Intent

At Ag Energy Co-operative Ltd., your privacy is very important to us. We are dedicated to providing you, our Member/customer with superior services while protecting your privacy and safeguarding your personal information. We have developed policies and procedures in compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) as follows:

Definition of Personal Information

Personal Information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be learned, but does not include your name, title, business address nor your business telephone and fax numbers. Depending on the purpose(s) for which we need to collect it, we may ask and/or retain the following Personal Information about you including:

1. Information about your energy transactions with your utility and Ag Energy such as account or meter numbers, quantities of energy contracted and used, account activity and payment history;
2. Information about your shares in Ag Energy and
3. General financial, banking, credit and reference information;

Practice

1. Collection: We collect Personal Information for the following limited purposes:
   a) To respond to your inquiries about your energy use and billings;
   b) To assist us in meeting utility information requirements;
   c) To assess membership suitability and creditworthiness of applications;
   d) To track patronage payments, dividends and or/rebates;
   e) To provide and maintain excellent communications with you and
   f) To meet legal and regulatory requirements including those under the Ontario Co-operative Corporations Act.
2. Consent: Ag Energy is committed to ensuring that you are aware of how your personal information is used. We will not collect, use, or disclose your personal information without your consent, unless required to do so by law.
   As part of our membership requirements, all Member/customer application forms must be signed by Members/customers providing the following consent: “I hereby authorize Ag Energy Co-operative Ltd. to collect my personal and utility information included on Ag Energy Co-operative Ltd.’s Application Form and the Credit Information Form required as part of the terms and conditions of my membership.”
3. Accuracy: We may periodically request written confirmation from our Members/customers to ensure that the personal information collected and maintained by us is up-to-date and accurate. If you are aware of any changes to the personal information you have given to us, simply inform us of the changes and we will update our records accordingly.
4. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention: We may share Personal Information with third parties who are engaged to assist us in providing services to our Members/customers or to carry out one or more of the purposes described above. These third party service providers are prohibited from using your Personal Information for any purpose other than to provide service to our Members/customers and are required to protect Personal Information disclosed by Ag Energy and to comply with the general privacy principles described in this Privacy Policy.
   We may need to share your Personal Information with others in order to serve your needs. These parties may include energy utilities, credit reporting agencies, financial institutions and other third-party service providers and professionals working for us such as energy consultants, accountants and lawyers.
5. Safeguarding Information: We maintain and protect your Personal Information by:
   a) Not collecting, using or disclosing your Personal Information for any purpose other than those we identify to you;
   b) Safeguarding your Personal Information in secured locations and on servers controlled by us;
   c) Keeping your Personal Information only for as long as we need it to fulfill the purpose or as required by law (i.e. 7 years after the last dealing);
   d) Obtaining consent from you for your collection, use or disclosure of your Personal Information.
   e) Ensuring all Ag Energy employees and sub-contractors with access to Member/customer and client information are required as a condition of their employment to respect the confidentiality of Personal Information by signing a non-disclosure agreement.
6. Data Breach Notification: Ag Energy will take immediate steps to mitigate the risk of harm resulting from a data breach. In addition to notifying the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Ag Energy will notify all affected members/customers of a breach of security safeguards where we reasonably believe there is a risk of significant harm to those affected. We will provide a description of: the breach, steps taken to reduce the risk to affected individuals, recommendation of steps an individual could take to reduce personal risk resulting from the breach, and information on how to obtain more information and file a complaint.
7. Access to Your Personal Information: You have the right to request access to the Personal Information that we have collected and to request amendments to the Personal Information about you to ensure its accuracy and completeness. To make a request for access to your Personal Information that Ag Energy has collected, disclosed or used, or to request that your Personal Information be amended, please contact our Privacy Officer.
8. Contact Information: We are pleased to answer any additional questions you may have concerning the privacy of your Personal Information.

Attention: Privacy Officer
45 Speedvale Avenue E.
Guelph, Ontario, N1H 1J2
Phone: (519) 763-3026
Toll Free: (866) 818-8828
Fax: (519) 763-5231