Privacy Notice Relating to Energy Usage Information

Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Maui Electric Company, Limited, and Hawaii Electric Light Company, Inc. (“Hawaiian Electric” or “Company”) respect the privacy of your electric usage data. As we increase deployment of advanced meters, which have the ability to record energy usage in intervals of just a few minutes at a time, we have been careful to build in extra safeguards to protect the details about your energy usage.

Covered Information

The information covered by this policy includes any electric usage information recorded by electric meters that are owned by Hawaiian Electric, when associated with any information that can reasonably be used to identify an individual, family, household, or residence.

Internal Use of Covered Information

Hawaiian Electric uses customer electric usage data internally for the following purposes:

  • To bill for electric service;
  • To operate and manage the electric system or grid;
  • To evaluate and forecast demand for system planning and design;
  • To design electric usage billing rates; and
  • To plan, implement, and evaluate special programs and services (e.g., Distributed Energy Management (“DER”), Power Quality-as-a-Service (“PQaaS”), Electrification of Transportation (“EoT”)).

Electric usage information is retained in perpetuity, so it is available to the Company for the above purposes.

Vendor Access to Customer Information

Hawaiian Electric discloses customer electric usage data to certain of the Company’s contractors and vendors for the following purposes:

  • To support customer service functions (e.g., after-hours call center);
  • To provide technology tools that improve the user experience with Hawaiian Electric’s online customer portals;
  • To assist in the design, installation, and operation of advanced meters and supporting equipment and technology;
  • To provide cloud-based storage resources;
  • To conduct studies in support of Distributed Energy Resources (“DER”) (e.g., residential solar) interconnection;
  • To assist Hawaiian Electric in making Demand Response Management System (“DRMS”) equipment and programs available to customers;
  • To assist Hawaiian Electric in the analysis, development, and trial of electric vehicle rates, equipment, and programs; and
  • To assist Hawaiian Electric analyze energy usage data for forecasting purposes as well as to plan and implement rate designs and other program offerings.

Prior to such disclosures, Hawaiian Electric requires all contractors and vendors to agree to stringent contractual duties of confidentiality, privacy, and security.

Other Third-Party Disclosures of Covered Information

Hawaiian Electric shares electric usage information with the following third parties, who are not the Company’s contractors or vendors:

  • Hawaii Energy. Pursuant to orders issued by the State of Hawaii Public Utility Commission (“PUC”), Hawaiian Electric shares electric usage information with Hawaii Energy for use in conjunction with energy efficiency studies and programs.
  • Applied Energy Group (“AEG”). Pursuant to orders issued by the PUC, Hawaiian Electric shares electric usage information with AEG for a Market Potential Study to help guide energy efficiency initiatives.
  • Customer Consent. If affirmatively authorized by you, Hawaiian Electric may share your data with other entities (e.g., vendors you contract with for energy efficiency services or programs; public agencies with which you apply for bill assistance).
  • Regulatory or Legal Process. Hawaiian Electric may have to share your information with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (“PUC”) or other government agencies for regulatory purposes. Disclosure may also be required by legal processes, such as a search warrant, subpoena, or court order.
  • Exceptional or Emergency Circumstances. We may also need to disclose customer information in certain exceptional circumstances, such as to protect against malicious and/or unauthorized access, to protect legal rights, or to address actual or threatened illegal or harmful conduct.

Aggregated/Anonymized Data

This policy does not apply to electric usage information that has been separated from personal identifiers (i.e., anonymized) or combined with multiple customers (i.e., aggregated) such that it can no longer be reasonably connected to a specific individual, family, household, or residence.

Hawaiian Electric shares aggregated and anonymized energy usage data with third parties for purposes such as energy efficiency research, analysis, reporting, and program management. Before doing so, however, the Company takes great care to ensure that such information cannot be retraced to you or your household.

Request to Amend or Limit

If you would like to view, inquire about, or dispute your Covered Information, or if you would like to request that Hawaiian Electric limit the collection, use, storage, or disclosure of your information, please email your request to privacy@hawaiianelectric.com.

Due to operational needs and regulatory requirements, we may not be able to honor all requests to limit collection, use, storage, or disclosure of your information; however, the Company’s Privacy Officer will review all requests and determine if a reasonable accommodation can be made.

Policy Revisions

Hawaiian Electric may amend this policy from time to time. Upon making any such changes, Hawaiian Electric will send all customers a copy of the revised Notice within ninety (90) days of the change. To obtain copies of previous versions, please send a request to privacy@hawaiianelectric.com.

Questions & Assistance

If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints about this policy or the collection, storage, use, or distribution of your information, please contact us at privacy@hawaiianelectric.com, (808) 543-4844, or P.O. Box 2750, Honolulu, HI 96840.

Hawaiian Electric will never take adverse action against you for inquiring about or exercising your rights as stated in our privacy policies.

Effective April 2021

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