Privacy policy
Privacy policy
We respect and value your privacy.
We may receive information about you from yourself or your electricity retailer. We will only handle, use or disclose your personal information in accordance with applicable laws relating to personal privacy or confidentiality.
Our Privacy Policy explains how we deal with your personal information, you can view it via the document below.
What is ‘personal information’?
Personal information includes a broad range of information, or an opinion, that could identify or reasonably identify an individual. What amounts to personal information will vary, depending on the circumstances.
For example, personal information may include:
- an individual’s name, signature, address, and contact information
- employee record information
- photographs
- internet protocol (IP) addresses
- sensitive information, including voice print and facial recognition biometrics (because they collect characteristics that make an individual’s voice or face unique)
- location information from a mobile device (because it can reveal user activity patterns and habits)
- in some cases, energy usage data (because it can reveal user movements and habits).
More information about the types of personal information that CitiPower and Powercor handle is set out below.
How we collect personal information
CitiPower and Powercor only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary for carrying out our functions or activities, or where the collection is otherwise permitted under the Privacy Act or other laws to which we are subject. It is our preference to collect personal information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. We typically collect information directly from individuals via smart meters, or when customers contact us directly via our contact centres, our websites and online platforms, and social media platforms. However, due to the nature of our business, it can be impracticable for us to collect personal information directly from individuals. We often receive personal information about customers indirectly from energy retailers, who sell energy services directly to those customers, and from electrical contractors.
Information we receive about you
We receive personal information about customers connected to our distribution network from their electricity retailer, registered electrical contractor or other relevant party. This information is collected to deliver electricity services to our customers and contact our customers in relation to their electricity supply. If this personal information is not provided, we will be unable to provide certain electricity services to those customers.
When a customer requests a service from us via the customer’s electricity retailer, registered electrical contractor or other relevant party, we collect some or all of the following types of personal information:
- your name, telephone number and email address
- your postal address
- the address at which our service is provided, and its National Metering Identifier (NMI). A NMI is a unique number for the electricity connection at your address
- the types of products and services that have been requested
- any other information reasonably necessary for us to provide our products and services to you.
Life Support Status
Where customers require specific life support machines in their homes (such as a dialysis machine or oxygen concentrator), we work with your electricity retailer to provide special supply arrangements.
To do so, we collect or receive notification that a supply address requires special electricity arrangements (known as life support status). A life support status is collected directly from the customer by third parties, such as their electricity retailer or health authorities, and shared with CitiPower and Powercor with customers’ consent.
Information that we collect directly from you
In addition to the above, CitiPower and Powercor also collect information about you through your interactions with us via smart meters, contact centre, our websites and online platforms, and social media. This information may include:
- name and contact details
- details and information in relation to feedback and complaints
- usage information and energy consumption profiles
- information and material regarding a claim for compensation if you think you have suffered loss as a result of our supply of electricity to you
- where payments to CitiPower and Powercor are required, any relevant financial details.
When you call us your telephone call may be recorded for quality, verification, security and compliance purposes. If you do not wish your call to be recorded, please advise us at the time of your call.
We may also derive new personal information about you, such as insights about your electricity consumption, by aggregating various categories of personal information which we hold about you, including smart meter data.
Smart meters
Under our statutory obligations, we are required to collect meter data concerning the electricity consumption and load profile of customers connected to the CitiPower and Powercor distribution networks through smart meters.
Smart meters provide two-way communication between customers’ electricity meters and CitiPower and Powercor (or the customer's appointed data provider). Electricity meter readings are recorded at regular intervals to facilitate more accurate billing, identify faults and issues and assist customers to better manage their energy consumption through greater visibility of usage patterns.
myEnergy Portal
The myEnergy portal is an online application that gives the occupier of premises connected to an electricity meter (the responsible party) within our distribution networks the ability to:
- tell us how you would like to be notified about interruptions to the supply of energy to your premises
- access and review your electricity metering data
- transfer your metering data to the Victorian Government’s energy compare website “Victorian Energy Compare”
- lodge feedback about the service we have provided to you
- lodge a claim for compensation.
We collect personal information, such as your contact information, through the myEnergy portal to process your requests, applications and provide our services.
Our websites
CitiPower & Powercor websites use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. (Google). Reports obtained from Google Analytics are used to help improve the efficiency and usability of our websites. Google Analytics use first-party cookies to help analyse how users use our websites. The information generated by the cookie about this (including IP addresses) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers around the world.
Google uses this information for the purpose of evaluating the use of our websites, compiling reports on website activity for site operators and providing other services related to website activity and internet usage. Google will not associate user IP addresses with any other data held by Google. You can ‘opt out’ of the collection of information via Google Analytics by downloading the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add On.
Social media
We use social networking services such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, in addition to traditional methods, to connect with our audience. These include responding to customer enquiries and feedback. Any personal information collected from social media sites will be handled in accordance with this policy.
The social networking service will also handle your personal information for its own purposes. These sites have their own privacy policies, and we recommend you read these also.
If you apply for a job with us, we will collect some or all the following personal information and health information from you:
- your name and contact details
- the details in your employment application
- a copy of your curriculum vitae and employment history
- evidence of entitlement to work within Australia
- details of any relevant medical conditions
- other personal information relevant to your application (including details of any relevant medical conditions).
If your application is successful and you are employed by us, we may collect additional personal and health information from you where it is necessary for us to do so. For example, we may collect health information about an employee when investigating a health and safety incident or when a person discloses to us personal or health information in circumstances where their capacity to perform their role is affected.
GPS technology in equipment used by employees performing work on the electricity network may be activated and accessed by us to obtain information about employees’ location in the field on Code Red days, Total Fire Ban days and Escalation Events. This information will not be used other than to locate employees for their health and safety, to allocate employees to the most appropriate location on Code Red days, Total Fire Ban days and Escalation Events, and will not be retained.
As part of our operations, we may need to collect personal information from other categories of individuals, such as:
- electrical contractors and licensed electrical workers, from whom we collect information such as name, contact details, employment details and registration/licence number
- solar and/or battery installers, from whom we collect information such as name, contact details, employment details and accreditation details
- individuals who are engaged by our customers, suppliers and other business partners, from whom we collect information such as name, contact details and employment details.
How we use your personal information
In general, we use your personal information to: - identify you as our customer - provide and maintain services to our customers - improve services provided to our customers - provide you with access to your meter data - verify your identity and validate your requests for access to your meter data (or a request to authorise a third party to access your metering data) - validate your requests for access to our online customer portal/s - consider your application for employment - verify your credentials and qualifications - comply with our legal and/or contractual obligations where required or authorised by law, which may include emergency situations and assisting law enforcement agencies. We may also use your personal information for auditing, management, or statistical purposes. This includes using your personal information in an aggregated and de-identified form for research and analysis. On these occasions we will use the data to analyse and examine trends and demographics to help us offer you improved services. We will not use your personal information other than as set out above unless we have your express consent, or where the law otherwise permits us to do so.
In Victoria, the Essential Services Commission requires that we provide you with information in prescribed situations, including:
- offering customers information about who we are and what we do in providing the network of poles and wires that deliver electricity, both as part of the onboarding process for new customers and thereafter on an annual basis
- where a planned outage (maintenance) will impact your property, in which case we are required to provide no less than 4 business days’ notice.
We will use personal information we hold about you (including your name and contact details) to contact you for these purposes.
We may also contact you to:
- notify you about emergencies, unplanned outages, faults, or interruption to supply of power
- keep you informed about the products, services, and special offers that we can offer that might be relevant to your power consumption, and to seek your opinion on matters related to your power consumption. These offers may continue after you cease to acquire services from us
- share electricity-related educational or safety awareness campaigns
- where we are permitted to do so by law, promote and market our products and services to you including through telephone and electronic methods such as email, SMS, and websites
- respond to, investigate, or resolve an enquiry or complaint
- discuss your application for employment.
Some of the examples above may constitute direct marketing. If you do not want us to use your personal information for direct marketing activities, please contact us.
We may disclose your personal information to:
- in the case of customers, our agents, contractors and service providers who we contract with to provide and improve services to you
- service providers and other third parties that provide products or services to us (including our technology service providers, data analytics service providers and other business or administration service providers)
- electricity retailers and other electricity market participants (such as the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)) to ensure they have sufficient information for billing customers
- in the case of potential employees, our psychometric testing service providers, medical providers, employment agency and recruitment suppliers, the Australian Department of Home Affairs and our external recruitment database service provider
- in the case of information from smart meters, to the occupier of the relevant premises, or to a third party at the occupier’s request
- at your request, to the Victorian Government for the purpose of the Victorian Energy Compare tool
- our related bodies corporate (including entities not operating as part of the Citipower and Powercor brands)
- any regulator, government authority or agency who has the right to access our records or request information from us
- any other organisation or person where you have provided us with your consent or we are otherwise legally permitted to do so
- emergency services, law enforcement agencies or government departments in the event we believe there is a serious threat to life or health, in an emergency or where disclosure is required or authorised by law.
We may disclose your personal information to our agents, contractors and service providers that reside outside Australia. We may also disclose your personal information to our parent companies that reside in Hong Kong for the purposes of internal audit reviews, business reporting and employee development and exchange opportunities.
In all instances we will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the overseas recipient of the personal information protects your personal information and only uses it for purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. If an overseas recipient is not subject to a law, or binding scheme, that has the effect of protecting the information in a way that, overall, is at least substantially similar to the way in which the Australian Privacy Principles protect your information, we will take steps such as establishing contractual commitments from the overseas recipient as to the security and protection of your personal information.
How we secure your personal information
We take reasonable steps to ensure the security of your personal information.
As far as practicable, we take measures to ensure that the information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete, relevant and up to date. We have also implemented technical, administrative, and physical security measures that are designed to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, and loss as well as unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We routinely test and review the information security measures that we have in place.
CitiPower and Powercor also have robust operational safeguards in place to protect personal information and other data related to smart meters.
For example:
- all wireless links are encrypted and cannot be disabled
- access to data from smart meters is restricted, with security measures such as password protection
- varying levels of encryption of data have been incorporated as well as digital certificates and intruder detection to make sure that only authorised users can gain access to the meters
- mandatory security processes are in place, such as regular review of audit trails in line with meter data provider accreditation and regular audits undertaken by AEMO
- in home display devices are securely bound to the meter so that information can only flow to that device.