Santee Cooper (South Carolina Public Service Authority) Privacy Policy
Last Updated: June 27, 2018
Santee Cooper values the privacy of its customers, website users, employees, and prospective employees. We strictly adhere to all regulatory requirements with regard to privacy, and our employees are educated on the importance of privacy and confidentiality. The purpose of this privacy policy is to inform you as to what information we collect from you, voluntarily and involuntarily, and what steps you may take to prevent divulging such information should you wish to do so. This Policy covers Santee Cooper, its employees, agents, contractors, and affiliates. Please check this policy frequently, as we may amend it from time to time to reflect changes in our services and our policies.
Amendments will become effective at the time they are posted on our website.
Who We Are
Santee Cooper is a body corporate and politic known as the South Carolina Public Service Authority (herein called the “Public Service Authority”), with a principal office in the town of Moncks Corner, SC.
Definitions
“Personal Information” means any information that, when used alone or combined with other personal or identifying information, can be used to distinguish or derive the identity of an individual, family, or household who is or which includes a customer of Santee Cooper. Such information is subject to confidentiality requirements
“Third Parties” means vendors, agents, contractors, or affiliates that provide service to or on behalf of Santee Cooper
“you” means any Santee Cooper customer, website visitor, or mobile application user
What Type of Information Does Santee Cooper Collect?
Information that you give us
Santee Cooper is committed to collecting only the information that is necessary to provide services to you or to comply with the law. We receive, store, and, process information, including Personal Information, that you make available to us based on our business relationship with you, any potential business relationship with you, or by using or accessing our website, mobile service applications, or other online services.
Examples include:
- The information you provide to us when you start energy service, such as your name, address, phone number, email address, and Social Security Number
- Billing and payment information used to pay your energy bill, including your financial information, credit history, and Social Security Number
- Information you provide to determine eligibility or participate offer you products, certain energy programs or services, such as Energy Efficiency or Demand Response
- Information used to visit, register for, manage, or access your online account, such as your Santee Cooper account number, name, address, phone number, email address, and Social Security Number
- Billing and payment information you provide to our third-party payment processor in order to pay for goods or services, including your financial information (such as bank account and/or credit/debit card numbers), and Social Security Number;
- Information you fill out in any form on our website, mobile applications, or otherwise, such as signing up for outage alerts, signing up for bill notifications, or authorizing another user on your Santee Cooper account
- Information you give us when you communicate with Santee Cooper and/or any of our agents or representatives
- Information You give us when you respond to surveys or participate in promotions;
- Mobile Phone number(s) to which we will send text messages relating to the services you receive from Santee Cooper. We will only use the mobile number(s) you have authorized for us to transmit information to you via text message, unless you have given us prior consent to provide marketing information to you via text message. Please notify us in the event your contact information changes, including any telephone number and/or email address. Standard messaging and data rates may apply according to your specific arrangement with your wireless carrier. You may revoke your consent to receive text messages.
We may supplement the information described above with information we obtain from other sources, including from both online and offline data providers. Such supplemental information may include contact information, such as your email address, demographic data, or other relevant information.
Information we get from your use of our website, social media pages or mobile apps
Your visits to Santee Cooper’s website or mobile apps: We collect information about visits to our website and mobile applications, such as the number of visitors and the number of users that click on certain links or use certain services. For some applications, such as rate analysis, we link usage information with the customer visiting the website. We use industry standard software to create summary statistics of the data we collect, which may then be used to highlight what our visitors find interesting, to improve the website design and usability, to identify system performance issues, or for other internal purposes. We may use information about your location when you use certain features on our website, such as our Outages map.
Log Data: We receive information that is automatically recorded by our servers when you visit our website or mobile applications, including your Internet Protocol (“IP”) Address. An IP address is a number automatically assigned to your device every time you browse the Internet. When you visit the website, our servers log your current IP address. We may use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our servers and to administer the website. We also use IP addresses to provide localized content to you on our website, which is related to your geographic region. Your IP address is not associated with your Personal Information and we do not use it to identify you when logging IP address data.
Cookies: When you visit or use our website or online services, our server may create cookies, which are small pieces of information placed on your device that provide a more convenient experience to you. Santee Cooper uses cookies and other similar technologies on our website and online services. We may also allow business partners to use their cookies or similar technologies on our website or online services for the purpose of providing targeted advertisements to you about programs or services that we offer. As a result, when you use or visit the website, you will provide or make available certain information to us and to our business partners.
The data we collect about website usage from cookies is not tied to your Personal Information and is only used in an aggregated form for the purposes of our own customer support, analytics, research, and improving our website. When you use features such as “Remember My Username,” the cookie is associated with your Personal Information in order to provide you with a more convenient experience. We do not sell or transfer the data we obtain from cookies for any purpose other than to evaluate website usage or provide energy services to you, or to offer programs and/or services that you may be interested in.
You may disable the usage of cookies through your browser settings. Please note that if you disable your browser’s ability to accept cookies, you will be able to navigate Santee Cooper ’s website, but you will not be able to take advantage of certain features, such as “Remember My Username,” and will not receive targeted advertisements related to our programs or services.
Targeted Communications on Social Media Sites
We use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to communicate with you about our programs and services. You can follow us on these social media sites to receive regular updates. These social media sites also allow us to target ads to you using the information they maintain about you, even if you do not specifically follow us on their site. We may target ads to you using information such as cookies, pixels, zip codes, and interests.
You will only see our targeted ads if you agreed to receive this type of communication through your social media provider. You may be able to disable some or all of the advertising targeted to you on a social media site by adjusting your privacy settings on their site.
Links to other websites
While browsing the website, you may encounter and choose to access websites or online services operated by companies or agencies that may not be associated with Santee Cooper by clicking on hypertext links or icons. These websites may send their own cookies to you, log your IP address, and/or otherwise collect data or Personal Information about you and your online activities. Santee Cooper does not control and is not responsible for what outside entities do in connection with their websites or online services, or how they handle your Personal Information. Please use caution and consult the privacy policies posted on each outside website that you visit for further information.
How We Use Information
Santee Cooper uses, stores, and processes the information that you provide or make available for the following general purposes:
To provide energy services to you, administer your account, and to bill you for your energy usage
To improve our operational efficiency and to provide you with better service
To contact you in response to an inquiry that you send to Santee Cooper
To send you information about certain programs and services we offer that may be of interest to you
To authenticate and confirm your identity when you access your Santee Cooper account
To send you messages related to your energy services, support and administrative messages, technical notices, updates, alerts, and other information that you request
Sharing Information with Third Parties
In order to provide you with services or to complete transactions requested by you, we may transfer your Personal Information to Third Parties who act on our behalf. Third Parties acting on Santee Cooper’s behalf are required to follow the same privacy and security practices as Santee Cooper, and are subject to an extensive security review of their data handling processes before Santee Cooper permits any sharing of customers’ Personal Information.
Santee Cooper does not release a customer’s Personal Information to any other person or business entity without your prior consent, except as necessary for Santee Cooper to:
- Provide energy services to you
- Operate and maintain Santee Cooper ’s electric system
- Comply with a valid warrant, subpoena, or court order
- Comply with a valid request from state or federal governmental agencies with legal authority to obtain the data from Santee Cooper
- Enable Third Parties to provide energy-related services on behalf of Santee Cooper —but only if necessary to render the service and subject to confidentiality and security requirements
- Notify credit reporting agencies and collection agencies if your account is assigned for collection
- Assist emergency responders in situations of immediate threat to life or property
Other than for the exceptions noted above, it is Santee Cooper ‘s policy to not release Personal Information to any other person, business, or entity without your prior written consent, unless necessary to provide energy services to you. Written consent may be obtained electronically.
Sharing Personal Information at Your Choice
You may authorize other companies or persons to receive your Personal Information, including your Energy Usage Data. Before sharing information, it is important that you understand how other parties intend to use your information, if they will share it with others, and your rights as a consumer. We encourage you to protect the confidentiality of your username and password and other personally identifiable information specific to your Santee Cooper account.
Retention
We retain information about our customers based on legal requirements, which is typically 7 years after account termination. Generally, we only retain Personal Information for as long as is reasonably necessary to provide energy services to you or as required by law. Secure disposal methods are used when information is no longer needed.
Accessing and Managing your Information
Most customers have secure access to information about them through their monthly bills or their online account on our website. To help protect your privacy and provide you with quality service, we rely on you to provide us with complete and accurate information. If you think the information we have about you is inaccurate or outdated, we encourage you to contact us at your earliest convenience to update or correct the information. You may update or correct your information by calling the number listed in the “Contact Us” section below, or by signing into your online account through myenergylinksc.com or myservice.santeecooper.com edit your profile.
We offer certain choices about how we communicate with you and what Personal Information you provide to us. In some cases you have the right to limit, or opt-out of, the information you provide to us.
Social Security Number: In order to establish or re-establish service, you may be asked to provide your Social Security Number for us to validate your identity. You have the right to not provide your Social Security Number, however, an alternate form of identification (e.g., driver’s license, passport, State identification, etc.) will be required.
Email Communications: If you have opted-in to receive email communications from us, you can opt out of receiving these emails at any time by following the unsubscribe process in the footer of the email or by contacting us in the manner described in the “Contact Us” section of this Policy.
Security
Protecting our customers’ information is a top priority for Santee Cooper. We take extensive measures to ensure the integrity of our systems and protect your Personal Information. We continuously implement and update administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect Personal Information about you from unauthorized access, destruction, or alteration. In addition, any account information you enter while logged in to your online account, or that is displayed on our website in your browser window, is secured using an industry standard security technology known as Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”). By using SSL, we attempt to protect the confidentiality of your personal and financial information. Your browser must be capable of supporting SSL. Please check with your browser manufacturer for details.
Children’s Privacy Online
We share our customers’ concern that children’s privacy is important. We have areas of our website intended for use by children that contain information about energy and safety. We also provide free classroom materials for teachers about energy awareness and safety. We do not monitor the age of users of the website and do not intentionally collect information from children under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13, you should not submit Personal Information on this website or any other website without the consent of your parent or guardian.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We will notify you of material changes to this Privacy Policy through updates on Santee Cooper’s website, http://www.santeecooper.com, including how to obtain prior versions of this Privacy Policy upon request.
Contact Us
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about this Notice, would like to request a current or previous version, or would like more information regarding our process for updating this Notice, you can contact us using the following options:
Santee Cooper
PO Box 2946101
Moncks Corner, SC 29461-2901
843-761-8000