Privacy Policy

Overview

We take seriously the protection of your personal information. This Notice provides summaries of Consumers Energy (CE) Investment Recovery's Information Privacy policies, answering the following questions our customers may have:

What information do you collect from me?
How do you use the information you collect?
Who do you share my information with?
How do you protect my information?
How can I access or change my information?

What information do you collect from me?

We collect information that you voluntarily provide to us when you communicate with CE Investment Recovery, including:

Personal Information: The information we collect includes the personal information that you provide to us such as: your name; mailing address; email address; and phone number.

Online Information: We also collect information you provide through your online activity, access and use of our and their websites and applications using tracking technologies such as cookies. Examples of the information that we collect through cookies include your Internet Protocol (IP) address (a number that is automatically assigned to the device that you are using by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever you visit our websites); your Media Access Control (MAC) address, device type, screen resolution, operating system version, browser type and version, time spent on our websites, pages you visited, location and your relationship with us, and statistical information about your usage of our websites and applications.

Note: You may opt out of providing certain types of information by not providing or it by discontinuing your use of the websites and applications. Please note that even if you discontinue use of online account services, we will still store some personal information in our customer billing systems.

Note: You can opt out of cookies by managing your cookie settings for each device and browser you use.

Aggregated/De-Identified Information: We also collect information in an aggregated and de-identified form various sources, including but not limited to accounts, transactions and usage. Such information does not identify individual customers, but may be used for our business purposes – to identify new offerings, communications, researching or analyzing market trends, and other purposes consistent with applicable laws.

How do you use information you collect?

CE Investment Recovery may share contact or personal information provided by you for legitimate business purposes such as providing appropriate customer service, conducting business operations, complying with relevant laws, regulators, or legal processes, protecting the security of critical infrastructure and key resources, and ensuring information security.

Such information may be made available to third parties such as service providers and contractors, and regulators and governmental authorities to protect the security of critical infrastructure and key resources, ensure information security, or to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request.

Information that you provide and we collect may be used to:

Provide you with personalized and optimal customer service;
Respond to your requests and communicate with you;

If you provide us with your email address or communicate with us via email, we will consider that information or communication to us as your authorization and consent for us to communicate to you by email;
If you provide us with your phone number, we will consider that your authorization and consent for us to communicate to you at that phone number by call or if a mobile phone number, by call or text;
If you supply us with your postal address, you may receive periodic mailings from us or our service providers regarding products and services or upcoming events;
Our websites use electronic forms for customers to request information, products and services. Your contact information and responses or requests and unique identifiers (such as customer account numbers or vendor numbers) are used to respond to customer requests;

Improve our websites by customizing the content and layout of our pages for your use, by analyzing the statistical information that we collect about your usage of our websites to enable us to improve the design and functionality, to monitor responses of our communications and content, and to assist us with resolving customer questions regarding our websites;

IP Address: We collect and use your IP address to personalize your experience with us on and offline, and to maintain the full functionality of our websites, including calculating Site usage, diagnosing server problems, compliance and security purposes. Collecting IP addresses is standard practice on the internet and is done automatically by many sites.
Cookies: We use cookie information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to display information more effectively, to customize your experience and to recognize your device to allow for an easy and convenient use of our online services. The cookies may save your User ID (not your password) so you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit our websites. Cookies may also be used for communications purposes. We use cookies on your computer and portable devices to help us better understand your preferences so that we can customize our content to best meet your needs. Cookies help us to provide you with a continuous and more personalized experience.
Browser and Device: Information collected by most browsers and/or through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, device type, screen resolution, operating system version and internet browser type and version, is used to ensure our Sites function properly, for fraud detection and prevention, and security purposes.
Tracking technologies: We may use tracking technologies such as pixel tags, web beacons, and clear GIFs with some Site pages and HTML-formatted email messages to measure the effectiveness and success of our communications, to compile statistics about usage and response rates, to customize your online experience, for fraud detection and prevention, and for online advertising.

Who do you share my information with?

CE Investment Recovery may share contact or personal information provided by you with third parties such as credit reporting agencies and service providers and contractors for legitimate business purposes such as conducting business operations, providing customer service and complying with relevant laws, legal processes, or regulators.

We may disclose pertinent information to the U.S. Government and its authorized representatives to protect the security of critical infrastructure and key resources, to ensure information security, or to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental requests.

We may disclose information determined in good faith to be necessary to investigate, prevent or respond to suspected illegal activities or interference with the operation of our websites or Terms and Conditions.

How do you protect my information?

We have rigorous security measures in place to protect and prevent the loss, misuse and alteration of the information that you provide to CE Investment Recovery. These measures include device safeguards, industry-standard encryption technologies, and secured files and buildings.

To protect your information from unauthorized access and use, we use security measures that comply with applicable federal and state laws, as well as governmental and quasi-governmental agencies with regulatory authority. We protect the confidentiality of the personal information we collect by maintaining physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards, with additional security measures and precautions for any highly sensitive personal information.

The measures we use to safeguard your information include:

Information technology and physical security measures;
Limiting access to personal information;
Prohibiting unlawful disclosure of personal information;
Training our employees in the proper handling of personal information;
Requiring that third parties that receive or have access to personal information, such as service providers and contractors, comply with all applicable laws and secure, keep confidential, and limit access to and use of your personal information;
Reviewing our safeguards on a regular basis.

How can I access or correct my information?

You can access your account information at any time on our website. You will need your User ID and password to do so. If you have forgotten your password, you can request a new one by clicking on the "Forgot Password" link at the bottom of the Login Page.

Please note that if you choose not to have an online account with us, we will still store some of your personal information in our billing system if you are a customer.

You can update or correct your account information online or email us at irc@cmsenergy.com.