Effective on October 28, 2019
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”). If you are an Energy Services customer, we may also provide or facilitate for you demand response programs to automatically optimize your energy usage, as well as non-commodity connected, networked or “smart” services and devices and the mobile applications, platforms, gateways, or routers used with them. Such services and devices may include smart thermostats; smart appliances and sensors; home security devices like motion sensors, alarms, and cameras; and lighting and other sensing, connected, digital and/or smart‑home automation devices and services, as well as demand response energy optimization programs, including in cooperation with third parties. Such services, devices, products and programs are referred to generally as “Connected Devices.” Energy Services and Connected Devices are referred to collectively as the 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 or Connected Devices or determine your eligibility for such services or devices. 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, or otherwise use the Connected Devices 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 collect your user data generated by your use of any Connected Devices and mobile applications as well as by your use of the Energy Services. When you sign up for Connected Devices, we and the device provider will have access to some or all of the information on the Connected Device. In general, the following information may be collected in connection with your use of Connected Devices and shared with third parties, subject to third-party terms of use and privacy policy for the product: set‑up and activation information; information from any mobile app or other interface you use to access, control, or operate the device product; environmental and ambient household data from in‑home sensing devices, including but not limited to thermostats, motion devices, security cameras, and lighting; information and usage data about connected appliances and devices, including home and individual appliance/device energy usage; adjustments to settings, temperature, run‑time, heating and cooling, and other usage information; information about your location to adjust device settings; and technical information from your device or hardware. We may combine information from Connected Devices with information we collect through the Energy Services. Mobile apps used to control Connected Devices may have access to your smartphone location away from home to automatically set, for example, your thermostat or other Connected Device. You may control access to your Connected Device information through the settings on your device. For example, Frontier Utilitieslimit related device functionality.
Please review information relating to the Connected Devices, including third party privacy policies and terms of use. Your ability to use Connected Devices as intended may require your registration and agreement with a third party in order to function or access all the features available from the Connected Devices as well as your agreement to any related terms and conditions of Frontier Utilities for that device or a particular service. Connected Devices products are not designed or manufactured by Frontier Utilities Energy, and Frontier Utilities does not warrant and is not responsible for the quality, use or operation of such devices.
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 and our other Services, including Connected Devices products and programs. We use your information to operate, maintain, and provide you the features and functionality of the Site, Services, Connected Devices and mobile applications, including tracking your energy usage so that you may be provided with recommendations on decreasing or shifting your energy consumption and using your device. 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. In addition, we are not responsible for and do not warrant or guarantee the functionality or security measures of any third-party product or service you use or access, including Connected Devices obtained through Frontier Utilities. 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 October 28, 2019
© 2019 Frontier Utilities, LLC. PUCT #10169