Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and scope

Energy Efficiency Ontario (“Energy Efficiency Ontario,” “we,” “us” or “our”) operates the website at energyefficiencyontario.ca and its subdomains (the “Site”). We are an independent information publisher. We are not a government body, utility, or program administrator.

This policy applies to personal information we collect through the Site, our forms, our email communications and our related services. It does not apply to the websites or practices of contractors, program administrators or other third parties, even if you reach them through a link on our Site. Those organizations have their own privacy policies.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

Quote and assessment requests (heating and cooling, solar and storage): your first and last name, email address, telephone number, postal code, city, whether you own the property, preferred contact time, and details about your home and project — for example your current heating fuel, home type, roof age and shading, approximate electricity bill, equipment you're considering, timeline and any notes you add.
Contact form: your name, email address, subject and message.
Newsletter: your email address and consent record.

Information collected automatically

Technical data: IP address, browser type and version, device type, operating system, referring page, pages viewed, and the date and time of your visit.
Campaign data: marketing parameters in the link you used to reach us (such as UTM tags or advertising click identifiers) and the first page you visited, so we can understand which channels bring visitors to the Site.
Consent records: when you submit a form, we record the consent wording shown, the boxes you checked, the timestamp, your IP address and your browser's user-agent string, so we can demonstrate that consent was given.

Calculators

Values you enter into our calculators are processed in your browser to display results. We do not store calculator inputs on our servers unless you choose to include them in a form submission.

We do not knowingly collect sensitive information such as health information, government identification numbers or financial account details, and we ask that you not include them in free-text fields.

3. How we use your information

To fulfil your request — to share your quote or assessment request with independent contractors who serve your area so they can contact you, and to confirm or follow up on that request.
To respond to you — to answer questions, corrections and feedback sent through our contact form.
To send updates you asked for — if you subscribe or opt in, to email you about Ontario energy prices, programs and new content.
To operate and improve the Site — to measure usage, fix errors, improve content and calculators, and understand which pages are most helpful.
To protect the Site — to detect and prevent spam, fraud, abuse and security incidents, including by rate-limiting and screening automated submissions.
To meet legal obligations — to keep records required by law, respond to lawful requests and enforce our Terms of Use.

With contractors, at your request

When you submit a heating and cooling or solar request and give consent, we share your contact details and project information with up to three independent contractors or installers who serve your area. Each contractor that receives your information is responsible for how it handles that information under its own privacy policy and applicable law. We require participating contractors to use your information only to respond to your request and not to sell it. We do not share your request with more than three contractors.

With service providers

We use trusted service providers to host the Site, deliver form submissions (including through secure webhooks to customer-relationship-management and workflow systems), send email, analyze traffic and protect against spam. They may access personal information only to perform services for us and must protect it.

Other disclosures

We may disclose information if required by law, to protect the rights, property or safety of our users or others, or in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition or sale of all or part of our business, in which case the recipient will be bound to handle the information consistently with this policy.

We do not sell personal information to data brokers, and we do not share your information with contractors unless you submit a request and consent.

We rely on your express consent when you submit a request to be contacted by contractors, and when you subscribe to emails. You may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. Withdrawing consent stops future sharing; it cannot recall information already shared with a contractor at your request, but you may contact that contractor directly, and we will notify contractors who received your request on your behalf if you ask us to.

To unsubscribe from our emails, use the unsubscribe link in any message or email privacy@energyefficiencyontario.ca.
To ask contractors to stop contacting you, tell them directly or contact us and we will relay your request.
You can control cookies through your browser settings (see below).

Commercial electronic messages we send identify us, include our contact information and include a working unsubscribe mechanism, as required by CASL. We process unsubscribe requests within 10 business days.

6. Cookies, analytics and similar technologies

We use a small number of technologies to operate the Site: essential cookies or browser storage to keep forms working and remember the page that first brought you to the Site during your session, and analytics tools to understand aggregate usage. If we use advertising platforms, they may set cookies or pixels to measure whether our advertising led to visits or requests.

Most browsers let you block or delete cookies and clear session storage. If you block essential storage, some features — such as remembering campaign information for a form — may not work, but you can still use the Site. We honour the “Global Privacy Control” signal where technically feasible by disabling non-essential tracking.

7. How long we keep information

Quote and assessment requests and their consent records: up to three years from submission, to manage follow-up, resolve disputes and demonstrate consent.
Contact form messages: up to two years, unless needed longer to resolve an issue.
Newsletter subscriptions: until you unsubscribe, after which we keep a suppression record (your email address and unsubscribe date) so we don't email you again.
Server and security logs: generally no more than 12 months.

8. Where information is stored

Our service providers may store or process information in Canada, the United States or other countries. When information is outside Canada, it is subject to the laws of that jurisdiction and may be accessible to its courts, law enforcement and national security authorities. We use contractual and other measures to require a comparable level of protection.

9. How we protect information

We use safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), signed and access-controlled webhook delivery, access limited to people who need it, and monitoring for abuse. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If a breach of security safeguards creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as required by law.

10. Access and correction

You may ask to see the personal information we hold about you, ask how it has been used and to whom it has been disclosed, and ask us to correct inaccurate information. You may also ask us to delete information we no longer need. We respond within 30 days and may need to verify your identity. Some requests may be limited by law.

Send requests to our Privacy Officer at privacy@energyefficiencyontario.ca.

11. Children

The Site is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18 through our forms. If you believe a minor has submitted information, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Third-party websites

The Site links to government, utility, program and other external websites. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices. Please review their policies.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in our practices or the law. We will post the updated version on this page with a new effective date and, for material changes, provide additional notice where appropriate.

14. Contact and complaints

Privacy Officer, Energy Efficiency Ontario
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Email: privacy@energyefficiencyontario.ca

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca.