Customer Privacy Policy

I. Purpose

To establish policies and procedures that protect the privacy and confidentiality of Starkville Utilities customers’ Personal Information and Usage Data, and to ensure that Starkville Utilities’s procedures and practices comply with applicable state and federal statutes and regulations.

II. Policy

Starkville Utilities believes that customers own their Personal Information which includes any information that is personal to the customer, including but not limited to customers’ telephone numbers, email addresses, account information, and payment history. Starkville Utilities also believes that customers’ Usage Data are private and should be protected. Accordingly, Starkville Utilities treats such information as confidential. This privacy policy explains how Starkville Utilities uses customer information, when such information will be shared with third parties, and what safeguards Starkville Utilities takes to protect customer information. Starkville Utilities will not release a customer’s Personal Information or Usage Data except as explained in this policy.

III. Use of Personal Information and Usage Data
A. Personal Information
  • To provide utility services to our customers, administer their accounts, and to bill our customers for their utility usage
  • To improve our operational efficiency and to provide our customers with better service
  • To contact our customers in response to an inquiry that they send to Starkville Utilities
  • To send our customers information about certain programs and services that may be of interest to them
  • To authenticate and confirm the identity of our customers when they access their Starkville Utilities account
  • To send our customers messages related to their utility services, support and administrative messages, technical notices, updates, alerts, and other information that they request of Starkville Utilities.
B. Usage Data
  • To generate billing statements, and track account billing and payment history
  • To improve utility services to our customers
  • To enable customers to see their usage data via secure access on the Internet
  • To analyze utility usage to help customers select the best rate plan or take advantage of programs offered by Starkville Utilities and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
    TVA currently receives Customer Personal Information and Usage Data on a monthly basis. TVA may also use smart meter data in daily, hourly or 15-minute intervals to design and promote personalized energy efficiency services.
C. Third Parties

Starkville Utilities may also provide data about usage and patterns in various formats to TVA or other third party service providers for various purposes all directed at improving system efficiency and customer service. These third party providers will be subject to the legal obligation to treat information confidentially and to not disclose it to unauthorized persons. Examples of such use include:

  • To analyze rates and rate structures.
  • To project usage demand patterns and plot growth of different substations or other areas.
  • To improve our energy planning in order to better design and engineer our electric distribution systems.
D. Data Security

Protecting our customers’ information is a top priority for Starkville Utilities. We take extensive measures to ensure the integrity of our systems and protect customer Personal Information and Usage Data. We continuously implement and update administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect customer Personal Information and Usage Data from unauthorized access, destruction, or alteration. In addition, any account information entered by a customer while logged in to their online account, or that is displayed on Starkville Utilities’s website in a customer’s browser window, is secured using the latest industry standard security technologies. Current industry standard protocols such as Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”) attempt to protect the confidentiality of your personal and financial information. The customer’s browser must be capable of supporting security protocols. Please check with your browser manufacturer for details.

We are a Water and Electric Utilities Company in Starkville