Privacy policy

Notice of Collection

• We collect the Personal Information described in the “What Personal Information We Collect” section of this Policy.  
• We collect Personal Information for the purposes described in the “How We Use Personal Information” section of this Policy.
• You can read about our sharing and selling practices in the “Selling and Sharing of Personal Information” section of this Policy.  You can opt-out of any selling or sharing by using the “Do Not Sell my Personal Information” link at the bottom of the webpage.
• You can read about our data retention practices in the “Retention” section of this Notice.
• PG&E’s full privacy policy is available below.

Privacy Notice

Your privacy is a priority for PG&E, and we take efforts to protect the information we hold about you. This Privacy Policy addresses information obtained from California consumers, PG&E customers, website visitors and mobile application users and is intended to inform you about how PG&E treats personal information that we collect and use about you. This policy applies by default to our interactions with California residents.  However, if during your interaction with PG&E, you are presented with a different set of privacy notices, those privacy notices will apply. This Privacy Policy covers Pacific Gas and Electric Company and its parent company, PG&E Corporation, and any other site or service that links to this Privacy Policy. As used herein, "PG&E" refers to Pacific Gas and Electric Company and/or PG&E Corporation.

PG&E provides our deaf, hard of hearing, and visually impaired customers, customers who have a speech disability and customers who seek support in other languages, with various accessibility services for those with disabilities. Customers with disabilities can access PG&E's Privacy Policy by contacting our Assistive Resources or calling our toll-free number at 1-800-743-5000.

For additional information specific to the privacy of your energy usage data, please see PG&E's Notice of Accessing, Collecting, Storing, Using and Disclosing Energy Usage Information, which supplements this policy.

If you are a current or former job applicant, employee or contractor, this policy does not apply to you in those capacities. Your rights as a job applicant, employee or contractor are described in a separate policy. Review the Employee, Job Applicant, and Contractor Notice.

Definitions

"Personal information" means any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. Personal information does not include publicly available information, de-identified or aggregated information, or information covered by certain federal and state laws.

"You" means any California consumer, PG&E customer, website visitor, or mobile application user.

How We Collect Your Personal Information

We may have collected personal information about you from a variety of sources in the past 12 months:

• From You: When you set up your account or interact with us regarding your account, for billing and payment, or when you start, receive, or discontinue energy services or products, or when determining eligibility and your participation in utility programs, or when you otherwise interact with PG&E and/or its representatives, including when you visit our facilities. Your personal information may be collected by phone with a customer service representative, by mail, by text, by email, through our website at pge.com, our mobile apps, or through service providers who provide or deliver services on our behalf.
• From Our Utility Meters and Other Equipment: When you use electricity and gas, energy usage data is collected by our metering systems. For some applications, such as rate analysis, we link usage information with your personal information.
• From Providers: We work with and receive personal information from third parties such as service providers, vendors, contractors, credit agencies, and market researchers who provide utility products and services on our behalf.
• From Your Use of Our Website or Mobile Apps: We collect information about your visits and use of our website and mobile apps, including information through cookies and other logging technologies.
• From Other Sources: We may supplement the information described above with information we obtain from other sources, including Community Choice Aggregators and state and local government agencies.

What Personal Information We Collect

We may have collected the following categories of personal information about you in the past 12 months:

• Identifiers, such as your name, social security number, passport number, driver's license or government ID number, postal address, email address, account username, IP address, phone number, or other similar unique identifiers. We use this information to provide you with our services, maintain your account, operate our business, and to otherwise communicate with you. We may provide this information to service providers and contractors, regulatory authorities, and financial services entities or to other third parties as required by law.
• Information Subject to Protection Under California Law, such as the Identifiers above, your signature, and we or our service providers may collect your bank account number, credit card number, or debit card number. We use this information to provide you with our services, maintain your account, and to otherwise communicate with you. We may provide this information to service providers, regulators or to other third parties as required by law.
• Protected Classification Characteristics such as your racial or ethnic origin. For more information, please see the "Sensitive personal information" description below.
• Sensitive Personal Information, such as your Social Security number, driver's license or government-issued identification number, racial or ethnic origin or specific geolocation. We do not use or disclose your sensitive personal information for any purpose other than as permitted by applicable law. We do not sell or share your sensitive personal information as those terms are used in the California Consumer Privacy Act. We may provide this information to service providers and contractors, and financial services entities or to other third parties as required by law.
• Payment Information. We or our service providers may collect your bank account, credit card or debit card information. We use this information to process payments for our services. Payments and purchases are processed through our service providers.
• Commercial Information, such as record of personal property, products or services obtained or considered, or other information related to purchasing or consumer histories. We use this information to better understand your use of our services and for our internal business purposes. We may provide this information to service providers and contractors, regulatory authorities, financial services entities or to other third parties as required by law.
• Geolocation Data. We collect this information to provide you with our services and to better tailor our services to you depending on your geographical region. We may provide this information to service providers, contractors, regulators or to other third parties as required by law.
• Audio, Electronic, Visual, Thermal, Olfactory or Similar Information. For safety purposes, we may collect a photos of visitors to PG&E facilities when they check-in.  We may provide this information to service providers, contractors, regulators or to other third parties as required by law.
• Professional Information, including information relating to your role as a representative or agent of a company or business, such as your work title and contact information. We use this to conduct business with you or your employer and provide you with services and otherwise communicate with you. We may provide this information to service providers and contractors or with other third parties as required by law.
• Internet and Other Electronic Activity Information, such as your browsing history, search history, information about your interactions with our website, use of our mobile apps, or interactions with our digital advertisements. We may provide this information to service providers, contractors or to other third parties as required by law. We may collect the following internet and other electronic activity data.
• Your Visits To PG&E's Website or Mobile Apps. We collect information about visits to our website and mobile apps, such as the number of visitors and the number of users that click on certain links or use certain services. For some functionalities, such as rate analysis, we link usage information with the customer visiting the website.
• Log Data. We receive information that is automatically recorded by our servers when you visit our website or mobile apps, including your Internet Protocol ("IP") Address.
• Cookies. when you visit or use our website or online services, our server may create cookies, which are small text files that a website can send to your internet browser and may be stored in your browser or elsewhere on your computer. PG&E uses cookies and other similar technologies on our website and online services. We use cookies to evaluate website usage, provide energy services to you, and to offer programs and/or services that you may be interested in. 
  • PG&E Cookies: We use cookies on our website to provide basic functionality to the website for purposes such as logging into the system, maintaining session information, and enhancing access to the features of this website.
  • Google Analytics: Our website uses Google Analytics to help us analyze how users use the website and target users with appropriate advertisements. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google. Read about Google's privacy practices.
  • To manage your cookie preferences, please use the "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link in the footer of the web page. Additionally, you may disable our usage of cookies through your browser settings. Please note that if you disable your browser's ability to accept cookies, you will be able to navigate PG&E's website, but you will not be able to take advantage of certain features, such as "Remember My Username," and will not receive advertisements related to our programs or services that may be of interest to you.
• Third-Party Cookies: Third-party cookies may also be used on our website where a third party provides functionality to our website.

How We Use Personal Information

We may use your personal information for the following purposes:

• Provide energy services or products to you.
• Communicate with you regarding our services and other products or services that may be of interest to you.
• Operate and maintain safe, secure and reliable public utility services and equipment under PG&E's legal obligation to serve you as a regulated public utility in California.
• Comply with a valid warrant, subpoena, or court order, or exercise or defend legal claims or otherwise comply with our legal obligations.
• Comply with a California Public Utilities Commission request or order, or comply with a request or order from other local, state or federal governmental agencies with legal authority to obtain the personal information from PG&E.
• Develop and implement marketing, education and outreach plans to improve the services and products we provide to you and other consumers.
• Protect the safety and security of PG&E's customers, visitors, employees and contractors by collecting and reviewing personal information to protect against fraud, other crimes and threats to safety.
• Enable service providers and contractors to provide energy-related services, products or equipment on behalf of PG&E, as required in order to provide products and services to you, or for other business purposes consistent with PG&E's commercial relationship with you, or to comply with PG&E's legal obligations as a regulated California public utility, subject to appropriate confidentiality and security requirements.
• Notify credit reporting agencies and collection agencies to evaluate your credit or if your account is assigned for collection.
• Assist emergency responders in situations of threats to life or property.
• For any other business or lawful purpose reasonably anticipated within the context of PG&E's relationship with you.
• For any purpose for which we obtained your consent.
  

How We Disclose Your Personal Information

We may disclose your personal information in the following ways:

• At Your Choice. You may authorize other companies or persons to receive your personal information from PG&E, including your energy usage data.
• To Our Service Providers and Contractors. We may disclose your personal information to service providers and contractors that provide services and support to us. We contractually require service providers and contractors acting on PG&E's behalf to take reasonable steps to protect your personal information and to not use your personal information for any purpose other than that for which it was given to the service provider or contractor.
• To Regulatory Authorities. We may disclose your personal information to regulatory authorities such as the California Public Utilities Commission, California Energy Commission, and other federal, state, or local agencies as required by applicable law.
• To Financial Services Entities. We may disclose your personal information to financial institutions, credit agencies, and other financial services entities that provide financial and auditing support services for our public utility programs and services.
• To Third Parties to Fulfill Legal Obligations. From time to time, we may disclose your personal information with other parties as required pursuant to a valid legal warrant, subpoena, court order, or other legal or regulatory mandate, or as necessary for PG&E to defend to assert legal claims.
• To Third-Party Analytics Companies. We use selected third parties to collect data about how you interact with our website and apps. This information may be used to, among other things, improve the functionality of our website and services.
• To Potential Business Partners. We may disclose or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
• To Other Parties. From time to time, we may disclosure your personal information to parties such as law enforcement or other government agencies when we, in good faith, believe you or others are acting unlawfully, when we believe it is necessary or appropriate to satisfy any law, regulation or other governmental request, to operate our business properly, to protect or defend our rights or the rights or well-being of our users, and when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the health and safety of our employees, other consumers, and the general public.
  

Selling and Sharing of Personal Information

PG&E has not sold consumers' personal information in the preceding 12 months for any monetary value. However, our use of certain website cookies may be considered a "sale" of information under California law. In the past twelve months, we may have disclosed your internet activity or geolocation with third parties whose cookies are on our websites. These cookies are used to analyze usage of our website, provide you with relevant PG&E advertising and products, and provide additional, dynamic functionality to our websites. You can opt-out of the use of these cookies by using the "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link in the footer of the web page. We also recognize opt-out preference signals contained in HTTP header fields.

PG&E does not "share" personal information as that term is used in the California Consumer Privacy Act.

Disclosing Aggregated and Deidentified Data

PG&E may share aggregated or deidentified, non-customer specific data and information derived from personal information with other entities for the purpose of performing activities that may help PG&E provide and improve its utility products and services, including such programs as Energy Efficiency and Demand Response, or to inform California energy policy as directed by the California Public Utilities Commission and other California government agencies which regulate PG&E.

Financial Incentives

From time to time, we may offer financial incentives to consumers in exchange for the consumer sharing certain personal information with us. The specific instructions for how to participate and the rewards offered as incentives may vary and are set out within each program. Our good-faith estimate of the value of your information is the value of the benefit we offer to you. We have calculated that value by using the expense to us of operating the program related to the benefit obtained by our running of the program. To participate in any incentive-based programs you can opt-in by signing up for the incentive when it is offered to you. Participation in our promotional programs is always optional, and you can terminate program participation at any time as explained in the applicable program terms. You can also contact us at 1-800-743-5000 to unsubscribe or cancel your participation in any program.

Web Browser "Do Not Track" Signals

"Do Not Track" signals are used by some web browsers to attempt to limit tracking related to your visits to a website. Not all browsers offer a "Do Not Track" option and "Do Not Track" signals are not yet uniform. To the extent that your browser broadcasts a "Do Not Track" signal, our website is configured to recognize "Do Not Track" signals.

Links to Non-PG&E Websites

While browsing PG&E's website or online services not sponsored by PG&E, you may encounter and choose to access websites or online services operated by PG&E business partners, companies or agencies that may not be associated with PG&E by clicking on hypertext links or icons. These websites may collect data or personal information about you and your online activities. PG&E does not control and is not responsible for what these other parties do in connection with their websites or online services, or how they handle your personal information.

Retention

We retain your personal information based on legal requirements or business needs. Generally, we only retain personal information for as long as is reasonably necessary for our business purpose or as required by law. Customer data is typically retained for the duration of the relationship with PG&E and for an additional 5 years from end of customer relationship, subject to legal or business needs for a longer retention period. Similarly, business contact data is typically retained for the duration of the contract/agreement with PG&E and for an additional 11 years from the contract termination and/or expiration of the underlying contractual obligations, but subject to a longer retention period for legal or business needs.

Establishing Service and Setting Up an Account

Establishing Service: In order to establish or re-establish service, you may be asked to provide your Social Security number for us to validate your identity. You have the right to not provide your Social Security number, however, a deposit may be charged, and we will request an alternate form of identification (e.g., driver's license, passport, state identification, etc.). The establishment deposit can be waived if the account is enrolled in paperless billing and recurring payment via pge.com or secured with a bill guarantor. The re-establishment deposit can be waived if secured with a bill guarantor.

Setting Up Your Account: As a customer, you may sign up for an account online at pge.com to get instant access to your bill, make payments, and receive important alerts (your "Account"). You can update your profile, personal information, and account preferences through your Account. If you choose to sign up for an Account, you will be asked to provide your email address. You have the right to decline to provide your email address; however, you will not be able to take advantage of our online services such as electronic billing and payments.

Email Communications: You can opt-out of receiving certain email communications from us at any time by following the unsubscribe link in the footer of the email or by contacting us in the manner described in the "Contact Us" section of this Policy. If you are a customer who has registered to use Your Account to access your account on our website, you can opt out of future mailings by updating the preferences section on the Profile & Alerts page within the Your Account portal at pge.com. Opting out of email communications does not mean PG&E will not contact you about your account or your electric and gas service. For example, current customers will continue to receive emergency notifications from PG&E as required by law, and you cannot opt out of these communications.

Voice Calls, Texts and SMS Messages: You may have the opportunity to receive occasional voice, text and SMS messages from PG&E to receive updates on our products and services, or about products and services that we think may be of interest to you. Message frequency will vary. By providing your phone number and opting in to receive text messages, you expressly consent to receive these communications, including automated text messages to the phone number that you provide. Consent to receiving text messages is not required in order to receive products or services from PG&E. Message and data rates may apply, and your carrier's rates will apply. You can opt out of receiving future text messages or receive help by following the directions in the text message you receive. As we are located in the United States, international rates may apply depending on your location. We may disclose your mobile phone number to service providers with whom we contract in order to send you automated text messages, but we will not disclose your mobile phone number to third parties for their own marketing purposes without your express consent. Opting out of calls, texts and SMS messages does not mean PG&E will not contact you about your account or your electric and gas service. For example, current customers will continue to receive emergency notifications from PG&E as required by law, and you cannot opt out of these communications.

Additional Information for California Residents

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the "Shine The Light" law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

If you are a California resident, you are entitled to certain privacy rights relating to your personal information. This section describes those rights and how you can exercise those rights:

Right to Know and Access Personal Information
You have the right to access and know what personal information PG&E collects about you, including the categories of personal information, the categories of sources from which your information is collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling or sharing your information, the categories of third parties to whom we may disclose personal information and the specific pieces of information that we have collected about you. You also have the right to request, to the extent technically feasible, a portable set of your personal information.

Right to Request Deletion of your Personal Information
You have the right to request that PG&E delete the personal information it has about you subject to certain limitations. If we do not delete your personal information for reasons permitted under applicable law, we will let you know.

Right to Correct Inaccurate Personal Information
You have the right to request PG&E to correct inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you.

Right to Opt Out of Sale of your Personal Information
You may have the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your Personal Data. PG&E recognizes opt-out preference signals contained in HTTP header fields. You can also use the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link at the bottom of our webpage.

Exercising Your Privacy Rights

If you are a California consumer, to exercise your rights, please submit a request using one of the following methods:

• Submit your customer privacy rights request under California Consumer Privacy Act
• Calling us at 1-800-743-5000.

PG&E cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you. When you submit a request, we will take steps to verify your identity using identity verification services. You are not required to create an account with us to submit a request. If you don't have an account with us, we may ask you to provide us with information about yourself in order to verify your identity.

We will only use personal information you provide in connection with identity verification to verify the requestor's identity or authority to make the request and whenever feasible, we will attempt to match the information you provide with information we may already have about you.

If you wish to authorize a third party to make a request on your behalf through an authorized agent, you must contact the PG&E Privacy Team directly and must provide a valid California power of attorney or comparable documentation of written permission from you and verification of your identity with PG&E. You may also make a privacy request on behalf of your minor child.

PG&E recognizes opt-out preference signals contained in HTTP header fields. When we receive an opt-out preference signal, we will process that signal as required by applicable law.

*PG&E tracks opt out requests through individuals’ requests to opt of marketing and social media cookies. These data represent the total number of customers who have submitted opt-out requests, although individual customers may have submitted multiple requests during 2022.

Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate or retaliate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights identified in this privacy policy.

Security

We take reasonable and appropriate measures designed to ensure the integrity of our systems and protect your personal information. We regularly implement and update administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect personal information about you from unauthorized access, destruction, or alteration. However, please understand that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of storing data is 100% secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children's Privacy Online

Our services are not directed to children under 16 years of age, and PG&E does not knowingly collect any personal information of children under 16 years of age unless required by applicable law. If you believe a child under 16 years of age has provided us with personal information, please contact us at pgeprivacy@pge.com with a brief description of your concern.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We review this Privacy Policy regularly. If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we will attempt to notify you and/or obtain your consent, as required by law. We recommend that you regularly review this privacy policy.

Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about this Privacy Policy, would like to request a current or previous version, or would like more information regarding our process for updating this Privacy Policy, you can contact us using the following options:

PG&E Residential and Business Customer Service
Correspondence Management Center
Attention: Privacy Management
P.O. Box 997310
Sacramento, CA 95899-7310

PG&E Residential Customers: Call 1-800-743-5000
PG&E Business Customers: Call 1-800-468-4743

Email: pgeprivacy@pge.com