Privacy Policy
Effective as of January 11, 2022
This Privacy Policy applies to this website (“Site”) operated by Solar Service Experts, LLC d/b/a Spruce Power ™ (“Spruce”, “we”, or “us”). This Privacy Policy describes how we use, store, and disclose information that we obtain about you through our Site, including information that we obtain through the services that we provide through our Site.
If you have a financial product or service with us, we will use and share any information that we collect from or about you in accordance with our U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice, which offers you certain choices with respect to the use and sharing of your personal information.
PRIVACY IS OUR PRIORITY
We are committed to protecting our customers’ personal and financial information. In the course of providing financial products and services, we need to collect and maintain certain nonpublic personal information. This Privacy Statement answers some questions about what nonpublic personal information we collect, what we do with it, and how we protect it.
Spruce reserves the right, at any time, and without notice, to add to, change, modify, or update this privacy policy by posting a revised policy on this web site. If the policy is updated, the date of modification will be posted. Please visit the website regularly to be up to date with any changes to our privacy policy.
COLLECTING AND USING INFORMATION
Personally Identifiable Information We Collect
Information You Provide
We collect Personally Identifiable Information about you in various ways when you do business with us. “Personally Identifiable Information” is individually identifiable information about an individual consumer that we collect and maintain in an accessible form. In the past 12 months, we have collected consumer information regarding contact information, financial and banking information, and other Personally Identifiable Information. Examples of Personally Identifiable Information we collect and how we use them include:
• Your Account with us: We collect from you information related to the solar system, financing, account number, credit information, name, address, phone number, and social security number. This information is used by us to accurately service your account.
• Solar and energy storage systems: We collect information regarding the manufacturer, model, and number of units, as well as the annual production, utility account number, meter reading, production registration tracking, and other information regarding these systems and their performance. This is vital for us to maintain accurate information about the solar and energy storage equipment.
• Payment Information: We collect information such as your account balance information, payment history, overdraft history, delinquency status, banking information, and credit or debit card purchase information. This information is used to accurately service your account.
• Automatic Payments: When you authorize us to make automatic payments, we store banking information necessary to effectuate those transactions. This information could include your name, address, and account number.
Third-Party Information
In some cases, we may receive certain Personally Identifiable Information from you about a third party. For example, as part of our application process, you may provide the name, email address, and personal phone number of a third party. If you submit any Personally Identifiable Information about another individual to us, you are responsible for making sure that you have the authority to do so and to allow us to use their Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Other Sources
We may receive information about you from other sources, such as public databases, commercially available sources, social networks, and other third parties.
How We Use Your Personally Identifiable Information
In addition to the uses identified above, we may use the Personally Identifiable Information we collect to:
• Contact you regarding our products and services that we feel may be of interest to you;
• Communicate with you about our Site or to inform you of any changes to our Site;
• Provide support;
• Maintain and improve our Site;
• Defend our legal rights and the rights of others;
• Efficiently maintain our business; and
• Comply with applicable law.
How We Share Your Personally Identifiable Information
In order for us to serve your home energy needs, we rely on third-party vendors and service providers to provide support and assistance for our services and products. We may share your Personally Identifiable Information with such third parties as is necessary to help us conduct our business and provide you with the best possible services. We may contract with various third-party service providers in furtherance of this goal such as payment processors, website hosting partners, solar and energy storage installers, and others.
For example, we may share your information:
• With our accounting/banking partners to fully provide our services. The information we may share includes your name, address, phone number, email address, banking information, delinquency status, solar equipment information, and energy production data;
• With our servicing partners in order to fulfil responsibilities related to installing and maintaining the equipment. The information we may share includes your name, address, phone number, email address, solar and energy storage equipment type, and building plans;
• To the extent that we are required to do so by law;
• In connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings;
• To establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights, including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention;
• To any person who we reasonably believe may apply to a court or other competent authority for disclosure of that Personally Identifiable Information where, in our reasonable opinion, such court or authority would be reasonably likely to order disclosure of that Personal Information;
• To any other person or entity as part of any business or asset sale; and
• To any other person or entity where you consent to the disclosure.
INFORMATION REGARDING COOKIES
“Cookies” are small amounts of data that a Web site can send to your web browser and store on your computer. Cookies do not contain personal information about you (unless you knowingly provide it). Cookies can note that your browser was used to visit certain sites, pages, or advertisements on a certain date.
We use cookies to enhance navigation and the functionality of our Site. You do have control over cookies. Most browsers can be set to notify you when a cookie is being placed on your computer. You can set most browsers to refuse to accept cookies, although this may affect your Internet experience.
You can also erase cookies that are already on your computer. For more information on working with cookies, consult the user manual, FAQ, or “Help” function of your specific browser.
“DO NOT TRACK” SIGNALS
Some internet browsers incorporate a “Do Not Track” feature that signals to websites you visit that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. Given that there is not a uniform way that browsers communicate the “Do Not Track” signal, our Site does not currently interpret, respond to or alter its practices when it receives “Do Not Track” signals. If you would like additional information about online tracking and various opt-out mechanisms, please see http://donottrack.us/.
REVIEWING OR REQUESTING CHANGES TO YOUR INFORMATION
If you wish to review or request a change to your personal information, you may do so by contacting us directly through the email or phone numbers provided in the “How to Contact Us” section below.
SECURITY
We maintain commercially reasonable security measures to protect the Personally Identifiable Information we collect and store from loss, misuse, destruction, or unauthorized access. However, no security measure or modality of data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. Although we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personally Identifiable Information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
THIRD PARTY LINKS
The Site may contain links that will let you leave the Site and access another website. For example, if you click on links for the Customer Portal or the Billing Portal, you will be taken to separate websites. Except as stated herein, this Privacy Policy applies solely to Personally Identifiable Information that is acquired on this Site. We accept no responsibility or liability for these other websites.
PRIVACY REGARDING CHILDREN (CHILDREN’S ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT)
Our Site is not intended for persons under 13 years old. If you are a parent or guardian and discover that your child has provided any personal information to us, then you may contact us at the email or mailing address noted at the end of this Privacy Policy and request that we delete that information from our system.
NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) requires that we provide California residents with a privacy policy that contains a comprehensive description of our online and offline practices regarding the collection, use, disclosure, and sale of personal information and of the rights of California residents regarding their personal information.
The CCPA defines “personal information” to mean information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. Personal information does not include information that is publicly available, deidentified or aggregate information. For purposes of this “NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS” section we will refer to this information as “Personal Information.”
The CCPA’s privacy rights described below do not apply to Personal Information that is collected, processed, sold, or disclosed pursuant to the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and its implementing regulations or the California Financial Information Privacy Act. Because we are subject to those laws and regulations, much of the Personal Information that we collect is exempt from the CCPA. Your choices and rights with respect to our use and sharing of that information are subject to our U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice.
The CCPA’s privacy-related rights also do not apply to certain types of Personal Information that is subject to the Federal Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Some of our services are subject to the FCRA and, therefore, exempt from the CCPA on that basis.
Right to Know About Personal Information Collected, Disclosed, or Sold
If you are a California resident, you have the right to request that we disclose what Personal Information we have collected about you. This right includes the right to request any or all of the following:
(1) Specific pieces of Personal Information that we have collected about you;
(2) Categories of Personal Information we have collected about you;
(3) Categories of sources from which the Personal Information was collected;
(4) Categories of Personal Information that we sold (if applicable) or disclosed for a business purpose about you;
(5) Categories of third parties to whom the Personal Information was sold (if applicable) or disclosed for a business purpose; and
(6) The business or commercial purpose for collecting or, if applicable, selling Personal Information.
The CCPA defines “sell” to mean selling, renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, transferring, or otherwise communicating orally, in writing, or by electronic or other means, a California resident’s Personal Information to another business or a third party for monetary or other valuable consideration.
Collection of Personal Information
We currently collect and, in the 12 months prior to the Last Updated date of this Privacy Policy, have collected the following categories of Personal Information about California residents directly from them:
• Identifiers (name, postal address, email address, account name, Social Security number, and driver’s license number)
• Unique personal identifiers (customer number, telephone numbers, or other forms of persistent or probabilistic identifiers that can be used to identify a particular consumer or device)
• Telephone number
• Signature
• Bank account number
• Credit and debit card number
• Other financial information
• Commercial information (records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained or considered; and other commercial information)
• Professional or employment-related information
• Voice recordings
• Military or veteran status
• Electronic or visual information
We collected the above categories of Personal Information for the following business or commercial purposes:
• Protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity
• Performing services on behalf of the business or service provider, including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, or providing similar services on behalf of the business or service provider
• Advancing our commercial or economic interests by enabling or effecting, directly or indirectly, a commercial transaction
Disclosure of Sale of Personal Information
In the 12 months preceding the Last Updated date of this Privacy Policy, we disclosed the above categories of Personal Information for a business purpose to the following categories of third parties:
• Affiliates
• Business partners
• Internet service providers
• Government entities
We did not sell Personal Information to third parties in the 12 months preceding the Last Updated date of this Privacy Policy. We do not knowingly collect or sell the Personal Information of minors under 16 years of age.
Right to Request Deletion of Personal Information
If you are a California resident, you have the right to request that we delete the Personal Information about you that we have collected or maintain. However, a business is not required to comply with a request to delete if it is necessary for the business to maintain the Personal Information in order to, for example, complete a transaction, detect security incidents, comply with a legal obligation, or otherwise use the Personal Information, internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which the consumer provided the information.
How to Submit a Request to Know or Delete
You may submit a request to know or delete by calling us at 1-866-287-3064. You also may submit a request to know or delete by emailing us at privacy@sprucepower.com.
If you submit a request to delete online, you may be asked to confirm separately that you want your Personal Information deleted.
As discussed, many of the categories of Personal Information we collect are exempt from the CCPA. Your choices and rights with respect to our use and sharing of that information are subject to our U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice.
Our Process for Verifying a Request to Know or Delete
If we determine that your request is subject to an exemption or exception, we will notify you of our determination. If we determine that your request is not subject to an exemption or exception, we will comply with your request upon verification of your identity and, to the extent applicable, the identity of the California resident on whose behalf you are making such request.
We will verify your identity either to a “reasonable degree of certainty” or a “reasonably high degree of certainty” depending on the sensitivity of the Personal Information and the risk of harm to you by unauthorized disclosure or deletion as applicable.
For requests to access categories of Personal Information and for requests to delete Personal Information that is not sensitive and does not pose a risk of harm by unauthorized deletion, we will verify your identity to a “reasonable degree of certainty” by verifying at least two data points that you previously provided to us and which we have determined to be reliable for the purpose of verifying identities.
For requests to access specific pieces of Personal Information or for requests to delete Personal Information that is sensitive and poses a risk of harm by unauthorized deletion, we will verify your identity to a “reasonably high degree of certainty” by verifying at least three pieces of Personal Information previously provided to us and which we have determined to be reliable for the purpose of verifying identities. In addition, you will be required to submit a signed declaration under penalty of perjury stating that you are the individual whose Personal Information is being requested.
Notice of Right to Opt-Out of Sale of Personal Information
If you are a California resident, you have the right to direct businesses to stop selling your Personal Information. We do not sell Personal Information as it is defined in the CCPA.
Right to Non-Discrimination for the Exercise of a California Resident’s Privacy Rights
We will not discriminate against California residents if they exercise any of the rights provided in the CCPA as described in this section “Notice to California Residents.” As such, we will not deny goods or services to that California resident; charge different prices or rates for goods or services, including through the use of discounts or other benefits or imposing penalties; provide a different level or quality of goods or services to the California resident; or suggest that the California resident will receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services. However, we are permitted to charge a California resident a different price or rate, or provide a different level or quality of goods or services, if that difference is reasonably related to the value provided to us by the individual’s data.
Authorized Agents
If you are submitting a request on behalf of a California resident, please submit the request through one of the designated methods discussed above. After submitting the request, we will require additional information to verify your authority to act on behalf of the California resident.
Shine the Light Law
We do not disclose personal information obtained through our Site or Services to third-parties for their direct marketing purposes. Accordingly, we have no obligations under California Civil Code § 1798.83.
Accessibility
We are committed to ensuring this Privacy Policy is accessible to individuals with disabilities. If you wish to access this Privacy Policy in an alternative format, please contact us as described below.
HOW TO CONTACT US
To contact us for questions or concerns about our privacy policies or practices please e-mail privacy@sprucepower.com or call 866-287-3064.
