Collection of Personal Information
Palmetto Electric Cooperative collects personally identifiable information, such as e-mail addresses, names, home or work addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, business IDs, and telephone numbers. Palmetto Electric Cooperative also collects anonymous demographic information, which is not unique to a member, such as ZIP codes.
There is also information about members’ computer hardware and software that is automatically collected by Palmetto Electric Cooperative. This information can include:
IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring Website addresses. This information is used by Palmetto Electric Cooperative for the operation of the service, to maintain the quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding the use of the Palmetto Electric Cooperative Website. Palmetto Electric Cooperative encourages members to review the privacy statements of Websites they choose to link to from Palmetto Electric Cooperative so that they can understand how those Websites collect, use and share information. Palmetto Electric Cooperative is not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on Websites outside of the Palmetto Electric Cooperative and Palmetto Electric Cooperative family of Websites.
Use of Personal Information
Palmetto Electric Cooperative collects and uses members’ personal information internally to operate the Palmetto Electric Cooperative Website and deliver the services requested. Palmetto Electric Cooperative also uses personally identifiable information to inform members of other products or services available from Palmetto Electric Cooperative and its affiliates. Palmetto Electric Cooperative may also contact members via surveys to conduct research about opinions of current services or of potential new services that may be offered.
Palmetto Electric Cooperative does not sell, rent or lease its member lists or personal information to third parties. Palmetto Electric Cooperative may, from time to time, contact members on behalf of external business partners about a particular offering that may be of interest to them. In those cases, personally identifiable information (e.g., email, name, address, telephone number) is disclosed to the third party. In addition, Palmetto Electric Cooperative may share personally identifiable information with a third party providing administrative or marketing and review services and statistical analysis to Palmetto Electric Cooperative. All such third parties are prohibited from using personal information except to provide these services to Palmetto Electric Cooperative, and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of member information. Palmetto Electric Cooperative keeps track of the Websites and pages our members visit within Palmetto Electric Cooperative to determine what Palmetto Electric Cooperative services are the most popular. This data is used to deliver customized content and advertising within Palmetto Electric Cooperative to members whose behavior indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area.
Palmetto Electric Cooperative Websites will disclose personal information, without notice, only as specified in this Statement and if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Palmetto Electric Cooperative or the site host; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Palmetto Electric Cooperative; and, (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of Palmetto Electric Cooperative, or the public.
Use of Cookies
The Palmetto Electric Cooperative Website uses “cookies” to help personalize members’ online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on a hard disk by a Webpage server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to their computers. Cookies are uniquely assigned, and can only be read by a Web server in the domain that issued the cookie.
One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save members time. The purpose of a cookie is to tell the Web server that a member has returned to a specific page. For example, if a member personalizes Palmetto Electric Cooperative pages, or registers with the Palmetto Electric Cooperative site or services, a cookie helps Palmetto Electric Cooperative to recall the member’s specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording personal information, such as billing addresses, shipping addresses, and so on. This information is protected in the same way as other personally identifiable information obtained by us. When a member returns to the same Palmetto Electric Cooperative Website, the information previously provided can be retrieved, so members can easily use the Palmetto Electric Cooperative features that were customized.
Site users have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify their browser settings to decline cookies if preferred. If a member chooses to decline cookies, he/she may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the Palmetto Electric Cooperative services or Websites visited.
Security of Personal Information
Palmetto Electric Cooperative secures members’ personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. Palmetto Electric Cooperative secures the personally identifiable information a member provides on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When personal information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted to other Websites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. Members are also responsible for maintaining the privacy of their information by, for example, not sharing their Palmetto Electric Cooperative login information and logging off the Website when you are finished.
Changes to this Statement
Palmetto Electric Cooperative reserves the right to change or update this Statement of Privacy to reflect company and customer feedback or as a result of legal compliance requirements or changes in business practices. Palmetto Electric Cooperative encourages members to periodically review this Statement to be informed of how Palmetto Electric Cooperative is protecting their information.