This Privacy Policy explains how Green Lit Energies Advisement Corp. collects, uses, stores and protects personal information in the course of providing energy advisement services from its office at 248 Selkirk Street, Chatham - N7L 1Z6, Ontario, Canada (CA). This policy is written for homeowners, tenants, landlords, small commercial owners and website visitors in Canada, and it is maintained by the developer known as GreenLit Energy.
Scope of This Policy
This policy applies to personal information that Green Lit Energies Advisement Corp. collects through its website, through telephone and email enquiries, through on site energy audits, and through the delivery of retrofit planning, renewable feasibility review and commercial benchmarking services. It applies to information about identifiable individuals, including names, contact details, property details and utility consumption records that can be linked to a person or a household.
This policy does not apply to information that has been fully anonymised so that no individual can be identified from it, nor to information about a corporation or a business entity that does not relate to an identifiable individual. Where a client is a business and the information concerns the business itself rather than a person, this policy still governs any personal information that sits inside that business record.
The corporation is committed to handling personal information in a manner that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances. Every practice described here is intended to meet that standard and to comply with applicable Canadian privacy law, including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the substantially similar provincial legislation that may apply in Ontario.
Who We Are
Green Lit Energies Advisement Corp. is an energy advisement practice operating from 248 Selkirk Street, Chatham - N7L 1Z6, Ontario, Canada (CA). The corporation audits homes and small commercial buildings, plans retrofit work, evaluates renewable energy feasibility and benchmarks commercial energy use. The practice is small and deliberately so, which means the same team that collects information is also responsible for protecting it.
For the purposes of applicable privacy law, Green Lit Energies Advisement Corp. is the organisation with control over the personal information described in this policy. Questions about this policy, or about the handling of any specific record, can be directed to the privacy contact identified at the end of this document. The developer known as GreenLit Energy maintains this policy and the website on which it is published.
The corporation does not sell personal information, does not trade it, and does not use it for advertising networks. Any information provided to the practice is used to deliver the advisory services a client has requested or to meet a legal obligation that applies to the corporation.
Information We Collect
The corporation collects several categories of information, and the category depends on the relationship a person has with the practice. A website visitor who only reads pages provides very little, while a client who commissions a full audit provides enough information to plan and verify a retrofit.
Contact and identity information may include a name, a mailing address, a telephone number, an email address and, where relevant, the name of a landlord, tenant, property manager or authorised representative. For commercial clients this may also include a job title and the name of the organisation an individual works for.
Property and building information may include the address of the building audited, its age, its construction type, the materials observed on site, the results of any testing performed and photographs taken during the visit. Utility and consumption information may include historical billing data, meter readings, rate class and the names of the utilities that serve the property.
Correspondence information includes the content of emails, notes taken during telephone calls and messages submitted through the website contact form. Technical information may include the internet protocol address from which a website page was requested, the pages viewed and the time of the request, in the limited form described under the cookies section of this policy.
How We Collect Information
Most information is collected directly from the individual concerned. A person provides contact details when making an enquiry, when booking an audit, when completing the website contact form or when authorising a utility to release consumption history. Information collected directly is the most reliable kind, and the corporation prefers it.
Some information is collected indirectly. A utility may provide historical billing data after an authorisation is signed. A landlord may supply tenancy details relevant to a building audit. A previous advisor may pass on a report at the request of the client. In each of these cases the corporation asks the client to confirm that the necessary consent has been obtained from any other individual whose information is being shared.
A limited amount of technical information is generated automatically when a person visits the website. This information is used to keep the site working and to understand, in aggregate, which pages are useful. It is not used to build a profile of an individual and is not combined with a client record.
Building and Property Data
An energy audit produces detailed records about a building. These records may include the physical condition of the envelope, insulation depths, window and door construction, foundation type, mechanical equipment makes and ages, and measurements taken during testing. Photographs are frequently captured to support the written findings, and those photographs may show interiors, exterior elevations and mechanical rooms.
Building data is treated as confidential client information. It is used to produce the audit report, to build the energy model, to plan retrofit measures and to verify results after work is completed. It may also be used in anonymised and aggregated form to improve the modelling methods the corporation relies on, provided that no individual or specific address can be identified from the aggregated result.
Where a photograph happens to include a person, or an item that reveals something personal about the occupants, the corporation stores that photograph with the same care as the rest of the client record and does not publish it without explicit written permission. Clients may ask for any photograph to be deleted from the working file at any time, though doing so may limit the ability to verify completed work.
Utility and Consumption Data
Consumption history is central to honest energy advisement. The corporation typically asks for twelve to twenty four months of utility billing, which may include electricity, natural gas, propane or other delivered fuels. This data allows the practice to reconcile a model against real usage and to detect patterns such as base load waste, demand charges or seasonal anomalies.
Utility data is obtained either directly from the client or from the utility following a signed authorisation. Authorisations are limited in scope to the property and the period required for the work. The corporation does not request data for any address that is not part of an active engagement, and it does not retain utility data for a property after the engagement has concluded and the retention period described below has elapsed.
Account numbers and rate class details are treated as sensitive and are stored with restricted access inside the client record. Where the corporation benchmarks a commercial building, the normalised figures may be presented to the client and, with permission, compared against a peer group of similar buildings in aggregate form. No other client is ever identified in a benchmark comparison.
Why We Are Permitted to Use Information
Under Canadian privacy law, an organisation must have a lawful basis for collecting, using and disclosing personal information. Green Lit Energies Advisement Corp. relies on consent for most of its processing. Consent is obtained when a client agrees to an engagement, signs a utility authorisation or submits an enquiry through the website.
In limited circumstances the corporation may process information without fresh consent where the law permits it. Examples include responding to a lawful request from a regulator or a court, protecting the safety of a person, investigating a suspected breach of an agreement, or collecting a debt owed to the corporation. Where the law requires consent to be express, the corporation seeks express consent and does not infer it.
Consent may be withdrawn at any time, subject to legal and contractual restrictions and to reasonable notice. Withdrawing consent may mean the corporation can no longer provide a service, and where that is the case the client is told before the withdrawal takes effect so that alternative arrangements can be discussed.
How We Use Information
Information is used to deliver the advisory services a client requests. This includes arranging site visits, performing audits and tests, building energy models, preparing written reports, matching measures against incentive programs, preparing rebate documentation and verifying results after work is complete. Without the information described in this policy, the practice could not produce advice grounded in the specific building.
Information is also used for service communication. The corporation may contact a client to confirm an appointment, to request documents, to report a change in a rebate program, to explain a finding or to follow up on completed work. These communications are part of the service and are not marketing.
With separate and specific consent, information may be used to send occasional updates about the practice, such as a seasonal note about audit availability. A person may decline these updates at any time without affecting the services already provided. The corporation does not use personal information for automated decision making that produces legal effects, and it does not use it to train external systems or to sell advertising.
Aggregated and anonymised data may be used to improve the modelling methods, to prepare internal statistics on the performance of recommended measures and to report general trends to the practice. No individual is identified in any such use.
Service Providers and Processors
Green Lit Energies Advisement Corp. uses a small number of service providers to operate the practice. These may include email hosting, file storage, accounting software and website hosting. Each provider is chosen with care, and each is bound by an agreement that limits its use of personal information to the services it provides to the corporation.
Where a provider stores information on servers outside Canada, the information is subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which it is stored, and it may be accessible to authorities in that jurisdiction under a lawful order. The corporation selects providers that offer strong security controls, and it reviews those controls periodically.
Service providers are not permitted to use client information for their own marketing or product development. Where a provider subcontracted any processing, the corporation requires that the same restrictions flow down to the subcontractor. A list of the categories of providers in use is available on request, though the corporation does not publish the names of its individual vendors because doing so could weaken the security of those systems.
How Long We Keep Information
Green Lit Energies Advisement Corp. keeps personal information only as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it was collected, for a related purpose a reasonable person would consider appropriate, or for a period required by law. Retention periods are set with reference to the nature of the record and the risk of retaining it longer than necessary.
Audit reports, energy models and verification records are generally retained for a period that allows the corporation to stand behind its advice and to respond to any later question about a building it has assessed. Utility authorisations and billing histories are retained only while the engagement is active and for a short period afterwards in case a rebate application is audited.
Contact enquiries that do not become engagements are retained only for as long as needed to answer the enquiry and to keep a record of the response, after which they are deleted. Financial records are retained for the period required by tax and corporate law. When a retention period ends, the information is securely destroyed or irreversibly anonymised.
A client may request earlier deletion of information that is not subject to a legal retention requirement, and the corporation will act on that request within a reasonable time, subject to any overriding obligation to keep the record.
How We Protect Information
The corporation applies administrative, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information it holds. Access to client records is limited to team members who need the information to do their work, and access is granted on the principle of least privilege rather than by default.
Technical safeguards include access controls on the systems that hold client records, the use of encryption where information is transmitted or stored in a form that warrants it, and the routine updating of software to address known vulnerabilities. Physical safeguards include the secure storage of paper records and the controlled use of portable devices that may hold client information.
Team members who handle personal information receive guidance on the handling rules described in this policy and on the steps to take if a breach is suspected. Despite these measures, no system is perfectly secure. If a breach of security safeguards creates a real risk of significant harm to an individual, the corporation will notify the affected individuals and the appropriate regulator as required by law, and it will report the steps taken to contain and remedy the breach.
Your Privacy Rights
Individuals have rights in relation to their personal information, and the corporation is committed to honouring those rights. A person may ask what information the corporation holds about them, may ask for a copy of that information, and may ask for it to be corrected where it is inaccurate or incomplete.
A person may withdraw consent to the use of information for an optional purpose, such as occasional practice updates, without affecting the core service. A person may ask for the deletion of information that is no longer needed and is not subject to a legal retention requirement. A person may ask questions about how a decision concerning the use of their information was made and may challenge that decision.
The corporation will not refuse a legitimate request or charge a fee for a reasonable request without explaining why. Where a request is very broad or would require an unreasonable amount of effort to fulfil, the corporation may ask the person to narrow the request rather than refuse it outright. Requests are handled with the same confidentiality as the underlying record.
Access and Correction Requests
To make an access or correction request, write to the privacy contact at hello@greenlitenergy.buzz, or by post to Green Lit Energies Advisement Corp., 248 Selkirk Street, Chatham - N7L 1Z6, Ontario, Canada (CA). A request should describe the information sought clearly enough for the corporation to locate it, and it may need to include proof of identity so that no record is released to the wrong person.
The corporation will respond within the time allowed by applicable law. If a request cannot be met in full, the corporation will explain the reason, identify any provision of law relied on, and describe the process for challenging the decision. Where a correction is made, the corporation will take reasonable steps to inform any party to whom the information was disclosed if accuracy matters to that party.
There is normally no charge for a first access request. Where a request requires a substantial amount of work to fulfil, the corporation may provide a cost estimate before proceeding so that the person can decide whether to continue. No fee is ever charged for correcting information that is shown to be inaccurate.
Privacy for Children
The services of Green Lit Energies Advisement Corp. are directed to adults who own, occupy, manage or advise on buildings. The corporation does not knowingly collect personal information from children. If a child contacts the practice, the enquiry is handled only to the extent needed to respond courteously, and no information from that exchange is added to a client record.
Where a property audit involves a household with children, the corporation does not record any information about the children. Photographs are taken to document building conditions, and where a person appears in a photograph by coincidence, that photograph is not published and may be deleted on request. Any concern about information relating to a child should be raised with the privacy contact, and the corporation will act promptly to address it.
A parent or guardian who believes that a child has provided personal information to the practice may request its deletion. The corporation will remove the information unless it is legally required to keep it, and it will confirm the action taken in writing.
Commercial Client Information
When the client is a business, the corporation may hold operational information such as building schedules, occupancy patterns, equipment inventories and supplier contacts. Some of this information may identify individual employees or tenants, and that personal information is protected under this policy in the same way as household information.
The corporation keeps business information confidential and does not disclose it to a competitor or to any other client except in a benchmark comparison that has been anonymised and aggregated so that no individual building or business can be identified. Where a commercial client permits a named case reference, that permission is obtained in writing and may be withdrawn at any time.
Employees and tenants of a commercial client who have questions about information held about them may contact the privacy contact directly. The corporation will work with the commercial client to answer the question while respecting any confidentiality that applies to the business records themselves.
Storage and Cross Border Transfer
Information may be stored on servers located outside Canada where a service provider operates infrastructure in another country. When information is transferred across a border, it remains subject to this policy, but it also becomes subject to the laws of the country in which it is stored, including any lawful access provisions that apply there.
The corporation takes steps to ensure that a cross border transfer does not reduce the protection available to personal information. Providers are assessed for their security practices and their handling of lawful access requests, and they are contractually required to notify the corporation of any request that would require disclosure of client information.
A client who prefers that information remain within Canada may raise the preference with the practice, and where the operational systems allow, the corporation will work to accommodate the request. Some services cannot be delivered without the use of a provider that operates across borders, and in that case the client is told before the engagement begins.
Links to Other Websites
The website may link to the sites of utilities, government rebate programs or industry references so that a visitor can follow up on information. Those sites are operated by other organisations and have their own privacy practices. This policy does not apply to them, and the corporation is not responsible for how they handle information.
A visitor who follows a link to another site is encouraged to read that site privacy notice before providing any personal information. Where a link leads to a rebate application portal, the portal operator is the party that collects and controls the information submitted through it, even when the corporation has helped prepare the application.
The corporation does not control the content or availability of external sites and does not endorse every statement made on them. A link is provided for convenience, and its presence does not imply a partnership or a transfer of responsibility for privacy practices.
Changes to This Policy
This policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in the services offered, in the systems used by the practice, or in the law that applies to personal information. When a change is made, the revised policy is published on this page and the effective date at the foot of the page is updated accordingly.
Where a change is material, the corporation will take reasonable steps to bring it to the attention of clients, such as a notice on the website or a direct communication to active clients. A material change will not be applied retroactively to information collected under an earlier version of the policy without a lawful basis for doing so.
A person who continues to use the services after a revised policy takes effect is treated as accepting the revision for information collected from that point onward. Anyone who does not accept a revision may contact the privacy contact to discuss the options, including the deletion of information that is not subject to a legal retention requirement.
How to Contact Us
Questions, concerns and requests relating to this Privacy Policy may be directed to the privacy contact at Green Lit Energies Advisement Corp. The practice can be reached by email at hello@greenlitenergy.buzz, by telephone on +14067974034, or by post at 248 Selkirk Street, Chatham - N7L 1Z6, Ontario, Canada (CA).
Correspondence is reviewed by a member of the team, and a response is provided within the time allowed by applicable law. Where a concern cannot be resolved directly, the corporation will explain the next steps available, including the option to raise the matter with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or with a provincial privacy regulator where one has jurisdiction.
This policy is maintained by the developer known as GreenLit Energy on behalf of Green Lit Energies Advisement Corp. The corporation thanks every client and visitor who takes the time to read it, because a clear understanding of how information is handled is part of an honest advisory relationship.