Privacy Notice – California Consumer Privacy Act
Notice of Accessing, Collecting, Storing, Using, and Disclosing Energy Usage Information
California Electric Homes Program
TRC Solutions, Inc. (“TRC” or “we” or “our”) is acting as the implementer of the California Electric Homes Program (“Program”) for the California Energy Commission (CEC). This role involves the collection of certain personal information to facilitate your involvement in the Program. TRC takes the privacy and security of your personal information seriously. This Notice is effective January 1, 2023 and describes how we collect, use, and disclose personal information relating to California residents under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), including the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”) and under the California Public Utilities Commission Privacy Rules (“Rules”).
What Is Personal Information?
The “CCPA” describes “Personal Information” as information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular California resident or household. However, the CCPA does not apply to certain information, such as information subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act or the Health Information Portability Accountability Act.
What Is Covered Information?
The Rules describe “Covered Information” as any usage information obtained through the use of the capabilities of advanced metering infrastructure when associated with any information that can reasonably be used to identify an individual, family, household, residence, or non-residential customer, except that Covered Information does not include usage information from which identifying information has been removed such that an individual, family, household or residence, or nonresidential customer cannot reasonably be identified or re-identified. Covered information, however, does not include information provided to the Commission pursuant to its oversight responsibilities.
Notice At Collection (Collection, Use, And Disclosure of Personal Information)
TRC anticipates collection of the following categories of Personal Information or Covered Information about California residents and may disclose certain Personal Information to third parties or service providers for the business purposes listed.
As part of our implementation of the Program we may collect, or, in the past 12 months, we may have, collected the following categories of Personal Information or Covered Information:
- Identifiers, such as name and contact information,
- Personal information, as defined in the California safeguards law, such as financial information,
- Protected classifications under California or federal law, such as disability status or other attributes,
- Customer records, such as transaction, account and energy use,
- Internet or network activity, such as browsing history and interactions with our website,
- Geolocation data, such as equipment location, and
- Audio, electronic, visual, or similar information, such as call and video recordings, and
We will retain your Personal Information and Covered Information until the later of either the conclusion of the Program, or as required by our contract with the CEC. We may use your Personal Information or Covered Information for the following business purposes:
- to communicate with you and manage your Program incentive or Trade Professional Network membership,
- to determine your eligibility for and participation in certain programs,
- for our employment and vendor management purposes,
- to personalize, advertise, develop, improve, and market our products and services,
- for quality, safety, and data analysis,
- to perform accounting, auditing, and other internal functions, necessary to the Program,
- to maintain business records,
- to conduct investigations and comply with legal obligations, pertaining to the Program,
- to exercise and defend legal claims,
- for uses we notify you of or obtain your consent, and
- for use in a lawful manner compatible with the context in which it was provided.
California Residents’ Rights
California law grants California residents’ certain rights and imposes restrictions on particular business practices as set forth below. Notice at Collection: We are required to notify California residents, at or before the point of collection of their Personal Information, the categories of Personal Information collected and the purposes for which such information is used.
Verifiable Requests for Deletion, Access/Copy and Right to Know. Subject to certain exceptions, California residents have the right to make the following requests, at no charge:
Right To Deletion:
The right to request deletion of Personal Information that we have collected about them, subject to certain exemptions, and to have such personal information deleted, except where necessary that we maintain such Personal Information for reasons such as the following:
- Complete the transaction for which the Personal Information was collected, fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law, provide a good or service requested by the consumer, or reasonably anticipated within the context of a business’s ongoing business relationship with the consumer, or otherwise perform a contract between the business and the consumer.
- Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise that consumer’s right of free speech, or exercise another right provided for by law.
- Comply with communications laws which preclude deletion.
- Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the businesses’ deletion of the information is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of such research, if the consumer has provided informed consent.
- Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with the expectations of the consumer based on the consumer’s relationship with the business.
- Comply with a legal obligation.
- Otherwise use the consumer’s Personal Information, internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which the consumer provided the information.
Please note that the great majority of Personal Information we collect falls into the foregoing exemptions.
Right To Access/Copy:
(Up to twice every 12 months) The right to request a copy of the specific pieces of Personal Information that we have collected about them in the prior 12 months and to have this delivered, free of charge, either (a) electronically in a portable and, to the extent technically feasible, readily useable format that allows the individual to transmit this information to another entity without hindrance or (b) by mail. For security reasons and to comply with the CCPA, certain highly sensitive types of Personal Information, such as social security numbers, and bank account numbers, will not be provided, but we will inform you if we may have collected them during such 12-month period.
Right To Opt-Out/Do Not Sell:
The right to opt-out of the sale (if any) of their Personal Information.
Right To Know:
(Up to twice every 12 months) The right to request that we provide them certain information about how we have handled their Personal Information in the prior 12 months, including the:
- categories of Personal Information collected;
- categories of sources of Personal Information;
- business and/or commercial purposes for collecting or selling their Personal Information;
- categories of third parties with whom we have shared their Personal Information;
- categories of Personal Information that we have disclosed or shared with a third party for a business purpose;
- the right to request the specific pieces of Personal Information collected (see above); and
- categories of third parties to whom the residents’ Personal Information has been sold and the specific categories of Personal Information sold to each category of third party.
Submitting Requests.
Requests for previous versions of this Notice or of previous versions of the below-identified Privacy Policy, or any questions, concerns, or complaints regarding the collection, storage, use, or distribution of Covered Information, or to exercise the right to deletion, right to a copy, and/or the right to know may be submitted via email to caelectrichomes@trccompanies.com or by contacting us toll free at 833-987-3935. We will respond to verifiable requests received from California consumers or their authorized agents as required by law by matching the information provided against the information we have about you or requesting that you log into your account. If we are unable to adequately verify a request, we will notify the requestor. Authorized agents will be required to provide proof of their authorization, and we may also require that the relevant consumer directly verify their identity and the authority of the authorized agent.
Financial Incentives, Sale and Non-Discrimination.
The CCPA prohibits discrimination against California residents for exercising their rights under the CCPA and imposes requirements on any financial incentives offered to California residents related to their Personal Information. These prohibitions include the following:
Discrimination:
Businesses may not discriminate against residents who exercise their rights under CCPA. Discrimination may exist where a business denies or provides a different level or quality of goods or services, or charges (or suggests that it will charge) different prices or rates or impose penalties on residents who exercise their CCPA rights, unless doing so is reasonably related to the value provided to the business by the residents’ data.
Disclosure Of Financial Incentives and Sale:
If businesses offer any financial incentives for the collection, sale or deletion of their Personal Information, residents have the right to be notified of any financial incentives offers and their material terms, the right not to be included in such offers without prior informed opt-in consent, and the right to be able to opt-out of such offers at any time. Businesses may not offer unjust, unreasonable, coercive, or usurious financial incentives. We do not offer any such incentives or sell your personal information at this time, each as described in the CCPA.
The most current version of our full Privacy Policy will always be located here: https://www.trccompanies.com/privacy-policy/. To contact us, email us at caelectrichomes@trccompanies.com or call us at 833-987-3935.