Legal Statements

Customer Information Privacy Policy
NSTAR respects the privacy of our customers, and protecting confidential customer information is a top priority at NSTAR. That’s why NSTAR has developed this privacy policy and uses state-of-the-art technologies to safeguard that information.

What kind of information do we collect?

• Personal information that you provide to us. When you sign up for certain services, or register on the NSTAR web site to access your account information, or when paying bills electronically, NSTAR will collect personal information that will help us to identify you, authenticate you, process your payments and provide you better service in the future. This information is called “personally identifiable information”, and is used to associate usage information with a specific individual or entity. Examples of personally identifiable information include but are not limited to: customer name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, account number and other account information, Social Security number and banking information. When you apply for service, we will also need you to provide one of the following: your Social Security number, your driver's license number or your Massachusetts identification card number. If you pay your bill through the Internet either by check or by use of a credit card, we will need certain information regarding your bank account and/or credit card account.
• Financial information associated with your account with us. This information would include billing and payment history and credit information.
• Energy usage information. We collect information on your gas or electric usage using our metering systems.

How do we use this information?

• To administer your account. We use and disclose your information to prepare your billing statement, to collect the charges for services that we have provided to you, and to identify you.
• To communicate with you. We use and disclose your information to communicate with you about your account, to help you select the appropriate rate, and to inform you about programs and products offered by NSTAR (such as energy efficiency, smart metering or protection plan programs).
• To provide services to you. We use and disclose your information to provide services to you, including gas or electric service, and other services and programs (such as energy efficiency, smart metering or protection plan programs) which may be managed or offered by NSTAR or companies under contract with NSTAR.
• For law enforcement or legal compliance. We use and disclose your information upon the request of law enforcement officials, or to the extent required by law, regulation or order, or to comply with legal or regulatory process, or to investigate, prevent or respond to suspected illegal activity.

How do we protect this information?

• Using robust systems and policies. NSTAR safeguards confidential customer information on secure systems, and follow strict policies to limit access to that information.
• By limiting use and disclosure. To the extent confidential customer information is used or disclosed as described above, NSTAR limits that use and disclosure to only the information necessary to accomplish the permitted activity, and requires contractors and third parties under contract with NSTAR to protect that information.

Aggregated Data
NSTAR also uses and discloses aggregate data about our customers’ electric and gas usage in order to conduct, evaluate and improve our services and operations, but none of this aggregate data includes information that can be identified to any individual customer, and so is not considered confidential customer information.

Receipts of E-mail
E-mail gives NSTAR another convenient way to communicate with our customers.  We hope to tell you from time to time about new rates, products, and services that might be of interest or benefit to you.  NSTAR will not, however, send you e-mails if you do not wish to receive them.  If at anytime you would like to remove yourself from NSTAR’s e-mail list, you can do so by updating your profile information or by typing “Remove” in the subject line of a returned e-mail to us.

Security
All transfers of personal information on our web site, www.nstar.com, are secured by the industry standard Secure Sockets Layers (SSL) protocol.  SSL prohibits other web users from gaining access to your personal information. In addition, we comply with all Federal and state regulations relative to the protection from disclosure of your personal information both on and off-line, and we have developed strict internal policies designed to protect your personally identifiable information from unauthorized access.

Children
NSTAR does not seek to collect personal information from children under 18 years of age.  In addition, you should know that we do not have any content on our site that would be considered harmful to children and that we do not restrict children from visiting our site.

Linked Web Sites
NSTAR's web site contains links to various other web sites that are not owned or operated by us.  Please be aware that these other sites may have privacy policies that differ from NSTAR’s and that we cannot be responsible for their content.

Updates
In order to improve our service or to keep up with future industry changes, the information in this privacy policy may be periodically updated.  We will post a new date in the event that the current policy is altered.  This statement was posted in September 2011.

Disclaimer
The purpose of this site is to provide you with information about NSTAR. The information is not a representation, prospectus or circular in respect of any security of NSTAR or its subsidiaries.

By accessing this site, you are deemed to agree to the acceptance of the following terms:  all contents of this web site are copyrighted to NSTAR. The basis on which you are entitled to access the NSTAR site is set out below.  These terms may be changed from time to time.

The NSTAR web site pages contain a selection of material concerning NSTAR.  The material is for information only.  All trademarks, logos, button icons and other identifiers are the registered and unregistered trademarks of NSTAR and its subsidiaries and may not be displayed or used without our express written consent. NSTAR may at any time alter the contents of the pages on the web site, refer the reader to other sites on the World Wide Web, and/or remove pages from the web site.

Users of this web site agree not to distribute nor reuse the content of this site, engage in any unlawful or abusive conduct in the use of the site, or alter or interfere with the use of the site in any way.

NSTAR does not make any representations or warranties, express or implied, about the information provided through this web site, including any hypertext links or any other items used either directly or indirectly from the web site. 

Links from pages of NSTAR’s web site do not constitute an endorsement by NSTAR or its subsidiaries of any entities, products or services therein, or of the activities of any entities therein. We are not responsible for and do not control or monitor the content of these sites or the accuracy of information found therein. NSTAR does not accept any responsibility for enabling the reader to link to another site in the World Wide Web or for any other site.

NSTAR does not represent that the information contained on the web site is accurate, comprehensive, verified or complete, and except as specifically provided by law shall have no liability for the accuracy of the information contained in the web site or for delays or omissions or for any reliance placed by any person on the information.

Except as specifically required by law, NSTAR shall not be liable for any claims or losses of any nature, arising indirectly or directly from use of the information on the web site.  NSTAR accepts no responsibility for unauthorized access or actions of the reader in respect of these matters.  References herein to NSTAR shall mean NSTAR and all of its direct and indirect subsidiaries.