information included in this category may overlap with other categories. |
Yes |
C. Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law. |
|
Yes |
D. Commercial information. | Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies. |
Yes |
E. Biometric information. | Genetic, physiological, behavioral, and biological characteristics, or activity patterns used to extract a template or other identifier or identifying information, such as, fingerprints, faceprints, and voiceprints, iris or retina scans, keystroke, gait, or other physical patterns, and sleep, health, or exercise data. |
No |
F. Internet or other similar network activity. | Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer's interaction with a website, application, or advertisement. |
Yes |
G. Geolocation data. |
Physical location or movements. | Yes |
H. Sensory data. | Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information. For example, customer service calls are recorded and contain a record of your voice. |
Yes |
I. Professional or employment-related information. | Current or past job history or performance evaluations. | Yes* (*only for job applicants and our employees and contractors) |
J. Non-public education information (per the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g, 34 C.F.R. Part 99)). |
Education records directly related to a student maintained by an educational institution or party acting on its behalf, such as grades, transcripts, class lists, student schedules, student identification codes, student financial information, or student disciplinary records. | Yes* (*employee tuition reimbursement, when available) |
K. Inferences drawn from other personal information. |
Profile reflecting a person's preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes. | Yes |
Personal information does not include:
We obtain the categories of personal information listed above from the following categories of sources:
Use and Sharing of Personal Information
We may use, disclose, or share the personal information we collect for one or more of the following purposes:
We will not collect additional categories of personal information, use, or share the personal information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing a form of notice.
Sharing Personal Information
We may disclose your personal information to a third party for a business purpose. When we disclose personal information for a business purpose, we enter into a contract that describes the purpose and requires the recipient to both keep that personal information confidential and not use it for any purpose except performing the contract.
We share your personal information with the following categories of third parties:
Disclosures of Personal Information for a Business Purpose
In the preceding twelve (12) months, we disclosed the following categories of personal information for a business purpose (which includes disclosures for required legal purposes in litigation and government investigations and other government oversight): Category A – Identifiers; Category B – California Customer Records personal information categories; Category C – Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law; Category D – Commercial information; Category F – Internet or other similar network activity; Category G – Geolocation data; Category H – Sensory data; Category I – Professional or employment-related information; Category J –Non-public education information; Category K – Inferences drawn from other personal information.
Sales of Personal Information
In the preceding twelve (12) months, we have not sold your personal information.
Your Rights and Choices
The CCPA provides consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their personal information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights.
Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights
You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your personal information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights), we will disclose to you:
Deletion Request Rights
You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights), we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies.
We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:
Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights
To exercise the access, data portability, and deletion rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by either:
Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child.
You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must:
We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you.
Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor's identity or authority to make the request.
For instructions on exercising sale opt-out rights, see Personal Information Sales Opt-Out and Opt-In Rights.
Response Timing and Format
We endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time, we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing.
If you have an account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account. If you do not have an account with us, we will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option.
Any disclosures we provide will at a minimum cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request’s receipt (but may provide information for a longer period at our election). The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.
We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.
Personal Information Sales Opt-Out and Opt-In Rights
If you are 16 years of age or older, you have the right to direct us to not sell your personal information at any time (the “right to opt-out”). We do not sell the personal information of consumers we actually know are less than 16 years of age, unless we receive affirmative authorization (the “right to opt-in”) from either the consumer who is between 13 and 16 years of age, or the parent or guardian of a consumer less than 13 years of age. Consumers who opt-in to personal information sales may opt-out of future sales at any time.
To exercise the right to opt-out, you (or your authorized representative) may submit a request to us by visiting the following Internet Web page link:
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
https://www.greenmountainenergy.com/california-resident-data-request/
Once you make an opt-out request, we will wait at least twelve (12) months before asking you to reauthorize personal information sales. However, you may change your mind and opt back in to personal information sales at any time by contacting us by phone at 1-866-785-4668.
You do not need to create an account with us to exercise your opt-out rights. We will only use personal information provided in an opt-out request to review and comply with the request.
Non-Discrimination
We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:
However, we may in the future offer you certain financial incentives permitted by the CCPA that can result in different prices, rates, or quality levels. Any CCPA-permitted financial incentive we offer will reasonably relate to your personal information's value and contain written terms that describe the program's material aspects. Participation in a financial incentive program requires your prior opt in consent, which you may revoke at any time.
Other California Privacy Rights
California's “Shine the Light” law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83) permits users of our Website that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please click Contact Us at greenmountainenergy.com
Changes to Our Privacy Notice
We reserve the right to amend this privacy notice at our discretion and at any time. When we make changes to this privacy notice, we will post the updated notice on the Website and update the notice’s effective date. Your continued use of our Website following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes.
Contact Information
If you have any questions or comments about this notice, the ways in which we collect and use your information described herein, your choices and rights regarding such use, or wish to exercise your rights under California law, please do not hesitate to contact us at:
Phone: 1-866-785-4668
Website: www.greenmountainenergy.com (click Contact Us)
Postal Address:
Green Mountain Energy
Attn: General Counsel
910 Louisiana St.
Houston, TX 77002
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