PRIVACY POLICY.
Please read the privacy policy below. This page covers off our general privacy policy, as well as topics like your personal information, passwords and account security, access to and correction of your personal information, use and disclosure of information, security of information, cookies, use of your information by third parties, links to other sites, unsolicited emails or direct mail, public statements and residents outside of New Zealand.
General
1. This policy governs the use of your personal information by Mercury NZ Limited trading as Trustpower.
2. Trustpower must comply with privacy legislation when dealing with personal information. We respect your privacy and comply with the Privacy Act 2020. Any personal information provided to Trustpower will be stored and used by Trustpower in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
3. If you have any questions regarding our privacy statement or wish to view or amend the personal information that we hold about you please contact us at enquiries@trustpower.co.nz or at the following address:
Trustpower
Private Bag 12023
Tauranga Mail Centre
Tauranga 3143
Personal information
4. You may be required to provide personal information (such as credit card, bank details, identification or contact information, or information about your energy or telecommunications usage) for the following purposes:
• to register for or to administer your account;
• to sign-up for or amend the services or products you receive from us;
• to help us determine the best energy or telecommunications solutions for you;
• to enter any competition or promotion operated by us; or
• to request more information from us.
5. You have the right to know why your personal information is being collected at the time of collection.
6. You agree that any information you give to Trustpower will be accurate, correct and up to date, and that when acting on behalf of a business or another person, you are authorised to give such information to us.
7. Please be aware that we may record telephone conversations that we have with you so that we may maintain accurate records of our dealings with you. We may also use taped recordings to train our staff or to monitor the level of service that we are providing to you.
Passwords and account security
8. If you register for online access to your account(s) you will be required to choose a password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of passwords associated with your account. You agree that you will not disclose your password to any third party and that you will be solely responsible for all activities that occur under your account, whether or not you have authorised such activities or actions. If you become aware of any unauthorised use of your password or of your account, you must notify Trustpower immediately at enquiries@trustpower.co.nz.
Access to and correction of your personal information
9. You are entitled to access the personal information we hold about you, and request that we amend it if it is incorrect. You must inform us if any of your personal information changes, to ensure that the details we hold about you are up to date and correct.
Use and disclosure of information
10. Trustpower may use or disclose your personal information for any of the uses described in this Privacy Policy, unless you have instructed us otherwise. Trustpower will not disclose your personal information to any person unless you have instructed or authorised us to do so in advance, including by agreeing to the uses described this Privacy Policy.
11. We may use or disclose your personal information:
• where you have authorised us to do so, including contacting your authorised persons and alternate contacts;
• to confirm your identify or the identity of other people authorised on your account (including biometric facial matching) via a third party service provider or otherwise;
• to verify whether you, or a member of your household, qualify for vulnerable or medically dependent consumer status, and to assist us in carrying out our responsibilities under the Guideline on Arrangements to Assist Vulnerable Consumers and the Guideline on Arrangements to Assist Medically Dependent Consumers;
• to correspond with you about issues regarding your account(s) and the products and services you receive from us;
• to send you updates or news regarding our site and the products and services we supply;
• for credit assessment (pre and post account creation) or debt recovery purposes (including for supplying credit information and your payment history (positive or negative) to credit reporting agencies in accordance with the Credit Reporting Privacy Code);
• to our employees, contractors, agents, representatives and suppliers in order to provide you with the services or products you receive from us;
• to our service providers for the purposes of meeting our obligations to you or to communicate directly with you on our behalf;
• if we are required to do so in accordance with industry reconciliation or switching rules;
• if the network owner requires information for the purposes of operating the network or to communicate with you;
• if a reputable market research organisation requires information about you for the purpose of conducting market research, or contacting you to market or promote our products or services;
• conducting data analysis to identify particular products and services that may be of interest to you;
• to persons who wish to pass on rebates or discounts to you, or you are a beneficiary of that person, and they wish to communicate with you, or it is required to maintain trust or cooperative electoral rolls;
• to send you your bills by whatever medium you prefer;
• to any internet service provider that you use to access the Site;
• to administer any competition or promotion you have entered;
• to the applicable intellectual property rights holders (or their representatives) if Trustpower considers that you are infringing the intellectual property rights of any person;
• as part of the sale of any of our assets;
• to assist an adjudicator to resolve a complaint you make about us;
• where we reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent or investigate any unlawful conduct; or
• in accordance with the strict exceptions contained in the Privacy Act.
12. You may choose not to receive marketing or promotional emails by contacting us at enquiries@trustpower.co.nz.
Security of information
13. Trustpower has electronic and physical security measures in place to protect against the loss, access, misuse and, alteration and/or unauthorised disclosure of the information under our control. Please be advised, however, that while Trustpower strives to do everything reasonably possible to protect your personal information and privacy, we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you disclose or transmit to Trustpower and we are not responsible for the theft, destruction, or inadvertent disclosure of your personal information where our security measures have been breached. These activities are conducted at your own risk.
14. At your request, Trustpower will discard its records of your personal information once they are no longer required.
15. If you choose to pay your bills online, our online payment requires you to use the Payment Express system. By using this payment method we do not need to record any of your credit card details, although for convenience you can choose to save your information for future payments. Your payment details are not held by Trustpower but by Payment Express. For more information on this payment system, go to www.paymentexpress.com.
Cookies
16. A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive, then sent back to the server by your browser each time you access certain sections of the site.
17. Like many sites on the Web, Trustpower uses cookies to store and track information about you when you're on our site so that we can provide personalised services that better match your needs and interests. We also use information about your internet usage to suggest alternative plans that may be more appropriate for you (either through your My Account portal or by email).
18. We also use cookies to assess which features on the site are popular among our users.
Use of your information by third parties
19. We allow third-party companies, including AddThis and Google, to collect certain anonymous information when you visit our website. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information during your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services (including our goods and services) likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or a third party web beacon to collect this information.
20. We also use the information provided by the Google Analytics Remarketing and Impressions services, to better target our online advertising. These services report to us how our online advertisements are used and viewed.
21. To learn more about these advertising practices, you can visit www.networkadvertising.org or www.google.com/analytics.
Links to other sites
22. Trustpower has links or references to other websites from our site and our Privacy Policy does not cover those sites. Trustpower takes no responsibility for the privacy practices of other websites.
Public statements
23. Should you wish to make public comments or statements about the products or services we provide you, or the relationship we have with you, we reserve the right to make such public comments as may be necessary to respond or correct any misconceptions or errors of fact. If you make any public comments about your account then you agree to us replying as we think appropriate using the information that we have about your account.
Residents outside of New Zealand
24. Our site can be accessed by people all over the world, in different countries with different laws. Other jurisdictions may have different laws regarding the storage and use of your personal information. By visiting our site and providing us with data, you acknowledge and agree that your personal information may be processed for the purposes identified in this policy. In addition, such data may be stored on servers located outside your resident jurisdiction, which may have less stringent privacy practices than your own. By providing us with your data, you consent to the transfer of such data.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
25. Trustpower may choose to update its Privacy Policy at any time. This Privacy Policy was last updated in February 2021.