Privacy Policy

Our Commitment to Privacy

Ohio Energy Advisor is committed to protecting your privacy. We use a privacy-first approach that minimizes data collection and keeps you in control of your information.

Information We Collect

With Your Consent (Opt-In)

• Email address (for broker matches and market alerts)
• ZIP code (to match you with regional brokers)
• Industry type (warehouse, factory, retail, office)
• Aggregated usage data (kWh, peak demand) - anonymized

Automatically Collected

• Website usage information collected through Google Analytics (see below)
• IP address when you submit a form (hashed for security, not stored in readable form)

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC, to understand how visitors use our site and to measure when forms are completed (for example, a broker-match request, contact message, or newsletter sign-up). Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to collect information such as pages visited, time on site, the referring website, general location (city or region), and device and browser type. We do not send your name, email address, phone number, or other form contents to Google Analytics.

• Learn how Google uses this information: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services
• Opt out of Google Analytics on all websites with the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, or block cookies in your browser settings

Bill Analyzer Privacy

Our Bill Analyzer uses Tesseract.js to process your energy bill images entirely in your browser. This means:

• Your bill image never leaves your device
• No images are uploaded to our servers
• OCR processing happens locally on your computer
• Any personal information (account numbers, names) is stripped via regex before display
• You choose whether to save anonymized usage data

How We Use Your Data

• Match you with appropriate energy brokers
• Send market alerts and educational content (with consent)
• Improve our calculators and tools
• Aggregate anonymized statistics about Ohio energy usage

Data Sharing

We share your information only in these cases:

• Broker Matches: When you request broker quotes, we share your contact info and usage profile with independent, PUCO-licensed brokers, who may contact you. Brokers may compensate us for referrals or other services
• Service Providers: Companies that help us operate the site, such as Google Analytics for website usage statistics
• Legal Requirements: If required by law or to protect our rights
• Never: We never sell your data to advertisers or data brokers

Data Retention

• Lead data: Retained for 2 years or until you request deletion
• Email subscriptions: Until you unsubscribe
• Google Analytics data: Retained according to our Google Analytics data-retention settings; aggregated reports may be kept longer

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access your data
• Request correction of inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your data
• Unsubscribe from communications
• Opt-out of data sharing with brokers

Security

We protect your data using:

• HTTPS encryption for all data transmission
• Hashed storage of sensitive identifiers
• Rate limiting to prevent abuse
• Regular security audits

Cookies

We use minimal cookies:

• Session cookies (required for form security)
• Google Analytics cookies (such as _ga) that help us understand how the site is used; you can block these in your browser or with Google’s opt-out add-on
• A testing cookie (oea_exp) that remembers which version of a page you were shown when we test design or wording changes, so the site stays consistent between visits; it expires after 90 days
• We do not use advertising or remarketing cookies

Contact Us

For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, contact us at:

[email protected]

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy occasionally. Significant changes will be announced via email to subscribers and posted on this page.

Use of this site is also governed by our Disclaimer & Terms of Use.