Crow Wing Power Member Information Privacy Policy
In accordance with Board Policy, Crow Wing Power (CWP) treats members’ personal information and electric use data as confidential. This privacy policy is aimed at protecting members’ personal information, which includes members’ telephone numbers, social security number, account information, e-mail addresses, payment history and electric use, including interval energy use data received from our digital advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). This Privacy Policy explains our practices and describes how your information is collected and used by CWP. In order to improve our system and member service, CWP will from time to time partner with a trusted party on projects that involve the use of member information. Such parties are required to abide by this privacy policy.
Privacy Statement
CWP believes that members own their personal information. CWP and its authorized third-party partners, will not release a member’s personal information to any other person or business entity not listed on a member’s account without written consent from the member, unless required by law or if necessary to allow a third party to collect delinquent amounts owed to CWP by the member.
When information is requested, CWP must first obtain written permission from the person(s) listed on the account which shall include verification of identity along with a signature. A third party may also obtain this information if they can show power of attorney.
In cases of death of a CWP member, family members may obtain this information if they can provide CWP with a death certificate and if they can show they are the proper legal representative of the estate.
By using this website, you are consenting to our collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
What Information Is Collected?
We collect electric use information provided by our electric meters, and other personal information from your interaction with our website and apps, and from information voluntarily provided by you. Information such as your IP address and browser type. Your session and the pages you visit on cwpower.com will be tracked, but you will remain anonymous. We may use your IP address to identify the general geographic area from which you are accessing cwpower.com. We connect data from different systems but do not link IP addresses to any personal information. We may also collect other information as described in this policy.
How Information Is Used
We use the information we gather from you for systems administration purposes, abuse prevention, provide information on electric use, improve member service, manage business operations, track user trends, and for the other purposes described in this policy. If you send us an email, the email address you provide may be used to send you information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions. We will not share, sell, rent, swap, or authorize any third party to use your email address for any purposes without your permission. When you register to use a CWP App, or related updates, we collect information that identifies you. We need this information to respond to your inquiries, to provide updates, or to provide services to you.
User information may be shared with third-party vendors to the extent necessary to provide and improve web services or other communications to users. For example, we use third parties such as Google Analytics to generate reports on site usage, web traffic, user behavior, and user interests in order to optimize our website for our visitors. We also use geographic, demographic, and interest-based reports of our website visitors to create custom audience lists. We prohibit any third parties who receive user information for this purpose from using or sharing user information for any purpose other than providing services for the benefit of our users.
We may also provide your information to third parties in circumstances where we believe that doing so is necessary or appropriate to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request; detect, prevent or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues; or protect our rights and safety and the rights and safety of our users or others.
Some examples include:
- To generate members’ billing statements and to post payments to members’ accounts;
- To provide members with outage information;
- To provide members with peak alerts and important warning messages at the request of members;
- To enable members to see their energy use data via secure access on the Internet at the members’ option;
- At the member’s option to analyze energy use to help the member take advantage of programs offered by CWP;
- Member information may be shared with affiliates and partners of CWP that offer products and services to members;
- In legal proceedings in which we are a party or a third party, we may be required to give some access to your personal information in compliance with lawful requests; or
We may use your personal information when we have a good faith belief that the disclosure is necessary to protect ourselves against fraud, for reasons of cyber defense or to otherwise protect the property and safety of CWP, our members and users.
Is My Personal Information Secure?
We understand that the security of your personal information is important. We provide reasonable administrative, technical, and physical security controls to protect your personal information. However, despite our efforts, no security controls are 100% effective, and CWP cannot ensure or warrant the security of your personal information.
Where Does CWP Store My Personal Information
Your personal information and files are stored on CWP servers and the servers of companies we hire to provide services to us.
How is This Information Collected and How Can I Opt-out?
Google and other third parties may use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect or receive information from this website and elsewhere on the internet and use that information to provide measurement services and target ads. For more information on Google Analytics, consult their terms of use, privacy practices, and ads settings. You can opt-out of the collection and use of this information through tools like the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.
Cookies
Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer (unless you block them). We use cookies to understand and save your preferences for future visits and compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. You may disable cookies through your individual browser options or you can opt-out of the collection and use of this information through tools like the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.
Other Websites and Cookies
This website may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.
Cookies may be set by parties other than us. These “third-party cookies” may, for example, originate from websites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media services for which cwpower.com has implemented “plug-ins.” Since the cookie policies of these sites change over time, you should determine their policies by visiting the privacy policy pages of these sites directly.
CWP Electronic News
CWP uses Electronic News Programs to keep members informed on subjects in which they’ve asked to be informed via Email. Through those programs, we can track behavior related to those emails, including whether you have received or opened an email, clicked a link in the email, or forwarded the email. If you do not want to receive those emails, you may opt-out as noted at the bottom of the email you receive from CWP through those programs.
CWP Apps
We may offer various apps to allow members the ability to see various programs on different devices. Some of our apps connect to our servers and offer members the ability to install updates to the apps. We do not keep track of those transactions made by members.
CWP Social Media
CWP may participate in social media sites and provide information on sites like Facebook and Twitter, however, users agree to those site’s policies.
Your Transaction History
We may collect information of your transaction history relating to the use of our services.
Electronic Bill Pay
When signing up for electronic bill payments, you agree to the following: “I authorize Crow Wing Power to initiate variable entries to my checking, savings or credit card account. This authority will remain in effect until I notify the cooperative at least four working days prior to the due date on my electric bill.
I can also stop payment of any entry by notifying the cooperative four business days before the due date on my electric bill. I can have the amount of an erroneous charge credited to my account up to 15 days following issuance of my bank or credit card statement or 46 days after posting, whichever occurs first.”
Once you have signed up for recurring payments, your electric bill will contain a message stating your bank draft or credit card charge date. The amount will be automatically deducted from your bank account or charged to your credit card on the due date shown.
Children Under the Age of 13
Our site and system are not designed for children, and we do not knowingly collect information from any person under the age of 13.
European Customers
Our site and system are not designed for doing business with European customers, and we do not knowingly collect any information from customers from Europe.
CWP welcomes comments regarding this privacy policy. If you have questions, please contact us at 218-829-2827 or 1-800-648-9401.