Summer Energy

Privacy Policy

Summer Energy's Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting the Summer Energy (“Summer Energy”) family of web sites. Summer Energy operates through various legal entities to provide retail electricity and related services in Texas. Those Summer Energy entities and affiliates (as they may change from time to time) are collectively referred to in this website as “Summer Energy”, “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) is referred to as the “Site” or the “Summer Energy Site”. Information contained on this Site may refer generally to all Summer Energy activities, or, as the context indicates, to specific jurisdictions or activities.

By using the Summer Energy Site, you represent that you agree with our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. If you do not agree with our Privacy Policy or Terms of Use, please do not use the Summer Energy Site.

We will provide individuals from whom we collect personal information from with a copy of our Privacy Policy upon request.

How We Protect Personal Information

We take what we believe to be reasonable efforts that are customarily used in our industry to maintain security and confidentiality by 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, which includes limiting access to authorized individuals and destroying personal information that we decide not to retain in a manner designed to make it unreadable or undecipherable. Agents, contractors or partners of Summer Energy who have access to our personal information in connection with providing services for Summer Energy are required to keep the information confidential and are not permitted to use such personal information for any other purpose other than to carry out the services they are performing for Summer Energy. We use secure socket layer technology to help keep the personal information you provide on this site secure.

Even though we maintain a secure website, we strongly encourage you to keep your user ID and password confidential. If for any reason whatsoever you feel your user ID and password have become compromised please contact us immediately.

How We Collect and Use Your Personal Information and Why We Collect It

If you choose to supply us with your personal information we will only use such information consistent with our policies regarding the establishment of service accounts, our Terms of Use and as may be described in this Summer Energy Privacy Policy.

Please note that certain personal information must be supplied in order to establish an account. We collect personal information in a number of ways, including via input into our Site, and via telephone. We may ask you to provide information including, but not limited to, your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, social security number, government issued identification number, credit card number and facts about your energy use, your home, your age, gender, and family size. We use this information to provide service to you and to invoice you for services provided. You may also be required to provide certain information when signing up for an account on our Site.

We also collect certain other information when you visit the Summer Energy Site. This other information tells us such things as how many users visit our site and which pages they have chosen to access. This information also assists us with maintaining and designing a user friendly web site for you to enjoy. We collect this information through “cookie” technology as explained below.

click-stream data;
HTTP protocol elements;
search terms; and
HTTP cookies.

This data will be used for the following purposes:

Completion and support of the current activity;
Website and system administration; and
research and development

To assist customers with technical problems, we also may collect local Web configuration information, including:

browser type;
operating system; and
browser settings.

In addition, our website servers automatically collect limited information about your computer when you visit our Site. This information may include the type of browser software you use, the operating system you’re running, the IP address assigned to your computer or Internet connection, and the IP address of the website, if any, that referred you to our Site. Our technical staff may also use this information to assist customers with technical problems.

From time to time, we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in this Summer Energy Privacy Policy. If our information practices change at some time in the future, we will post the policy changes to our Web 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 our Site periodically.

Cookies

We use browser cookies to enhance your online experience and make your use of the Summer Energy Site more efficient. Browser cookies are bits of text that are placed on your computer’s hard drive when you visit certain web sites. We utilize browser cookies to tell us, for example, whether you’ve visited any of our sites before or if you’re a new visitor.

Browser cookies may enhance your online experience by saving your preferences while you are visiting a particular site. You can find information on popular browsers and how to adjust your cookie preferences at the following websites:

Microsoft Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox

We may also use various other types of cookies on our web site to enhance your online experience. Similar to browser cookies, such cookies can store more complex data.

Certain online service processes are available to residential and business customers. These processes require the use of cookies to be fully operational. If you reject all cookies, you will not be able to use our online applications that require you to log in. Other information on the Site, however, still may be accessed.

Confidentiality

We do not knowingly reveal any personal information that is provided by our customers through our Summer Energy Site to any third parties except as provided in this Summer Energy 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. All information provided by customers using our online forms is kept strictly confidential and secure to prevent unauthorized use of personal information.

We reserve the right to transfer any information we have about you in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets. Should such a sale or transfer occur, we will use reasonable efforts to direct the transferee to use the personal information you have provided through this Site in a manner that is consistent with this Summer Energy Privacy Policy.

Questionnaires and Surveys

On some occasions upon entering the Summer Energy Site you may be asked to complete either an on-line survey or questionnaire. These surveys and questionnaires will deal with your opinions, attitudes, interests, and more generally about your activities on-line. It is important that you answer these surveys and questionnaires accurately for they represent our only means to improve our services offered through our Site. Any personal information gathered from your participation in questionnaires or surveys through our Site may be kept for business purposes.

Review of and Changes to Your Personal Information

You may review or change some of the personal information you have provided to us. Please also note that 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: (888) 594-9299.

Sending Summer Energy Advertisements

We may send out periodic e-mails informing customers of offers related to a service they requested. Customers may not be able to choose to unsubscribe to certain mailings, to the extent the mailings are considered an essential service or required communication.

Individuals who do not wish to receive Summer Energy promotional e-mails on new products and services may contact Summer Energy at: (888) 594-9299

Children May Not Use the Summer Energy Website

Our Summer Energy Site is intended to be used by adults only, and not directed towards children under the age of eighteen. If you are under eighteen, you are not eligible to use the Summer Energy 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 Summer Energy or from one or more of our business partners). Likewise, 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 if you do not take the immediate action of providing personal or account information. If you receive such an email it is likely that you have received an attempted theft of your identity commonly called “phishing”. If you are concerned about clicking links provided within an e-mail sent by Summer Energy, 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 website disguised to look like our Site.

For more information about “phishing,” you should visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website at www.ftc.gov.

Effective Date of the Privacy Policy and Changes in Our Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to alter or amend this Summer Energy 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 Summer Energy Privacy Policy. You should also visit our Terms of Use in addition to this Privacy Policy each time you visit the Summer Energy Site.

Third Party Links

The Summer Energy Site may contain links to third party websites that are not subject to the Summer Energy 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 the Summer Energy Privacy Policy.

Contact Us

If you choose to e-mail us through the Contact Us link on this Site, you will be asked to provide information such as your name and e-mail address so that one our employees can respond to your questions and comments. If however, you wish to submit your questions or comments via U.S mail they can be mailed to:

Summer Energy
Attn: Customer Service
P.O. Box 460485
Houston, TX 77056

Effective Date

The Summer Energy Privacy Policy was last modified on May 31, 2012.