Privacy Statement

Version: March 14, 2013

Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, Inc.

Our mailing address is:
Columbia Gas of Massachusetts
2025 Roosevelt Ave.
P.O. Box 2025
Springfield, MA 01102
Customer Contact Center at 1-800-677-5052

Columbia Gas of Massachusetts (referred to as the “Company”, “we”, “our” or “us”) understands how important customer privacy is to you. We hope this statement will answer your questions about our information and privacy practices.

The Information We Collect About You

We collect and maintain certain information when providing service to you. The information may be gathered through a variety of means such as by telephone, through this Web site or the mail, etc. This information includes among other things, your name, service address, mailing address, social security number, account number, consumption history and telephone number.

In addition, we may collect and maintain information volunteered by you, such as survey information or Web site registrations in order to complete online transactions, including managing your account and job applications.

If you sign up for one of our online payment methods, we may require you to provide your bank account numbers and other financial information in order to process payment.

We collect information about usage of this Web site, such as the number of visitors to the Web site and the number of users that click on certain links or utilize certain services. We may collect information regarding your browsing of this Web site.

While we may maintain energy-related educational content directed at children under the age of 13, our Web site does not knowingly collect or maintain personal information from children under the age of 13.

Our Use of the Information We Collect on the Web Site

We reserve the right to use industry standard software to create summary statistics of data we collect from your use of this Web site, which may then be used to highlight what our visitors find interesting, to improve the Web site design specifications, to identify system performance issues and for other internal purposes. We may also collect information linked to you, your account, your computer, and/or device to, for example:

help diagnose problems with our servers and to administer this Web site;
organize the pages you have visited on this Web site;
help us to recognize you if you visit multiple pages on this Web site during the same session, so that we don’t need to ask you for your password on each page;
display your e-mail address on our sign-in form, so that you don’t need to re-type the e-mail address each time you log in to your account;
provide you with a more individualized delivery of information and an optimal viewing experience on this Web site;
let us know whether you received and opened our e-mail; and
serve advertisements of interest to you after you have left this Web site.

In collecting the above information for these purposes, we reserve the right to store small items of data (“cookies”) on your hard drive and/or use a range of industry standard technologies, which may include, without limitation, cookies, pixels, and beacons.

If you do not want us to serve advertisements to you through a third party after you have left this Web site, you must delete or prevent placement of our browser cookie by following the instructions contained in the Help section of your browser.

Our Information Sharing with Affiliates and Third Parties

Maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive personal information is important to us. The Company takes steps to protect from public disclosure your social security and bank account numbers and other sensitive personal information. However, sensitive personal information may be shared with affiliates, agents, contractors, vendors and other organizations that assist us in the conduct of our business. We further reserve the right to disclose, without your consent, any communications or sensitive personal information, when requested to do so by courts, government agencies or by law enforcement authorities, or through legal process; or in connection with the possible sale or reorganization of all or a portion of our business; or when we believe that disclosure is reasonably necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm, or financial loss related to the conduct of our business. Certain limited information we collect (e.g., name, address, e-mail address, browsing of this Web site, etc.) may be shared with affiliates and other third parties for the commercial marketing purposes of such affiliates or third parties, as permitted by law.

Opting Out of Information Sharing with Affiliates and Third Parties

If you do not want our affiliates and third parties to receive certain limited information we collect (e.g., name, address, e-mail address, browsing of this Web site, etc.) for commercial marketing purposes, or if you want to know more about your options in this regard, please call our Customer Contact Center at 1-800-677-5052. Note, even if you opt-out of having such information released for commercial marketing purposes, we may still provide such information to affiliates and third parties such as vendors, agents, contractors and other organizations that assist us in the conduct of our business, or the provision of utility service.

Opting Out of Cookie Information Sharing

If you do not want us to share your limited Web browsing information and serve advertisements to you through a third party after you have left this Web site, you must delete or prevent placement of our browser cookie by following the instructions contained in the Help section of your browser.

Accessing and Correcting Your Information with Us

If you believe the information the Company holds about you is inaccurate or incomplete, please contact us at the Customer Contact Center number above, so we can investigate your concerns.