The AusNet privacy policy sets out how we collect and handle with personal information. We are committed to respecting your right to privacy and protecting your personal information.
Privacy notification – collection of customers personal information
AusNet (“us”, “we”, “our”, or “AusNet”) collects personal information about you where it is reasonably necessary for us to perform one or more of our functions or activities as a diversified energy business.
We endeavour to collect your personal information directly from you, but there are circumstances where we collect personal information from third parties, such as energy retailers.
If you do not provide us with your personal information when requested, this may limit the assistance we are able to provide to you. For example, we may not be able to provide the product, service or solution you may have requested, we may not be able to handle enquiries or claims in connection with those products or services, or process your job application (as applicable). For energy customers, this may also mean your retailer cannot supply you with electricity or gas.
Full details of the nature of the personal information we collect and how we use and disclose it are contained in our Privacy Policy.
Personal information we collect
The nature of the personal information we collect about you will depend on the circumstances for which we require it:
- for our customers:
- as the account holder, your name and contact details (e.g. postal address, telephone number and email address);
- the site address to which we supply products or services;
- billing information and metering data; see Privacy Policy and metering FAQs (below) for more on this; or
- other information relevant to the provision of services or solutions by us to you;
- for our suppliers and service providers, the names and contact details of service provider representatives we work with;
- for prospective personnel (employees or contractors) seeking employment or engagement with us, your name and contact information, your curriculum vitae, and other information about your suitability for employment with or engagement by us; or
- for other individuals, who may or may not be AusNet customers:
- your name and contact telephone number (where you are requesting a service or quote, or reporting a fault, outage or other incident);
- your address, metering data and billing information (where you are requesting a service or quote, or where this information is necessary to enable us to meet our contractual obligations to a third party); or
- you own or occupy, or have a relevant connection to, land or premises relevant to the assessment, inspection, operation, maintenance, replacement, management, support, planning, development, expansion, modification, or improvement of our energy networks or other infrastructure.
Sometimes, we may need to collect personal information about individuals in addition to the listed stakeholders above, for example, in the limited circumstances where we take or obtain closed circuit television footage for the purpose of detecting and determining criminal behaviour in or around our sites, when we are conducting incident investigations, and for the purposes of monitoring the safety and security of the people we work with and our sites (including through the use of body or dash mounted cameras).
How we use and disclose personal information
Personal information we collect may be held, used, or disclosed for the following purposes:
- for the purposes of:
- assessing, inspecting, operating, maintaining, replacing, managing, supporting, planning, developing, expanding, modifying, or improving our energy networks and other infrastructure;
- business planning, product development, or providing quotes to supply products or services;
- performing mapping, statistical and other analysis of usage of our energy networks, other infrastructure, or relevant geographical areas;
- protecting our legal rights, investigating suspected misconduct or assisting law enforcement agencies; or
- enabling us to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. For example, sometimes, we may be required to collect, use or disclose personal information by national or Victorian laws and regulations, including the Electricity Industry Act 2000 (Vic), the National Gas (Victoria) Act 2008 (Vic), or the rules, regulations and codes of practice made under those laws;
- if you are our customer, for the purposes of:
- connecting or maintaining your supply of electricity or gas, including notifying you about interruptions, faults, outages, emergencies, or other matters relevant to your supply;
- validating your request for access to myHomeEnergy portal;
- notifying you of outages;
- verifying your identity and validating your request for access to your metering data (or a
- request to authorise a third party to access your metering data);
- participating in initiatives or trials, such as GoodGrid or flexible solar exports;
- installing, supplying, connecting and maintaining equipment and appliances, including meters or UBI devices, and providing meter reading, sub-metering, monitoring and testing services in relation to meters or UBI devices;
- identifying possible technical problems and efficiency issues, and informing you of these matters and potential solutions;
- providing such other products or services that we may offer from time to time and providing information about their availability, features and benefits, including products or services which we offer to you in response to a government policy or regulatory initiative;
- providing billing and account management services associated with the products or services we provide, and assisting energy retailers to bill you; or o responding to your enquiries, or investigating or resolving a complaint you make;
- if you are, or you work for, a supplier or service provider, for the purposes of acquiring goods or services from such suppliers or service providers;
- if you are prospective personnel (employees or contractors), for the purposes of recruitment and selection;
- if you are an individual who may or may not be our customer, for the purposes of:
- maintaining a supply of electricity or gas;
- providing a quote to provide products or services; or
- fulfilling a contractual obligation we owe to a third party.
We may also use and disclose personal information we collect for other purposes that are permitted, required or authorised by applicable law, such as:
- purposes which you would reasonably expect and which are related (and, in the case of sensitive information, directly related) to the primary purpose of collection of personal information;
- governing access to our critical infrastructure;
- detecting and determining criminal behaviour in or around our sites, conducting incident investigations, and for monitoring the safety and security and our sites, or of the people we work with; or
- any other purposes for which you have given consent.
Disclosure to third parties
We may disclose your personal information to our suppliers and service providers, agents, any entities in the AusNet group (as specified in the Privacy Policy), our professional advisors, accountants, insurers, lawyers and auditors, government, regulatory, judicial or law enforcement officers; or any other third parties notified to you at or around the time we collect your personal information.
We may send or disclose your personal information to entities or organisations located in:
- India;
- Malaysia;
- Singapore;
- Ireland; or
- the United States.
Contact details
The Privacy Policy contains our processes for access or correction of personal information, and for enquiries or complaints in relation to privacy.
If you need to contact AusNet in relation to privacy, you may do so at the following:
- You may contact our Customer Support team
Phone: 1300 360 795
Email: customersupport@ausnetservices.com.au - Alternatively, you may write to the Privacy Officer at:
The Privacy Officer
AusNet Locked Bag 14051
Melbourne City Mail Centre 8001
Email: privacy@ausnetservices.com.au