Our online privacy policy

Protecting your personal information is an obligation BC Hydro takes seriously. This policy is to help you understand how we collect, use, and disclose personal information gathered from our online channels.

What's considered personal information

Under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA), personal information includes recorded information about an identifiable individual, such as name, address, IP address, phone number, email address and credit card information. Information used to contact someone at their place of work is not considered personal information.

What information we collect from you

When you visit our websites, the web server collects a small amount of information to facilitate the operation and security of the site. This information may include browser type, your domain address from your internet service provider, your activity on our site and IP address tracking (e.g. tracking your intent to share of articles). In some cases, we may associate your IP address with other information you provide when using our website, such as your login information.

BC Hydro collects your personal information in accordance with sections 26(c) & 26(e) of FOIPPA, as applicable.

Learn more about the collection of your information:

• Registering for an account and logging in
• Cookies and web analytics
• Contests and giveaways
• Hotjar
• Testimonials and user feedback
• Event registrations and order forms

Disclosing and sharing your personal information

We only disclose customer personal information to third parties in accordance with applicable laws. BC Hydro serves customers in accordance with the Electric Tariff regulated by the British Columbia Utilities Commission and in compliance with the Hydro and Power Authority Act.

If you have questions about how your personal information is handled, contact us. 

Protect your personal information 

Be wary of emails and text messages that ask for personal information. Never provide your password, personal information or login information via email or text. We'll never ask for your personal information via text or email except in response to communication you've sent to us. If you receive an unsolicited email or text asking for personal information, please contact us.

Registering for an account and logging in

In order to use access certain features of our website, you'll be asked to first complete a registration or login form. During registration, you're required to provide contact information (such as a name and email address). This information is used only to contact you about the services on our site for which you've expressed an interest in. It's optional to provide demographic information and unique identifiers, but encouraged so we can provide a more personalized experience on our site.

Registering to access these additional features is entirely optional. If you choose not to register, certain sections of the website will not be accessible. If you've chosen to sign up for an online Power Smart for Schools account, you may, at any time, permanently delete your account from online access. When you sign-up for a Power Smart for Schools account and link your account online, you may receive account-related email notifications. Emails may be sent and stored outside of Canada depending on the email service provider you use. 

To protect the personal information in your online Power Smart for Schools account, we use industry standard Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption technology (128-bit). All of our online services go through a vigorous security review to ensure you stay protected.

Cookies and web analytics

Our websites use both persistent and session cookies. These are files that your web browser stores on your computer. The persistent cookie remains on your computer after your session is completed. It stores a unique identifier, not any personally identifiable information. We collect aggregate, anonymized data to create common audiences for serving online advertising through website tags such as pixels and floodlight tags.

How we use this information: 

• To improve our websites by using the aggregated data to better understand where users are coming from and their actions once they arrive on the site.
• To remember you next time you visit if you log in to your online account and select "remember me". This means you won't have to enter your username and password next time you visit, but is completely optional. This cookie automatically gets erased when you log out or close your browser.
• To gather behavioural information about users activities on our websites and share this with third-party partners to provide advertising based upon your browsing activities and interests. If you don't want to have this information used for the purpose of serving you interest-based ads, you may opt out here. Note: you'll continue to see advertisements, but they'll no longer be tailored to your interests. 
  

You may control, disable and delete cookies using your browser settings. If you disable some or all cookies, you may still use our sites; however, your abilities on the site will be limited. If you'd like to opt-out of having your information tracked by Google Analytics, download the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

Contests and giveaways

From time-to-time our websites may have a contest or request information from users. Participation in these is voluntary and you have a choice whether or not to provide any information. Information requested may include contact information, such as name and shipping address, and demographic information.

Hotjar

We use Hotjar in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize this service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behavior and their devices (in particular device's IP address (captured and stored only in anonymized form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), preferred language used to display our website). Hotjar stores this information in a pseudonymized user profile. Neither Hotjar nor we will ever use this information to identify individual users or to match it with further data on an individual user. For further details, please see Hotjar’s privacy policy by clicking on this link.

You can opt-out to the creation of a user profile, Hotjar’s storing of data about your usage of our site and Hotjar’s use of tracking cookies on other websites by following this opt-out link.

Children

We occasionally run contests that are open to minors (under 18 years old). Minors will require consent from their guardians or parents to participate in these contests.

Testimonials and user feedback

We often receive feedback from users who want to share their experiences or stories with us. We occasionally publish this content on our websites or social media channels. We'll only identify those who consent to have their information published.

Registering for an event or submitting an order

We request information from you on our event registration or order forms where you must provide your contact information (such as name and shipping address) and financial information (such as credit card number and expiration date). This information is used for billing purposes and to fill your orders.

If we have trouble processing your order, this contact information is used to get in touch with you. We may use an outside shipping company to ship orders, and a credit card processing company to bill users for goods and services. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.

Links to other websites

Our websites contain links to other websites. Please be aware that the privacy policies of the other websites differ from ours. We're in no way responsible for content that appears on those sites, or your privacy once you've clicked through to other sites.

Email and text message communication you choose to receive from us

With the exception of transactional emails (e.g. confirmation of online registration, account and bill notifications, emails directly related to your account), we won't send you any email unless you opt-in to receive communications from us. If you opt-in, you'll receive information we believe will be of interest to you.

If you decide that you're no longer interested in receiving these types of emails from us, simply unsubscribe by clicking the 'unsubscribe' link at the bottom of each email and follow the simple instructions. In some cases, we'll send outbound emails and although we limit the personal information used, some personal information may be sent. 

If you sign-up to receive mobile alerts from us, your information will only be used to send you messages about energy conservation and related promotions. No data will be stored outside of Canada. If you decide that you're no longer interested in receiving these alerts, simply text "STOP" to "POWER" (76397) to unsubscribe.

Changes to our privacy policy

From time to time, we'll review and revise our privacy policy to better reflect the changing nature of the web and ensure your personal information remains fully protected.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about how your personal information is handled, please call us at 1 800 BCHYDRO (1 800 224 9376).