PRIVACY POLICY

Privacy Notice

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) for Cottage Energy, Inc. (d.b.a. "Public Grid", “Cottage” or “we”) describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or share (“process”) your information when you use our services (“Services”) on this website. At Public Grid, we value our customer’s privacy and encourage you to read this notice to understand how we collect and process your information. By using our Services, you acknowledge that you accept the terms and requirements of this Policy and consent to the collection and processing of your information as outlined below. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at support@onepublicgrid.com. To understand the terms to which you consent upon using our website, please visit our Terms of Service agreement (https://onepublicgrid.com/terms-of-service).

Summary of Key Points‍

This summary provides key points from our privacy notice, but you can find out more details about any of these topics by clicking the link following each key point or by using our table of contents below to find the section you are looking for. You can also click here to go directly to our table of contents. What personal information do we process? When you visit, use, or navigate our Services, we may process personal information depending on how you interact with Public Grid and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. Do we process any sensitive personal information? We may process sensitive personal information when necessary with your consent or as otherwise permitted by applicable law. Do we receive any information from third parties? We do not receive any information from third parties. How do we process your information? We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent. We process your information only when we have a valid legal reason to do so. In what situations and with which parties do we share personal information? We may share information in specific situations and with specific third parties. How do we keep your information safe? We have organizational and technical processes and procedures in place to protect your personal information. However, no electronic transmission over the internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. What are your rights? Depending on where you are located geographically, the applicable privacy law may mean you have certain rights regarding your personal information. Click here to learn more. How do you exercise your rights? The easiest way to exercise your rights is by filling out our data subject request by contacting us. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

When you visit or log in to our website, cookies and similar technologies may be used by our online data partners or vendors to associate these activities with other personal information they or others have about you, including by association with your email or home address. We (or service providers on our behalf) may then send communications and marketing to these email or home addresses. You may opt out of receiving this advertising by visiting https://app.retention.com/optout.

1. What Information Do We Collect?

Personal information you disclose to usIn Short:We collect personal information that you provide to us.

Public Grid collects some personal information that identifies you individually, such as your name, phone number, and address. All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete, and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information. This information is collected as described below:

Personal Information Provided by You. The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following:

• names

• phone

• numbers

• email

• addresses

• mailing

• addresses

• billing

• addresses

• debit/credit card numbers

• passwords

• contact preferences

• usernames

Sensitive Information. When necessary, with your consent or as otherwise permitted by applicable law, we process the following categories of sensitive information: financial data, identification information including Social Security Number.

Payment Data. We may collect data necessary to process your payment if you make purchases, such as your payment instrument number (such as a credit card number), and the security code associated with your payment instrument. All payment data is stored by Stripe . You may find their privacy notice link(s) here: https://stripe.com/privacy-center/legal

Social Media Login Data. We may provide you with the option to register with us using your existing social media account details, like your Facebook, Twitter, or other social media account. If you choose to register in this way, we will collect the information described in the section called “How Do We Handle Your Social Logins?” below.

Account data. When you use the Public Grid website, you will have the opportunity to provide us with some information directly. When you create an account, you provide your first name, last name, full address, phone number, email address, and utility account credentials. You may also need to provide your date of birth and driver’s license number.

User-generated content. In some instances, we may need you to upload a copy of your lease agreement or utility bill.

Third party service account data, such as the username and password, account number, usage/billing data, payment history, account history, program participation data, utility usage data, and other data associated with your other accounts that you instruct us to connect to the Service, such as your utility company account.

All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete, and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information.

Information automatically collected
In Short:Some information — such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you visit our Services.

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Services. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Services, and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Services, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes. Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies.

The information we collect includes: Log and Usage Data. Log and usage data is service-related, diagnostic, usage, and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our Services and which we record in log files. Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type, and settings and information about your activity in the Services (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches, and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports (sometimes called “crash dumps” ), and hardware settings).

Third-Party Data Collection
We may combine personal information we receive from you with personal information we obtain from other sources, such as:

• Data providers, such as information services and data licensors.

• Public sources, such as social media platforms.

• Marketing partners, such as companies that have entered into joint marketing relationships with us.

• Payment information that you provide when using our services is collected by Stripe.

• We do not see this information. You may find Stripe’s privacy notice here: https://stripe.com/privacy-center/legal

• We also may collect information using third-party web analytics services to better understand how you experience our Services.

2. How Do We Process Your Information?

In Short:We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent.

We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our Services, including:

• To allow you to create and log into your account, as well as keep your account in working order.

• To facilitate delivery of services to you.

• To send administrative information to you, including details about our products and

• services, changes to our terms and policies, and other similar information.

• To fulfill and manage your payments made through the services.

• To protect our Services. We may process your information as part of our efforts to keep

• our Services safe and secure, including fraud monitoring and prevention.

• To evaluate and improve our Services, products, marketing, and your experience. We

• may process your information when we believe it is necessary to identify usage trends, determine the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns, and to evaluate and improve our Services, products, marketing, and your experience.

• To better understand how our Services are being used so we can improve them.

• To comply with our legal obligations, respond to legal requests, and exercise, establish, or defend our legal rights.

We also reserve the right to use your personal information for research and development purposes, including to analyze and improve the Service and our business. As part of these activities, we may create aggregated, de-identified or other anonymous data from personal information we collect. We make personal information into anonymous data by removing information that makes the data personally identifiable to you. We may use this anonymous data and share it with third parties for our lawful business purposes, including to analyze and improve the Service and promote our business.

3. When And With Whom Do We Share Your Personal Information?

In Short:We may share information in specific situations described in this section and/or with the following third parties.

We may share your personal information with the following parties and as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy or at the time of collection:

• Third parties at your direction. Third parties when you direct us to, such as when we share your personal information with your local energy utility company to facilitate connecting the Service to your utility account.

• Business Partners. We may share aggregated, de-identified or other anonymous data from personal information we collect with business partners.

• Service providers. Companies and individuals that provide services on our behalf or help us operate the Service or our business (such as hosting, information technology, cloud storage, payment processors, customer support, email delivery, online user analytics services, and marketing).

• Advertising partners. Third party advertising companies for the interest-based advertising purposes described above.

• Marketing partners. Third party companies whose products and services you may be interested in. You can request to opt-out of this sharing by sending your request to support@onepublicgrid.com.

4. Do We Use Cookies And Other Tracking Technologies?

In Short:We may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect and store your information.

We use cookies to access or store information. Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by website owners to make their websites work more efficiently and to provide information for analytics.

We use cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our website to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance user experience on our website.

If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our website, but your access to some functions and areas of our website may be restricted. You may also set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. We also track activity on the Public Grid website so that we can understand the user experience and make improvements. We do not track your browsing on other websites.

5. How Do We Handle Your Social Logins?

In Short:If you choose to register or log in to our services using a social media account, we may have access to certain information about you.

Our Services offer you the ability to register and log in using your third-party social media account details (like your Facebook or Twitter logins). Where you choose to do this, we will receive certain profile information about you from your social media provider. The profile information we receive may vary depending on the social media provider concerned, but will often include your name, email address, friends list, and profile picture, as well as other information you choose to make public on such a social media platform.

We will use the information we receive only for the purposes that are described in this privacy notice or that are otherwise made clear to you on the relevant Services. Please note that we do not control, and are not responsible for, other uses of your personal information by your third-party social media provider. We recommend that you review their privacy notice to understand how they collect, use, and share your personal information, and how you can set your privacy preferences on their sites and apps.

6. How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

In Short:We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy notice unless otherwise required by law.

We store your information as long as you have an account. When you delete your account, we delete all of your information, except for your electricity usage history, within 30 days. We keep your usage history to facilitate analytics for new tenants moving into your unit. If you do not create an account, we delete your session information within a reasonable timeframe.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

7. How Do We Keep Your Information Safe?

In Short:We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.

We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and unlawfully collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk.

The safety and security of your information also depend on you. You should only access the Services within a secure environment. Additionally, certain parts of Public Grid are protected by a password, and it is your responsibility to use a strong password and to keep that password confidential.

8. Do We Collect Information From Minors?

In Short:We do not knowingly collect data from or market to children under 18 years of age.

We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Services. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at zack@onepublicgrid.com .

9. What Are Your Privacy Rights?

In Short:You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time.

If you are located in the EEA or UK and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: https://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm

If you are located in Switzerland, the contact details for the data protection authorities are available here: https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home.html

Withdrawing your consent: If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, which may be express and/or implied consent depending on the applicable law, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section “ HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE? ” below.

However, please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal, nor when applicable law allows, will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

Account Information If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can: Log in to your account settings and update your user account. Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.

Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Services. To opt out of interest-based advertising by advertisers on our Services visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.

If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at support@onepublicgrid.com.

10. Controls For Do-Not-Track Features

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track ( “DNT” ) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized . As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice.

11. Do California Residents Have Specific Privacy Rights?

In Short:Yes, if you are a resident of California, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information.

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with Services, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Services. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Services, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from all our systems (e.g. , backups, etc.)

12. Do We Make Updates To This Notice?

In Short:Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Revised” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

13. How Can You Contact Us About This Notice?

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO), Zack Schmitz, by email at zack@onepublicgrid.com, by phone at (646) 847-7885 or toll free at (855) 456-4342, or by post to:
Public Grid
Zack Schmitz
444 Sommerville Ave,
Cambrdige, MA, 02143
United States

14. How Can You Review, Update, Or Delete The Data We Collect From You?

Based on the applicable laws of your country, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please email us at support@onepublicgrid.com.

Cookie Policy
‍The Cookie policy explains how Cottage Energy, Inc. (d.b.a. "Public Grid", “Cottage”, “Company“, we”, “us”, or “our”) uses cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you visit our websites at http://www.onepublicgrid.com ,(Websites”). It explains what these technologies are and why we use then, as well as our rights to control our use of them. In some cases, we may use cookies to collect personal information, or that becomes personal information if we combine it with other information.

What are cookies?
‍Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website, Cookies are widely used by website owners in order to make their websites work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information. Cookies set by the website owner (in this case, Public Grid) are called “first party cookies”. Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called “third party cookies”. Third party cookies enable third party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website (e.g., like advertising, interactive content and analytics). The parties that set these third party cookies can recognize your computer both when it visits the website in question and also when it visits certain other websites.

Why do we use cookies?
‍We use first and third party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Websites to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Online Properties. Third parties serve cookies through our Websites and the purposes they perform are described below) please note that the specific cookies served may vary depending on the specific Online Properties your visit):

How can I control cookies?
‍You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. You can exercise your cookie rights. By setting your preferences in the Cookie Consent Manager. The Cookie Consent Manager allows you to select which categories of cookies you accept or reject. Essential cookies cannot be rejected as they are strictly necessary to provide you with services. The Cookie Consent Manager can be found in the notification banner and on our website. IIf you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our website though your access to some functionality and areas of our website may be restricted. You may also set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse coolies. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information. In addition, most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of targeted advertising. If you would like to find our more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.youronlinechoices.com The specific types of first and third party cookies served through our Websites and the purposes they perform are described in the table below) please note that the specific cookies served may vary depending on the specific Online Properties you visit):

Essential Website Cookies:
‍These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with the services available through our Websites and to use some of its features, such as to secure areas.

‍
What about other tracking technologies, like web beacons?
‍Cookies are not the only way to recognize or track visitors to a website. We may use other, similar technologies from time to time, like web beacons (sometimes called “tracking pixels” or “clear gifs”). These are tiny graphics files that contain a unique identifier that enable us to recognize when someone has visited our Websites or opened an e-mail including them. This allows us, for example, to monitor the traffic patterns of users form one page within a website to another, to deliver or communicate with cookies, to understand whether you have come to the website from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website, to improve side performance, and to measure the success of e-mail marketing campaigns. In many instances, these technologies are reliant on cookies to function properly, and so declining cookies will impair their functioning.

Do you use Flash cookies or Local Shared Objects?
‍Websites may also use so-called “Flash Cookies” (also known as Local Shared Objects or “LSOs”) to, among other things, collect and store information about your use of our services, fraud prevention and for other site operations. If you do not want Flash Cookies stored on your computer, you can adjust the settings of your Flash player to block Flash Cookies storage using the tools contained in the Webpage Storage Settings Panel. You can also control Flash Cookies by going to the Global Storage Settings Panel and following the instructions (which may include instructions that explain, for example, how to delete existing Flash Cookies (referred to “information” on the Macromedia site), how to prevent Flash LSOs from being placed on your computer without your being asked, and (for Flash Player 8 and later) how to block Flash Cookies that are not being delivered by the operator of the page you are on at the time). Please note that setting the Flash Player to restrict or limit acceptance of Flash Cookies may reduce or impede the functionality of some Flash applications, including, potentially, Flash applications used in connection with our services or online content.

Do you serve targeted advertising?
‍Third parties may serve cookies on your computer or mobile device to serve advertising through our Websites. These companies may use information about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services that you may be interested in. They may also employ technology that is used to measure the effectiveness of advertisements. This can be accomplished by them using cookies or web beacons to collect information about your visits to this and other sites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services of potential interest to you. The information collected through this process does not enable us or them to identify your name, contact details or other details that directly identify you unless you choose to provide these.

How often will you update this Cookie Policy?
‍We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. Please therefore re-visit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies. The date at the top of this Cookie Policy indicates when it was last updated.

Where can I get further information?If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please reach out to us at:

Email: support@onepublicgrid.com

Call: (646) 847-7885 or toll free at (855) 456-4342‍