Privacy Statement

At Columbia REA we respect your privacy and recognize the importance of keeping your personal information confidential. This notice describes the privacy policy and practices followed by Columbia REA as well as the types of information we collect and the circumstances under which we may share it.

Definitions

• Personal information – general, static information, such as name, address, telephone number, and Social Security number, and driver’s license number.
• Account information – specific service-related information, such as account number, meter number, service location, and usage and credit history.

Information We Collect

When you visit our web site your identity remains anonymous.

• Application for service – We retain personal information we receive from you at the time you apply for electric service, including Social Security number, driver’s license number, and employment information.
• Transactions – When you pay your electric bill we retain pertinent details of your payment, including credit card and/or bank account information.
• Online – We retain any personal information you voluntarily submit to us via our web site or by email to respond to comments, requests for information, etc.

Cookies

A “cookie” is a message given by a web server to your web browser which your browser stores as a text file on your computer’s hard drive. The message is sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. Cookies are used primarily to identify users and possibly prepare customized web pages for them. We do not use cookies to track your visit to our web site.

Information We Share

• Business Affiliates – Columbia REA has many business affiliations. Our policy is to NOT share your personal information of any kind with our business affiliates. If you receive any information from a Columbia REA business affiliate, it will be through a joint marketing campaign that Columbia REA has approved.
• Other Utility Companies – Upon your request we receive from other utilities (or send to them) credit-related information, such as the number of late notices generated in the preceding 12 months, in order to establish any required security deposits prior to receiving electric service.
• Third Party Service Providers – We sometimes rely on services provided by other companies, such as data processing companies, mailing services, collection agencies, market research firms, and payment networks, to conduct our operations. These service providers act on our behalf and have agreed in writing to keep the personal information we provide to them confidential.
  We do NOT share your personal information with independent third party marketers offering their own products and services.
• Legal Requests – We may share your personal and/or account information in response to a lawful request issued by a court, government agency, or regulatory authority, or as permitted by law in order to administer or enforce your account.

Data Security and Confidentiality Safeguards

We maintain strict policies and security controls to assure that member information in our information system is protected. Our employees and certain third party service providers are permitted access to member information that they may need to perform their jobs and to provide service to you. All employees and third party service providers are required to respect member privacy. No one except our employees and certain third party service providers has access to our information systems.

We have established internal security controls using industry guidelines and standards to protect the information you provide us and the information we collect about you. These controls include procedural, physical, and electronic safeguards, such as firewalls, authentication procedures, digital certificates, intrusion detection, and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption technology.

Children’s Privacy

Our online services are not designed for or directed toward children. We do not knowingly solicit or collect data from children. We recognize that protecting children’s identities and online privacy is important, and that responsibility rests with us and with parents.

Links to Other Sites

Our web site may contain links to other web sites. We have no control over or any liability for the content or privacy practices of these other web sites.

Questions or Comments

We welcome your questions or comments regarding this privacy statement or any other services we provide to you. Please direct questions and comments to customerservice@columbiarea.com.