Privacy Policy
Last Updated: 7/1/2024
This Privacy Policy describes how MDU Resources Group, Inc. and our subsidiary and affiliate electric and natural gas utility companies (collectively, “MDUR,” “we,” or “us”) collect, use, and disclose information about you when you access or use our websites that link to this Privacy Policy, our customer-facing tools and services (collectively, our “Services”), or if you otherwise interact with us, such as through our customer support channels or marketing campaigns, at an event, or on social media. We may provide different or additional notices of our privacy practices for certain of our affiliate or subsidiary companies, products, services or activities, in which case those notices will supplement or replace the disclosures in this Privacy Policy.
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make changes, we will notify you by revising the date at the top of this policy. If we make material changes, we may provide you with additional notice (such as by adding a statement to the Services or sending you a notification). We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy regularly to stay informed about our information practices and the choices available to you.
COLLECTION OF INFORMATION
The information we collect about you depends on how you interact with us or use our Services. In this section, we describe the categories of information we collect and the sources of this information.
Information You Provide to Us
We collect information you provide directly to us. For example, we collect information directly from you when you create an account, fill out a form, submit content through our Services, make a purchase, communicate with us via third-party platforms, request customer support, participate in any contests, sweepstakes, or promotions we may offer, sign up for communications from us, or otherwise communicate with us. The types of information that we collect include your name, email address, postal address, phone number, and any other information you choose to provide. In addition, if you create a utility service account with us, we collect your date of birth, social security number, and username and password. If you make a purchase or pay a bill from us, we work with a third-party payment processor to collect and process your payment information.
Information We Collect Automatically
We automatically collect certain information about your interactions with us or our Services, including:
- Transactional Information: When you make a purchase or pay a bill, we collect information about the transaction, such as the service or product paid for, total amount paid, and the date and location of the transaction.
- Device and Usage Information: We collect information about how you access or use our Services, including data about the device and network you use, such as your hardware model, operating system version, mobile network, IP address, unique device identifiers, and browser type. We also collect information about your activity on our Services and your interactions with our ads and communications (such as the routes by which you access our Services along with access dates and times), browsing behavior (such as pages viewed, links clicked, and information about your activity on a specific page), and information about your interactions with our emails.
- Utility Information: If you are a customer of one of our utility companies, we also collect information on your electricity or natural gas consumption, both over time and for the current billing period.
- Audio Recordings and Chat Content: If you contact customer service through our chat feature or by phone, we may monitor and retain those conversations, including for training purposes.
- Information Collected by Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies: We use tracking technologies, such as cookies and pixels to collect information about your interactions with the Services. These technologies help us improve our Services and your experience, see which areas and features of our Services are popular, and count visits. For more information about the cookies and other tracking technologies we use, and the choices available to you, see the Your Choices section below.
Information We Collect from Other Sources
We obtain information from other sources. For example, we may collect information from our business partners or affiliates, identity verification services, advertising networks, publicly available sources, and data analytics providers. The types of information we collect from other sources include your contact information (such as name, phone number, and postal address), device and usage information (such as IP address and inferred geolocation), demographic information (such as age and gender), information about your occupation and household, and information about previous services purchased, rewards program participation, and interests.
Information We Derive
We may derive information or draw inferences about you based on the information we collect. For example, we may make inferences about your approximate location based on your IP address or infer that you are interested in or eligible for certain of our products and services, such as energy efficiency programs, based on your usage activity and past billing history.
USE OF INFORMATION
We use the categories of information we collect to provide, maintain, and improve our products and services. We also use the information we collect to:
- Personalize your experience with us;
- Send you technical notices, security alerts, support messages and other transactional or relationship messages;
- Communicate with you about products, services, and events offered by MDUR and others and provide news and information that we think will interest you (see the Your Choices section below for information about how to opt out of these communications at any time);
- Provide you with updated utility consumption information and utility bills, if you are a customer of one of our electric or natural gas companies;
- Facilitate contests, sweepstakes, and promotions and process and deliver entries and rewards;
- Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities in connection with our products and services;
- Detect, investigate, and help prevent security incidents and other malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity and help protect the rights and property of MDUR and others; and
- Comply with our legal and financial obligations.
ANALYTICS
We engage others to provide analytics services and perform related services across the web and in mobile applications. These entities may use cookies, web beacons, device identifiers, and other technologies to collect information about your use of our Services and other websites and mobile apps, including your IP address, web browser and mobile network information, pages viewed, time spent on pages or in mobile apps, and links clicked. This information is used to analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, and better understand your activity.
DISCLOSURES OF INFORMATION
In certain circumstances, we disclose (or permit others to directly collect) information about you. We disclose personal information as described in this Privacy Policy and in the following ways:
- Vendors and Service Providers. We make personal information available to our vendors, service providers, contractors and consultants that need this information to provide services on our behalf, such as companies that assist us with web hosting, payment processing, financing, fraud prevention, customer service, data enrichment, analytics, marketing and advertising, and federal and state-sponsored energy efficiency and assistance programs.
- If you choose to use integrations we offer on our Services, such as Google Maps, we provide certain information to the integration partners.
- Law Enforcement Authorities and Individuals Involved in Legal Proceedings. We disclose personal information in response to a request for information if we believe that disclosure is in accordance with, or required by, any applicable law, regulation or legal process, including lawful requests by public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.
- To Protect the Rights of MDUR and Others. We disclose personal information if we believe that your actions are inconsistent with our user agreements or policies, if we believe that you have violated the law, or if we believe it is necessary to protect the rights, property, and safety of MDUR, our customers, the public, or others.
- Professional Advisors. We disclose personal information to our legal, financial, insurance and other professional advisors where necessary to obtain advice or otherwise protect and manage our business interests.
- Corporate Transactions. We disclose personal information in connection with, or during negotiations of certain corporate transactions, including the merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company.
- Corporate Affiliates. Personal information is disclosed between and among MDUR and our parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, and other companies under common control and ownership. In some cases, where local Utility and Transportation Commission requirements apply, we will ask for your consent before disclosing information about you to affiliates, subsidiaries, or other third parties for purposes of marketing services or products that you have not previously used.
- Consent. In certain circumstances, we make personal information available to third parties with your consent or where you intentionally direct us to do so.
We also disclose aggregated or de-identified information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you. We process, maintain, and use this information only in a de-identified fashion and will not attempt to re-identify such information, except as permitted by law.
DATA RETENTION
We retain personal information for as long as necessary for the processing purposes for which we originally collected it and for other business purposes explained in this Privacy Policy. For example, we retain your email address and information about your marketing preferences to aid us in honoring those preferences.
YOUR CHOICES
Account Information
If you use an account with our Services, you can access, modify, and delete certain information by logging into your account at any time.
Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies
MDUR uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to analyze visits to and use of our Services and interactions with our communications. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually adjust your browser settings to remove or reject all or some browser cookies. Please note that removing or rejecting cookies could affect the availability and functionality of our Services.
Communications Preferences
You may opt out of receiving text messages or promotional emails from MDUR by following the instructions in those communications. You may also be able to manage certain communication preferences in your account settings menu. If you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional emails, such as those about your account or our ongoing business relations.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR RESIDENTS OF CERTAIN STATES
Several states, including California, Montana, Oregon, and Texas, have enacted consumer privacy laws that grant or will grant their residents certain rights and require additional disclosures (“State Privacy Laws”). If you are a resident of one of these states and MDUR is subject to the relevant requirements under State Privacy Laws, this section applies to you.
Additional Disclosures
Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and disclose information about you, as well as our analytics practices. Below, we use a table to explain this same information in accordance with State Privacy Laws, covering our data practices currently and over the past twelve months.
Collection, Use, and Disclosure of Personal Information for Business Purposes
Category of Personal Information | Categories of Recipients | Uses of Personal Information |
|---|---|---|
• Identifiers (such as your email address, phone number, DOB, and cookie IDs) | • Our subsidiaries and affiliates | • Provide, maintain, and improve the Services; |
• Demographic information (such as age and gender) | • Vendors, consultants, and other service providers | • Manage customer accounts and provide customer support and similar services; |
• Commercial information (such as services your purchase from MDUR) | • Community action agencies (such as those supporting federal and state-sponsored energy efficiency and assistance programs) | • Communicate with you about our products and services and provide news and information that we think will interest you; |
• Internet or other electronic network activity information (such as information about your visits to MDUR websites) | • Others in connection with business transfers | • Provide you with updated utility consumption information and utility bills, if you are a customer of one of our electric or natural gas companies; |
• Location information, (such as inferred location based on IP address) | • Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities in connection with the MDUR websites and our products and services; | |
• Inferences (such as services and programs you may be eligible for as an MDUR customer) | • Detect investigate, and help prevent security incidents and other malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity and help protect the rights and property of MDUR and others; | |
• Operate our business, such as to contact you in connection with billing or similar matters; and | ||
• Comply with our legal and financial obligations. |
Other Details About Our Information Practices
- We collect personal data from you directly (for example, when you create an account with us), automatically when you access or use our Services, and from third-party sources such as identity verification services, each described in more detail in the Collection of Information section
- We do not “sell,” “share,” or use of your information for purposes of “targeted advertising” as these terms are defined under certain State Privacy Laws. Further, we do not knowingly collect, sell, or share personal information about consumers under the age of 16.
- We process personal information that may be considered “sensitive” under certain State Privacy Laws, such your social security number if you create a utility service account with us, your self-disclosed race, ethnicity, or similar demographic information if you choose to participate in customer surveys, or information about your health status that you submit as part of qualifying for certain assistance programs. We only collect this information with your consent or at your direction and for purposes permitted under State Privacy Laws.
Your Privacy Rights
If you are covered by a State Privacy Law, you have the following rights:
- Right to Know/Access: You may request to know more about and access personal information we hold about you (including, where feasible, in a portable format).
- Right to Delete: You may request that we delete the personal information we hold about you.
- Right to Correct: You may request that we correct the inaccurate personal information that we have about you.
To submit a right to know/access, deletion, or correction request, please contact us as described in the Contact Us section. You may be able to update or delete certain information stored within your online account by logging into your account at any time. When you make such a request, we will take steps to verify your identity, such as by asking you to confirm access to the email address associated with the request or asking you to confirm other information to help ensure we are interacting with the individual making the request.
Appeals. If we deny your request, you may have the right to appeal our decision by contacting us as set forth in the Contact Us section. If you have concerns about the result of an appeal, you may contact the attorney general in the state where you reside.
Authorized Agents. Depending on where you live, you may also permit an authorized agent to make a right to know/access, deletion, or correction request on your behalf, subject to appropriate verification of the agent’s authority to submit requests on your behalf. For example, we may ask the authorized agent for proof of their authority to operate on your behalf, such as power of attorney, or we may ask you to provide confirmation that you gave the agent permission to make such request. If you are an authorized agent seeking to make a request, please contact us as set forth in the Contact Us section.
Nondiscrimination. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.
CONTACT US
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at the appropriate phone number or email address listed below:
To contact us related to one of our natural gas and electric utilities, please use:
- Cascade Natural Gas Corporation (CNGC): 888-522-1130 or [email protected]
- Great Plains Natural Gas Co. (GPNG): 877-267-4764 or [email protected]
- Intermountain Gas Company (IGC): 800-548-3679 or [email protected]
- Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. (MDU): 800-638-3278 or [email protected]
To contact MDU Resources Group, Inc., please use 866-760-4852 or [email protected].