Benton REA and PowerNET Privacy Policy

At Benton Rural Electric Association, our members’ privacy is very important to us and we recognize the trust our members have placed in us. Our most important asset is our members’ trust.  Therefore, we are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our members’ personal information.  The following website privacy policy affirms this commitment.

 The information we collect:

When you access this website, some information—such as the site that referred you to www.BentonREA.org,  your IP address, the type of browsers and operating system used to access our website, the date and time of access and pages visited—may be automatically collected as part of the operation of this website.  Any personal information you disclose, such as when you complete a form or sign up for membership with Benton REA online, is collected and stored indefinitely.

How we use this information:

Information gathered on our website is used to aid in providing better customer service through our online communication tools to members and the public.  Member information provided to Benton REA through our website is used to aid employees in providing quality member services, accounting, billing, communications and marketing functions of the business.

Who we share this information with:

Benton REA will not sell confidential member information.

Benton REA will not share confidential member information with anyone except the individuals authorized on your Benton REA account to receive said information.  To update the authorized persons on your account, please call 800-221-6987.

All Benton REA employees are educated on the importance of confidentiality and member privacy.  Any employee who violates the privacy of our members will be subject to appropriate disciplinary measures and possible termination.

However, we reserve the right to provide information to website hosting partners and other entities who assist us in operating our website and conducting our business. Any personal information we collect may be used for such purposes as customer service, marketing, product or service development, and facilitating subsequent use of this website.

If you opt in, such as for newsletters, email services or SmartHUB we may, from time to time, notify you of information that may be of interest to you.

We also reserve the right to disclose any such personal information if required to do so by law; or in good faith believe that such action is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process, response to claims, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our firm, employees, clients or the public.

Security

Benton REA will implement and maintain reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards, to the best of our abilities, to protect confidential member information from unauthorized access, destruction, modification or disclosure in accordance with all applicable regulations – and because it’s the right thing to do.

Benton REA will not collect any personal financial information and transaction data such as credit or debit card numbers and banking account numbers per Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance.  All online, telephone and debit/credit card payments are processed through the National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) based out of Lake Saint Louis, Mo. NISC can be reached at 866-999-6472 or at www.nisc.coop.

Benton REA does not have access to Members’ SmartHUB usernames and passwords and does not store this information on any of its computers, files or servers.  This information is maintained by NISC.  You may read their privacy policy at https://www.nisc.coop/privacy-policy/.

Regular internet e-mail is never completely secure. When corresponding to Benton REA via e-mail, you should only provide information that is non-sensitive and non-confidential. If you are concerned about the security of your communication, please contact us using the postal service or telephone.  Benton REA is not responsible for the security of information we receive via e-mail.

Benton REA makes every reasonable effort to protect the information stored in our databases, but cannot guarantee complete freedom from risk and will not be liable for inadvertent disclosures of personal information that result from circumstances beyond the firm’s reasonable control, such as hacking or other malicious attacks on the security of www.BentonREA.org, www.BentonREA.com, or any network servers owned by Benton REA.

Children

It is not our intention to collect personal information from anyone under 18 years of age. If you are under 18, you should not enter information on this website.

Cookies

Through the use of Google Analytics, we use various technologies to collect and store information when you visit www.BentonREA.org and www.BentonREA.com.  This non-identifying information may include cookies or similar technologies to identify your browser or device, your registered location, time you spent on the site and number of pages you viewed.  Google Analytics helps us analyze the traffic to our websites to help us determine if we are providing the best possible online services and information.

You may also set your browser to block all cookies, including cookies associated with Google services, but doing so may affect your use of the website and your ability to access certain features.

Links

Our website may contain links to other web sites.  When you click on one of these links, you are moving to another web site.  We encourage you to read the privacy policy statements of these linked sites as their privacy policy may differ from ours.

Questions or Notifications

If at any time you believe that Benton REA has not followed the above policy, please let us know by contacting us at info@bentonrea.org and we will make reasonable efforts to identify and correct any problem.

Limitations

It is Benton REA’s intention that this privacy policy apply only to Benton REA and PowerNET online data retention and collection activities. The policy does not apply to any offline practices of Benton REA.

Changes

Benton REA reserves the right to change the information on our website, including our privacy policy at any time.  Any changes to our privacy policy will be posted on this website.  We encourage you to review our website privacy policy and other terms of use each time you visit our website to ensure that you understand our current policy on collecting and using client information.

More Information

To request the Benton REA General Policy No. 320.0 – Data Privacy Protection, you may contact the administration office at 509-786-8260.

For more information on Benton REA, please call 800-221-6987.