We respect the value you assign to your own personal details and recognise that the collection, storage, use and disclosure of your personal details should be handled in a professional manner. An important part of our commitment is to clearly explain how we maintain your privacy and confidentiality and, most importantly, how you can play a part in that commitment.
Western Power’s Code of Conduct
Our commitment to the privacy of our customers' information is embedded in our Code of Conduct. We ensure that:
- confidentiality and privacy of information about Western Power, its customers and employees is respected and maintained
- relevant information will only be disclosed in accordance with legislative requirements
- only those authorised to use particular information will be given access
- confidential information that is not publicly available will not be used for public gain or advantage of others
- sensitive or confidential information will be securely stored.
What does this policy cover?
Western Power’s privacy policy covers the collection, storage, use, disclosure and security of personal details of our customers. We explain how and when we collect personal information, what that information is used for, who uses it and when it may be disclosed to other parties. The policy also explains how you can access your personal information.
What is personal information?
Personal information includes details such as a name, address, phone numbers or email address, which can be used to identify an individual and may include a date of birth and information relating to a customer’s electricity usage.
Our systems
Our systems and procedures protect your privacy whenever we collect, use, store or disclose your personal information.
Collecting your personal information
We may need to collect information so we can accurately identify you in the future, or allow us to contact you when we need to. For instance when we know that planned maintenance on the network will affect the power supply to a customer’s property.
We collect personal information in a number of ways, including:
- information provided by energy retailers or other third parties
- personal information provided directly to us for services such as reporting a power fault or making an extended outage claim.
When you visit the Western Power website, our server logs the following information for statistical and administration purposes:
- Browser type and operating system of your computer
- Your Internet Service Provider (ISP)
- Your top-level domain name (for example, .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc)
- The address of any referring website
- Your computer's Internet Protocol (IP) address
When you download and use a Western Power mobile telephone or tablet application, we may in the download process obtain and log some personal information of yours (such as first and last name, email, suburb/postcode, Facebook user ID) that may be used for the purposes of interacting with the application, as well as for statistical and administration purposes.
Confidentiality
Information (including personal information) that is in the public domain is unlikely to be confidential information. However, we may be bound by legislative obligations to keep certain information confidential and where such situation arises; we will consider the information at hand against our legislative obligation to maintain confidentiality.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use our website. The information we obtain from Google Analytics helps us understand how we can offer a better customer experience.
Google Analytics uses cookies to collect information about which pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got there (for example from a search engine, a link, an advertisement etc) and what you select. Information collected by the cookies (including your IP address) is transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States of America.
By using our website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in Google's Privacy Policy and for the purposes set out above. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google.
Hotjar
This section of our Privacy Policy explains the details of how Hotjar collects information from your browser and device when you access westernpower.com.au. For the purposes of the services that Hotjar provides to Western Power, Hotjar acts as data processor and solely processes all personal data in accordance with the instructions received from Western Power, the owner and/or operator of the westernpower.com.au. This includes how Hotjar collects information from the end user's browser and device when an end user accesses westernpower.com.au.
The following information may be collected related to your device and browser:
- device's IP address (captured and stored in an anonymized format);
- device screen resolution;
- device type (unique device identifiers), operating system, and browser type;
- geographic location (country only);
- preferred language used to display the westernpower.com.au.
User interactions
- Mouse events (movements, location and clicks)
- Keypresses
Log data
For a sampling of visitors, Hotjar servers automatically record information which is collected from this site. This data includes:
- referring domain;
- pages visited;
- geographic location (country only);
- preferred language used to display the webpage;
- date and time when website pages were accessed;
Cookies
Hotjar Enabled Sites use cookies to collect non-personal information including standard internet log information and details of the end user's behavioural patterns upon visiting a Hotjar Enabled Site. This is done to enable the Hotjar Enabled Site to provide you with a better experience, identify preferences, diagnose technical problems, analyse trends and generally to help improve our website.
Cookies are small data files transferred onto computers or devices by websites for record-keeping purposes and to enhance functionality on the Hotjar Enabled Site.
We may also use cookies to record login details on Your device or computer. This helps to determine whether a particular device previously visited a specific Hotjar Enabled Site so that the login details would not have to be re-entered each time You visit that Hotjar Enabled Site.
Hotjar also uses cookies to determine if someone has opted out of being tracked by Hotjar services.
Most browsers allow You to choose whether to accept cookies or not. If you do not wish to have cookies placed on your computer, please set Your browser preferences to reject all cookies, before accessing any Hotjar Enabled Site. Please note that by doing so, some features of certain Hotjar Enabled Sites may become unavailable.
To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit allaboutcookies.org.
For more info about the cookies we make use of, please visit Cookie Information.
Hotjar, at all times, undertakes to ensure that by sharing your behavioural patterns and any other information generated from you visiting the westernpower.com.au, your privacy rights are respected at all times.
You may opt-out from having Hotjar collect your information when visiting a website at any time by visiting the Hotjar Opt-out page and clicking 'Disable Hotjar'.
Cookies
A 'cookie' is a packet of information that allows the Western Power server (the computer that stores our website) to identify and interact more effectively with your computer.
When you access our website, we send your computer a cookie that gives you a unique identification number. Each time you use our website a different identification number is sent. The cookie that Western Power sends you will reside on your computer for one year.
Cookies do not identify you personally or individually, but they do identify your Internet browser type and Internet Service Provider (ISP).
The cookie we send to your computer allows you to page forwards and backwards and go back to other pages you have already visited on our site without having to log onto our home page again. Cookies also enable us to keep track of which pages are most and least frequently visited by our customers. This information helps us to update our website and ensure it best meets our customers' needs.
Social media
We use third party webspaces for interactive information sharing and to connect with customers. Examples include Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
We recommend you read any terms and conditions and privacy statements or policies that apply to any third-party web service (especially the terms and conditions relating to the handling of personal information) when using these social media platforms to interact with us. Third-party privacy statements and conditions will prevail over this privacy statement to the extent of any inconsistency.
We recommend that you do not use a public-facing social media channel, such as Facebook, to provide us with your personal details or disclose these personal details in any query or issue raised through that forum. This is necessary in protecting your privacy and preventing identity theft.
Examples of personal details include your home address, birth date, middle or maiden name or email address.
In addition, the website uses Facebook Pixels to tailor content specifically for you within Facebook and measure the success of campaigns. Facebook pixels use cookies, JavaScript code, web beacons and similar technologies to gather information. No personally identifiable information is shared with us by Facebook. The information will be transmitted to and stored by Facebook on servers in the United States. You can choose to opt out from tailored content through your Facebook settings.
Links to other sites
Some sections of this website have links to other websites. Although we are careful to review these sites before providing a link, Western Power is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites, which is outside our control.
Searches
We collect and store the words and phrases entered into our site's search engine so that we know what information people are looking for. This helps us improve our website and make sure it provides the information you need. Please note that these search words are not associated with personal information of any kind.
How do we use your personal information?
When we collect personal information we may use that information only for a purpose related to our business. We will not use your personal information for any other purpose without the your prior consent unless required by law or if it is in the public interests to do so (e.g. to prevent a serious threat to health or safety).
In general, we use personal information for purposes such as notification of planned power interruptions and when maintaining our infrastructure when it's located on our customers' properties.
Who uses your personal information?
We may disclose your personal information to a contractor or agent of Western Power to the extent required to facilitate the delivery of a good or service to the customer.
We have contracts with companies, including mailing houses that print and post letters to customers' homes and research companies who use phone numbers for research purposes. We will only disclose your personal information to these agents, contractors and related businesses on a confidential basis, for the purposes of Western Power business.
We take precautions to ensure those third parties are aware of their privacy obligations and that they are required to comply with them.
Job vacancy website
The information you disclose in our job vacancy website will be disclosed to our recruiting team and other personnel involved in the recruiting process for the purpose of considering you for the selected role as advertised on our website.
Data quality
To provide you with the best possible service it is important that we maintain accurate, up-to-date information. We will endeavour to ensure the personal information we collect, use and disclose is correct, complete and up-to-date. To fulfil this commitment, you can correct or change any personal information we store for you. Please contact us.
Accessing your personal information
You are entitled to request details and a copy of your personal information we hold by contacting our Freedom of Information Coordinator (FOI) in writing. To protect your privacy, we will require proof of identity before actioning your request.
Complaints
If you are dissatisfied with the way we have handled your personal information, we would like to hear from you. Find out more about lodging a complaint.