Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
Effective: January 1, 2020
Last updated: July 21, 2022
At San Jose Water Company (“SJWC,” “we,” “us” or “our”), we believe it is important to protect the privacy of our customers and guests. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for the website(s) located at www.sjwater.com or any successor site(s) (collectively the “Website”). SJWC reserves the right to change this policy at any time by posting a new privacy statement at this location. Therefore, you are responsible for periodically checking this privacy statement for changes. Your use of the Website is governed at all times by San Jose Water Company’s Terms of Use.
- Collected Information and Usage:
SJWC collects and uses information you provide to us or that we learn from your use of the Website.
In the event we disclose any of your personal information to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes, we will not do so unless you consent to such disclosure. We may share your personal information with others where it is necessary to complete a transaction, respond to an inquiry you submitted, or enforce our Terms of Use. SJWC collects and uses personal information from you in the following ways:
Personal Information You Submit to SJWC:
If you choose to enroll or register for our various services, submit an employment application, or submit an inquiry, you may be asked to provide personal information (e.g. account number, name, address, phone number, Social Security Number and email address). The personal information provided enables you to access our various services offered on the Website, allows SJWC to process your employment application, and helps SJWC deliver better customer service.
We may use your personal information to respond to an inquiry you submitted, provide our services, or keep you informed about SJWC and its services. Subject to certain nondisclosure obligations that we have pursuant to the rules and regulations of the California Public Utilities Commission, we may disclose pertinent information to certain sanitation utilities or to certain energy utilities. We may also disclose such information to debt collection agencies.
Unless otherwise provided herein, we will not disclose your personal information to third parties without your written consent (which may be obtained electronically, such as by email or click-to- accept), unless we reasonably believe the disclosure is essential to SJWC’s business or to provide services to you, including but not limited to (i) where such disclosure is necessary to comply with applicable law or legal processes, (ii) collect unpaid bills, (iii) obtain and provide credit reporting information, (iv) provide home emergency services insurance, (v) resolve disputes, or (vi) communicate to you information about our services or services and products that may be of interest to you.
Automatically Collected Information:
SJWC automatically receives certain types of information whenever you interact with our Website, such as your internet protocol address and browser type. We may use this information to (i) diagnose Website technical problems, (ii) facilitate your use of the Website, or
(iii) track aggregate traffic patterns throughout the Website.
We may also use third party service providers in order to analyze automatically collected information to help us better understand our users’ needs and experience and to build, optimize and maintain our Website with user feedback.
Cookies:
Cookies are text files that are placed on your hard drive by a website when you visit that website. Cookies identify your computer and record your preferences and other data about your visit to that site so that when you return to the Website, the Website knows who you are and can personalize your visit. SJWC may use cookies in general to collect information to determine how to improve our Website by seeing which areas, features and services are most popular; to personalize the Website and make recommendations, as well as to improve the Website experience; and to complete transactions you have requested. We may also use third party service providers to help us analyze this information.
Do Not Track Signals:
“Do Not Track” signals are used by some web browsers to attempt to limit tracking related to your visit to a website. California Business & Professions Code Section 22575(b) (as amended effective January 1, 2014) provides that California residents are entitled to know how SJWC responds to “Do Not Track” browser settings. SJWC does not currently take actions to respond to Do Not Track signals because a uniform technological standard has not yet been developed. We may honor “Do-Not-Track” signals in the future.
Contact via Email
We may use your personal data to contact you with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information that may be of interest to you. You may opt out of receiving any, or all of these communications by following the unsubscribe link or instructions provided in any email we send or by contacting us. We may use email marketing service providers to manage and send emails to you.
Mailchimp is an email marketing sending service provided by the Rocket Science Group LLC. For more information on the privacy practices of Mailchimp, please visit their privacy policy: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/
Summary of Information Practices:
The following table summarizes our personal information collection, use, and sharing practices in the preceding 12 months. As reflected in this table, we may share your personal information with a variety of outside entities.
|
Category of Personal Information Collected |
Examples |
Categories of Sources |
Commercial/ Business Purpose |
Categories of Third Parties with Whom SJWC Shares PI |
|
Identifiers |
Full name, address, email address, phone number, account number, Social Security Number |
You |
Processing or fulfilling orders and transactions; providing customer service; processing employment applications; marketing additional insurance related services |
Certain sanitation or energy utilities, debt collection agencies, insurance providers, and third-party service providers. |
|
Unique identifiers or personal identifiers |
IP address, unique online identifiers, cookies, and persistent customer identifier |
You, our third-party cookies and other tracking technologies on our Website
|
Diagnosing Website technical problems; facilitating your use of the Website; tracking aggregate traffic patterns throughout the Website; tracking individual customers across their account(s); analyzing users’ needs and experience to build, optimize and maintain our Service, personalize our Website and make recommendations; processing or fulfilling orders and transactions |
Service providers, data analytic providers |
|
|
Commercial information |
Information about SJWC services purchased, obtained, or considered |
You |
Processing or fulfilling orders and transactions |
Payment processors |
|
|
Internet and other network activity |
Browser type |
You |
Facilitating use of the Website; diagnosing Website technical problems; tracking aggregate traffic patterns through the Website |
|
|
|
Geolocation data |
Location |
You |
Short-term, transient use to determine applicable service area alert |
|
|
Audio, electronic, visual, or similar information |
Video Images, Photos, Voicemail |
You |
Processing or fulfilling orders and transactions and customer service |
Security vendors |
|
Professional or employment- related information |
Employment history on employment application |
You |
Processing employment application |
Service providers, such as HR vendors |
|
Education information |
Employment history on employment application |
You |
Processing employment application |
Service providers, such as HR vendors |
Sale of Personal Information: SJWC and our business partners share certain information to offer you related services that may be deemed a “sale” of personal information under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). This includes working with third parties that provide you home emergency services insurance.
SJWC also uses tracking technologies for the purpose of tracking and reporting statistics about Website traffic and Website activity to enhance your online experience. These types of sharing may also be deemed a “sale” of personal information under the CCPA.
To the extent we and our business partners use such technologies on the services and on our Website, we offer an opt-out as discussed in Section 4 of this Privacy Policy.
- Children's Privacy:
Children under 13 years of age should not send any information about themselves to SJWC. If we learn that a child under 13 years of age submits information through any part of the Website, we will attempt to delete this information as soon as possible. With the written consent of a parent or guardian of a child, we collect photographs taken at SJWC-sponsored booths at community events which may contain photographs of children.
We do not and will not sell the personal information of minors under 16 years of age without affirmative authorization.
- Links to Third Party and Co-Branded Websites:
The Website may contain links to third party websites. Please be aware that SJWC is not responsible for and cannot control the information displayed on or privacy practices of these other sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies for these other websites, as they may differ from ours.
- California Residents:
Effective January 1, 2020, if you are a California resident, you have the right to know what personal information we collect, use, disclose or sell about you under the CCPA. Additionally, you have the right to access and delete your personal information.
To exercise these privacy rights and choices, please follow the instructions below:
- How to request access to your personal information: You may request access to your personal information twice in a 12-month period. To do so, please complete the webform in the San Jose Water Company Privacy Rights Portal, email us at privacy@sjwater.com with the subject heading “California Privacy Rights,” or call (888) 266-5885. In response, we will produce a report responsive to your request detailing the personal information we have collected, disclosed, and/or sold about you. This report will be delivered by mail or electronically at your request. Note, we may not always be able to fully address your request, for example, if it would impact the duty of confidentiality we owe to others, or if we are legally entitled to deal with the request in a different way. Please be aware that not all information sharing is covered by the California Privacy Rights requirements and only information on covered sharing will be included in our response.
- How to request deletion of your personal information: You may request that we delete the personal information we have collected and/or maintained about you. To do so, please complete the webform in the San Jose Water Company Privacy Rights Portal, email us at privacy@sjwater.com, or call (888) 266-5885. Note, we may need to retain certain personal information as permitted by law, such as to complete the transaction for which the personal information was collected, provide a requested good or service, detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activities, comply with legal obligations or to enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with your expectations or lawful within the context in which you provided the information.
- How to opt-out of the use of cookies: We offer an opt-out from the use of cookies and other tracking technologies in connection with our Website, which may in some cases constitute the sale of your personal information under the CCPA or other privacy laws. SJWC is not able to change tracking technologies consent (cookies) for an individual user. To opt-out of the use of cookies, please review Your Current State of consent and update as needed in the Cookie Declaration at the end of this Privacy Policy. Please note that you will need to opt out again if you visit one of our services from a different device or browser.
- How to opt-out of the sale of personal information: We and our business partners share certain information to offer you related services that may be deemed as a sale of personal information under the CCPA. This includes working with third parties that provide you home emergency services insurance. To opt-out of the sale of your personal information, please click Do Not Sell My Personal Information, fill out the webform at the San Jose Water Company Privacy Rights Portal, or call at (888) 266-5885.
We reserve the right to charge a fee where permitted by law, for instance, if your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.
Verification: Please note, we will take steps to verify your identity before fulfilling any of the above requests. If you maintain an account with us, we will verify your identity through existing authentication practices for the account. If you are not a registered customer, we will verify your identity by matching two or three data points that you provide with data points that we maintain and have determined to be reliable for the purposes of verification (e.g., email address, any information you may have previously provided SJWC and a declaration under penalty of perjury verifying your identity). If we are unable to verify your identity, we will let you know.
Authorized Agents: Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to you or your minor child’s personal information. In order to designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf, you must provide written proof that you have consented to this designation unless the agent has power of attorney pursuant to California Probate Code sections 4000-4465. You must also verify your identity directly with us by providing a copy of your government issued identification.
Response Timing and Format: We will confirm receipt of a consumer request within 10 days of receipt and will respond to a verified consumer request for personal information within 45 days of receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days total), we will notify you of the reason and extension period in writing. We will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your preference.
Anti-Discrimination Right: You have the right to be free from discrimination in product quality, goods or services if you choose to exercise your privacy rights under the CCPA.
- Financial Incentive Notice
We provide referrals for home emergency insurance services (the “Offering”) to prospective and existing customers. Through the Offering, customers may provide us with some personal information (e.g. names, postal addresses) when they opt-in to the Offering. There is no obligation to opt-in and customers may opt-out at any time. The details of the home emergency insurance services are included in the Offering. There is no discounted rate for SJWC services in connection with the Offering.
We offer these referrals, among other things, to enhance our relationship with you so you can enjoy related services. We invest heavily in our marketing and brand, in part, so we can provide programs to our customers. Customer data is valuable to our business only when it is combined with a sufficient number of other customer data and after it is enhanced by our efforts described below. The value to our business of any individual customer’s personal information is dependent on a number of factors, including, for example, whether and to what extent you take advantage of the Offering, whether and to what extent you opt out of the Offering, and whether we are able to enhance the data through our efforts described below. Our ability to create any value from the programs is heavily based on our ability to leverage said intellectual properties. We do not calculate the value of customer data in our accounting statements. We make this good faith estimate for California residents. To the extent we create overall value from our programs to our business that could be directly or reasonably related to the value of customer data, the method for calculating same would include: (1) the expenses associated with the Offering, such as our intellectual property, data analytics, and marketing operations, (2) the expenses related to the collection, retention and enhancement of customer’s personal information, and (3) all other reasonably related expenses.
You can opt-out of the Offering at any time of by following steps outlined in section 4 of this Policy: How to opt-out of the sale of personal information.
You can opt-in to the Offering at any time by contacting us at privacy@sjwater.com.
- Contact SJWC:
If you have any questions or concerns regarding SJWC's privacy policy, or would like to review or request a change to the personal information that you have provided, please contact us at privacy@sjwater.com.