Privacy Policy
hilum energy Corporation and its affiliates (“hilum energy,” “we,” “us,” “our”) respect your privacy. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes our privacy practices in relation to the hilum energy website, which is accessible at www. EnergyHub.us, our mobile applications, and digital services (collectively, the “Digital Platforms”) that link to or post this Policy, unless otherwise indicated, as well as offline. It also explains how hilum energy collects, uses, and shares your Personal Information and other information, the choices that are available to you, and how you can contact us and exercise your legal rights. This Policy is incorporated into our Terms of Use Agreement, which also applies when you access or use the Digital Platforms
We may change this Policy from time to time. Please review the “Last Updated” legend at the top of this page to see when this Policy was last revised and any effective date. Any changes to this Policy will become effective when we post the revised Policy on the Digital Platforms, unless otherwise specifically noted in the legend. If you have any concerns about this Policy, please contact hilum energy via the contact information provided in the “Contact Us” section below.
THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
What Personal Information We Collect from You When you visit and interact with our Digital Platforms, we collect information about you, including Personal Information. Personal Information is 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.
The following explains the categories of Personal Information we collect from you within the last twelve (12) months and how we collect such data.
Online Forms: When you complete an online form to allow hilum energy, or a hilum energy authorized independent dealer, to contact you, we collect identifiers such as your name, address, zip code, telephone number, and e-mail address. We may also collect information sufficient to validate your identity as the party submitting the form, which may include your IP address, location information, information about your device, e.g., operating system, and a screenshot or screen recording of the form submission process.
Communications with hilum energy: When you contact hilum energy by telephone, or e-mail, we collect identifiers and any other Personal Information you choose to provide, as explained below.
Telephone: When you contact hilum energy by telephone, we will collect the telephone number that you use to call hilum energy. hilum energy records its telephone calls for training and quality assurance purposes. During a call, hilum energy may additionally collect your name, address, e-mail address, and information about your energy needs and usage. If you are a business contact for a commercial client or prospect, this may include business personal information.
E-mail and Electronic Means: When you communicate with hilum energy via e-mail or other electronic means, including through a virtual assistant, we will collect your e-mail address, name, and any Personal Information you voluntarily choose to include in the communication so that we can respond to your questions and provide you with quality service.
Social Media, Online Forum, Blogs, Message Boards, Chat Rooms: You may choose to interact with hilum energy via social media platforms on which hilum energy is active, including, but not limited to Facebook, LinkedIn, review sites like Yelp, or through blogs, chat or messaging features available through the Digital Platforms. Relating to these interactions, hilum energy may collect identifiers such as your screen name, real name and any information that you choose to provide such as posts, comments or feedback that you post or leave on pages, feeds or inboxes belonging to hilum energy. There are areas of the Digital Platforms and social media platforms that are visible to other users or the general public, e.g., blogs. We recommend that you do not post personal details to these areas of the Digital Platforms. YOU ASSUME ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY LOSS OF PRIVACY OR HARM RESULTING FROM YOUR VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION IN PUBLIC AREAS OR FORUMS.
Business Contacts: hilum energy collects the personal or business contact information you provide at trade shows or similar events, including through business card scans or drops, to allow us to contact you or to receive information about us, opportunities with us, or our product or services.
Testimonials: When you provide testimonials to hilum energy for us to publish on the Digital Platforms or in marketing materials, with your consent, we collect and may publish images of you, audio and/or video recordings, and identifiers that may include your name, contact information, and information about your experience with hilum energy products and services.
Applications: When you sign up or use a hilum energy application or service, we collect the Personal Information you provide to create a profile, account, generate a quote or estimate, provide payment (e.g., credit card or bank account information) or to receive information about the performance of your system or hilum energy products. This may include identifiers such as your name, address, zip code, telephone number, and e-mail address, as well as financial information to provide payments and information about your solar usage (see below).
Information About Your Solar Usage: When you purchase or lease a solar system from us or one of our authorized independent dealers, which may include services like energy monitoring, you provide us directly with Personal Information about yourself and your household or give us access to information about the use of the solar system by your household. This information may include identifiers such as your name, location of the installation, energy produced by the system, energy utilized (energy demand), or the time of day when the energy is utilized. This data is incorporated into our monitoring system and used for various purposes, such as to monitor the performance or your system and to provide you services you have agreed to receive, e.g., system maintenance.
Surveys: If you respond to surveys issued by hilum energy, we will collect identifiers such as your e-mail address, name, and any information you provide in response to or relating to the survey. If we disclose information relating to the survey to third parties, we will do so in non-identifying, aggregated form. We may disclose your feedback about the performance of an independent dealer or installer to that independent dealer or installer in identified fashion.
Leasing and Financing: If you request information from hilum energy, or lease or purchase products or services from hilum energy Capital, LLC, or a hilum energy authorized independent dealer, we will collect information such as your name, address, information about products leased or purchased, and contact information, including telephone number and e-mail address. For example, when you finance a product with us, hilum energy Capital, LLC may collect information from you, and any co-applicants or co-owners of the dwelling associated with your installation, including your contact information (e.g., name, address, phone number, e-mail address); proof of identity; Social Security or National Identity Number; financial history, including account balances and payment history; credit reports, scores and history; employment and income information, including employment verifications; and utility bills.
Payments: When you make a payment to us, either directly or through one of our approved service providers, we collect information necessary to process the transaction and validate your identity. This may include identifiers such as your name, contact information (address and telephone number), and depending on the payment methodology, your payment card information (card number, security code, expiration date, or bank account information). When you use a hilum energy approved service provider to make a payment, your use of the service is subject to that service provider’s Terms and Conditions and Privacy Notice.
Career Opportunities: If you apply for a career opportunity with us, we may collect information such as your contact information (name, address, phone number, e-mail address); proof of identity; Social Security or National Identity Number; employment and education history, including information in a resume or CV; references or other information included in a voluntary background or driving record search; and information about you contained in any related communications, including a cover letter.
Consent: We may use your Personal Information for any other purpose for which you consent.
Combining Information, We Collect: We may combine any of the information we collect from or about you and use it in the manner described in this Policy.
We do not collect sensitive information about you (such as health or medical history, ethnicity, political leanings, religious beliefs, trade union membership, sexual preferences, etc.) and you should not provide such information to us.
Cookies and other Automated Technology
The Digital Platforms use cookies, pixel tags, analytics tools, and other similar technologies to collect information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns to help our Digital Platforms function effectively, improve the services we provide, and assist us with our marketing as set forth below. These technologies collect the following information about you from your browser whenever you access or use the Digital Platforms.
Web Browsers: Like most site operators, we gather non-identifying information from your computer and internet connection of the sort that web browsers, depending on their settings, may make available. That information includes your Internet Protocol address, operating system and browser type and version number, and the locations of the web pages you view right before arriving at, while navigating, and immediately after leaving, the Digital Platforms. Such information helps provide information on traffic data and location data, date and time of access, frequency and other communication data and details of referring websites actions, and patterns.
Cookies: We may collect some information from you using a “cookie.” A “cookie” is a string of information that a site caches or stores on your computer, and your browser provides to the Digital Platforms, each time you submit a query to the Digital Platforms. We may use cookies to track the pages that you visit during each site session, your browser type, time spent on the Digital Platforms, language preference, and other traffic information. We and third-party service providers may use cookies to understand the usage of the Digital Platforms to improve our design, effectiveness and functionality, to understand how the Digital Platforms are used generally and by you, to display information to you more effectively, to personalize your experience, to understand how you engage with our offers, advertising or campaigns, to analyze and understand user activity and trends, and for security. Cookies also allow us to present information to you in a more effective and meaningful manner by allowing us to understand which of our campaigns, products or services may be most likely to appeal to you and present them to you automatically. For more information on your ability to disable your cookies, please see “Your Choices Regarding Your Personal Information” below.
Web Beacons: We use technology known as “web beacons” to collect web information. A “web beacon” is an object that is embedded in a web page. It is usually invisible to you but allows site operators to check whether you have viewed a particular web page or e-mail communication. We may place web beacons on pages of the Digital Platforms. You may not decline web beacons. However, they may be rendered ineffective by declining all cookies or modifying your browser setting to notify you each time a cookie is tendered and permit you to accept or decline cookies on an individual basis.
Data Analytics: We may use third-party data analytics service providers such as Google Analytics to measure the web traffic on different parts of our Digital Platforms in order to improve it. Google Analytics, which anonymously tracks users who have JavaScript enabled, uses technical tools like first-party cookies and JavaScript code to collect information about your interactions with our Digital Platforms. The tracking information may include detailed data about what you do on our Digital Platforms, such as the web pages you visit and for how long and the websites you visited directly before and after coming to our Digital Platforms. In addition, first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) are used to report how your ad impressions, uses of ad services, and other interactions are related to visits to our Digital Platforms. We use information from Google Analytics to administer and update our Digital Platforms, assess whether our users match the expected demographics, and determine how key audiences are navigating the content. Google may retain and use, subject to the terms of its Privacy Policy, information collected in your use of the Google Analytics Information Disclosures and Sharing. Google Analytics offers website visitors the ability to prevent Google from recording, processing, and using the data generated by the Google Analytics cookie. You may opt-out by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available through Google at the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Cross-Device Tracking: We use data analytics companies, advertising networks, or social media companies, and features offered by data analytics services or the Facebook Pixel, to engage in “cross-device tracking,” which occurs when platforms, publishers, and advertising technology companies try to connect a consumer’s activity across smartphones, tablets, desktop computers, and other connected devices. The goal of cross-device tracking is to enable companies to link a consumer’s behavior across devices.
Social Media Plug-ins: We may use social media plug-ins on our Digital Platforms from companies like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn to enable you to easily share information with others. We use the information collected from the plug-ins to learn about your interests and to help us better understand how to serve you. This information may include your preferences about how to contact you or further develop a business or professional relationship with you, your product or marketing preferences, and demographic data. The social media plug-ins may allow these companies to receive Personal Information about you and your visit to our Digital Platforms. When you visit our Digital Platforms, the operators of the social media plug-ins place cookies on your computer that enable them to recognize you on their websites after you have visited our Digital Platforms, or that enable them to add the information collected from your visit to our Digital Platforms with your prior activity on those websites. We do not control what information is collected by the social media plug-ins or the information practices adopted by those social media companies. For more information about social media plug-ins from social media websites, you should refer to those companies’ privacy and data sharing statements.
Information hilum energy Purchases or Receives from Third Parties
hilum energy may purchase or receive information, including identifiers such as your name, address, e-mail address and telephone number from third parties to be used to market hilum energy products and services to you as explained below.
Third Parties with Whom We Have a Relationship – hilum energy may receive your personal information from third parties with whom we have a relationship, including our authorized independent dealers, home builders, and lenders, to determine whether you are interested in purchasing a hilum energy product or service and whether that product or service is right for you.
Purchase of Data from Unaffiliated Third Parties – Where permitted by applicable law, hilum energy may purchase your Personal Information from third parties, e.g., lead generators, and will process your data in accordance with applicable law (and with your consent, where required) to determine whether you are interested in purchasing a hilum energy product or service and whether that product or service is right for you.
Utilities: Where permitted by applicable law, and with your consent, hilum energy may obtain information about your energy consumption from your utility provider. This information may be used by hilum energy to provide monitoring services and calculate energy savings relating to your system, and may also be used by hilum energy to understand how you use your system.
Referral Programs: We may receive your information from third parties as part of a referral program, including our “Refer a Friend” or “Friends and Family” programs and offers. These may include programs offered by your employer, trade groups or affiliation groups. Your information will only be used for determining your interest in an hilum energy product.
Third-Party Site Information: Some of our applications leverage data, including images, from third-party sites or databases, including Google Earth images included in our design a system or estimator functionalities, or utility information provided to us by your utility company with your consent. Where required, we will seek your consent to receive this data.
Links to Third-Party Sites: If you follow a link to any third-party sites or use sites of a third-party service provider, please note that they may have their own privacy policies and practices. hilum energy does not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies or processing of your personal information. Please check these policies before you submit any Personal Information to any third-party sites.
HOW WE USE THE PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
We use the Personal Information set out in Section 1 or non-identifiable information we collect to facilitate the business relationship we have with you, to comply with our legal and financial obligations, and to pursue our legitimate business interests, which include the business purposes set out below:
To provide or deliver the information, notifications, services, products, support or transactions you requested;
To communicate with you, including to provide you information or schedule consultations about your transaction, products or services, to discuss, schedule or confirm maintenance on your system or process warranty claims, about marketing, promotional offers or surveys, and about product safety information;
To facilitate communications with hilum energy authorized independent dealers or related third parties, like pass-through warranty holders (in commercial transactions);
To analyze, tailor, or improve our products and services, including the Digital Platforms and any content or advertising thereon;
To analyze and improve the effectiveness of our marketing programs and the Digital Platforms;
To enforce our legal obligations and rights, including our Digital Platforms terms and conditions, and any contractual rights (e.g., the collection of debt);
To improve our customer service experience, including for training and quality assurance purposes;
To monitor the performance of your system and provide you with maintenance or troubleshoot issues with your system;
To analyze and improve the safety and security of our products and services;
In the event of a merger, sale or other transfer event, in which Personal Information held by us about you is among the assets transferred; and To comply with laws applicable to publicly traded companies, including those relating to the detection, prevention and monitoring of fraud, anti-corruption, and money laundering, including Know-Your-Customer and related reporting obligations.
We also use the Personal Information we collect for commercial purposes. These include:
To e-mail you about products and services that we believe may be of interest to you; and To provide your information to third parties, including our third-party distributors or hilum energy authorized independent dealers, so that those third parties may directly contact you about products and services. If you wish to opt-out of receiving e-mails from us or from third parties, please follow the instructions at the bottom of each e-mail.
HOW WE DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION
We may share your Personal Information with trusted third parties or in other instances, including where required by law. We will use contractual or other means to protect Personal Information disclosed to third parties where required to ensure that the recipient keeps the Personal Information confidential and does not use it for any other purpose except performing the services.
In the last twelve (12) months, we have disclosed your Personal Information set out in Section 1 to the following categories of third parties:
Affiliated Entities: We share the information we collect with other hilum energy entities, including subsidiaries and parent companies, companies related by common ownership or control, financial and/or non-financial companies, and joint ventures, to provide our products, services and for internal business administrative purposes;
Business Partners: We share information, including identifiers such as your name and contact information, the status of your transaction/inquiry with us, with distributors, authorized independent dealers, installers, home builders, agents, companies that perform services for us, other companies or entities to which we report lease or sales consummation or closing data, or companies with whom we have marketing or affiliate relationships to facilitate the sale and installation of your system, and report the status of your inquiry about hilum energy products;
Service Providers: We share information with service providers that: (1) process information on our behalf; (2) provide infrastructure, products or services to us or on our behalf or help us operate or improve our business; (3) participate with us in the provision, maintenance, or operation of the Digital Platforms; and (4) provide you with information, products and/or services relating to your hilum energy system or when it is necessary to provide information, products or services to you;
Financial Institutions: hilum energy Capital, LLC and hilum energy Capital Services, LLC (collectively, “hilum energy Capital”) share information with financial institutions, or their wholly owned subsidiaries, that finance the leases and other forms of financing, and other entities that help manage the leases and other forms of financing, send you notice of payments due, and reminders of past due payments (for more information regarding how these entities shares your Personal Information in connection with our financing options.
Credit Reporting Agencies: hilum energy Capital may report information (regarding late payments, missed payments or other defaults on your account) to credit bureaus were allowed by law;
By Law, to Protect Rights and to Comply with Our Policies: We disclose your information if: (1) required to do so by law, or in response to a subpoena or court order; (2) we believe, in our sole discretion, that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect against fraud, to protect the property or other rights of us or other users, third parties or the public at large; or (3) we believe that you have abused the service by using it to attack other systems or to gain unauthorized access to any other system, to engage in spamming or otherwise to violate applicable laws. For example, we may be required by law to provide your Personal Information to the California Public Utilities Commission or a utility provider;
Corporate Transactions: In the event we enter into or intend to enter into a transaction that alters our business structure, such as a sale, reorganization, merger, joint venture, change of control or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock, we may share Personal Information with third parties to facilitate and/or complete the transaction; and Prevention of Harm: We may disclose information we collect about you to the necessary authorities if we believe you have abused a service offered by us via the Digital Platforms or otherwise by using it to attack other computer systems or to gain unauthorized access to any other computer system, to engage in spamming or otherwise to act in an unlawful manner or to breach the terms of use of the service or the Digital Platforms.