Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

lowermypge.com is operated by Mark O'Connor doing business as El Dorado Energy, an independent solar consultancy. HIS License #164591 SP. Based in El Dorado Hills, California.

Contact for privacy matters: privacy@lowermypge.com · 916-757-2291

2. What information we collect

When you use the bill-upload form on this site, we collect:

• Contact information: first name, last name, phone number, email address
• Home information: service address (as shown on your bill)
• Utility bill contents: your PG&E account holder name, billing period, peak and off-peak kWh usage, rate schedule (E-TOU, E-1, NEM, etc.), monthly bill amount, and any program enrollments visible on the bill (CARE, Medical Baseline, Pioneer CCA, existing solar/NEM)
• Bill image or PDF: the file you uploaded, kept temporarily for processing and quality-verification purposes
• Audit results: the personalized savings audit we generate from your data

We do not collect: Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, government ID numbers, precise geolocation, biometric data, health data, or any of the other categories CCPA defines as "sensitive personal information."

3. Where we get it

Two paths, both initiated by you:

1. Bill upload: You type your contact info into the form and you upload your bill. We receive a document you chose to share.
2. PG&E account connection (UtilityAPI): You authorize PG&E (via a third-party service called UtilityAPI) to share 12–24 months of your historical usage data with us. You log in to PG&E with your own credentials on PG&E's secure page; we never see your password. UtilityAPI receives the data from PG&E and forwards a structured copy to us. You can revoke this authorization at any time through the PG&E Share My Data portal.

If you use the connection path, we are acting under your express authorization — you are the data subject and you grant access. UtilityAPI operates as a Green Button Connect My Data third party authorized by you under the Department of Energy's data-portability standard. Either path: we receive only data you choose to share.

4. How we use it

• Generate a personalized solar savings audit for your home
• Contact you by phone or email to walk you through that audit and answer questions
• Prepare follow-up materials (system design options, financing options) if you want to continue the conversation
• Occasionally send you updates about your audit or relevant changes (PG&E rate changes, tax credit deadlines, etc.) — you can opt out of these at any time

We will never use your data to build a profile about you for advertising, sell it, or share it with parties other than those listed in Section 6.

5. How long we keep it

We keep your bill and extracted data only while we are actively working on your audit. When we close out your file (because you decided against solar, chose another provider, or the audit is complete), the 30-day retention clock starts and your data is deleted after that window.

A note about installer approvals: the solar industry requires the most recent PG&E bill (within roughly 30 days) to process an installation approval. If you upload an older bill, we may ask you to upload a newer one when it arrives. We delete the older bill once the newer one is received.

You can request immediate deletion at any time by emailing privacy@lowermypge.com. We will honor that request within 45 days as required by CCPA.

6. Who we share it with

Your data is seen by:

• Mark O'Connor — the consultant who reviews your audit and contacts you. If you upload through a link from Pat McIntosh, your data goes to Pat instead, not Mark.
• Anthropic — we use Anthropic's Claude AI model to read the text on your bill and extract usage numbers (only when you choose the bill-upload path). Anthropic processes this data under their Commercial Terms and does not retain it for model training. See Anthropic's privacy policy.
• UtilityAPI — only if you choose the "Connect PG&E account" path. UtilityAPI is a CPUC-authorized third-party data aggregator that receives your usage data from PG&E under your authorization and forwards it to us. They process data on our behalf and yours; you can revoke their access at any time through PG&E's Share My Data portal. See UtilityAPI's privacy policy.
• Netlify — our hosting provider. They store your contact info and audit data in encrypted storage. See Netlify's privacy policy.
• Google Drive — after your bill is parsed, the bill file and extracted data are stored in a private Google Drive folder owned by Mark's business account, accessible only to Mark and Pat. Google processes this as a service provider under their Workspace terms. See Google's privacy policy.
• SendGrid (Twilio) — our email provider, used to send you your audit and follow-up emails. See Twilio's privacy policy.
• Your installer — only if you sign a solar contract or advance to the design/approval stage where the installer needs to review your bill directly. At that point your file is transferred into the installer's systems and their privacy terms govern it going forward.

These parties are "service providers" under CCPA. They are contractually restricted to processing your data only for the specific purposes we've hired them for, and they cannot use it for their own purposes.

We do not share your data with:

• PG&E (they already have your data; we don't send it back to them)
• Advertising networks or data brokers
• Social media platforms
• Other solar companies
• Any party you haven't been told about above

We have never sold personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

7. How we protect it

• All data transmitted to and from this site is encrypted in transit using HTTPS
• Bill files and extracted data are stored in encrypted cloud storage
• Access to the leads dashboard is password-protected and limited to Mark and Pat
• The parsing AI (Claude) receives only the bill contents — no other personal information beyond what's on the bill itself

No system is perfectly secure. If we discover a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you without unreasonable delay as required by California Civil Code § 1798.82.

8. Your rights under California law

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives you these rights over your data:

• Right to know — ask us what data we have about you, where we got it, why we have it, and who we've shared it with
• Right to delete — ask us to delete the data we collected from you
• Right to correct — ask us to correct inaccurate data
• Right to opt out of sale/sharing — we don't sell or share your data for advertising, so there's nothing to opt out of, but you have the right regardless
• Right to limit use of sensitive personal information — we don't collect sensitive personal information as defined by CCPA, so there's nothing to limit
• Right to non-discrimination — we will never treat you worse, charge you more, or refuse to work with you because you exercised any of these rights

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@lowermypge.com with your request. We may ask you to verify your identity (usually by confirming the email address or phone number on file). We will respond within 45 days.

9. Children

This service is for homeowners. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has submitted information to us, email us and we'll delete it immediately.

10. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top and, if the changes are significant, we'll notify anyone whose data we're currently holding. The version of the policy in effect when you uploaded your bill is the one that governs your data.