3. Purpose of Processing

Your data is processed to ensure system predictability, manageability, and operational integrity. Specifically, UBT utilizes your personal information to:

• Verify customer identity and authorize the establishment of utility service.
• Bill, process payments, and manage your utility account(s).
• Accurately measure and monitor utility resource consumption.
• Deliver critical service announcements, balance notifications, and emergency alerts.

4. How We Protect Your Data & Fiscal Safeguards

To safeguard the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of customer information, UBT implements an information security and operational risk program mapped to NIST SP 800-53 security controls. Our defensive measures include:

• Physical Safeguards (Lock & Key): Hardcopy service applications and files containing sensitive customer identifiers (such as Driver’s Licenses, SSNs, or Federal IDs)
  are maintained under strict physical lock and key access control. Only authorized UBT personnel are granted access to these secured filing systems.
• Personnel Accountability & Bonding: In accordance with professional utility management and risk oversight principles, all officers and employees of UBT who handle money or who exercise authority over the property of the company are bonded by a surety authorized to conduct business in the State of Alabama.
• Access Control: Restricting administrative access to digital customer account data to authorized personnel who require it to perform their official utility duties.
• Secure Point-of-Sale Execution: Utilizing isolated payment terminal routing so that credit card data is processed directly by certified third-party clearinghouses without interacting with or residing on local storage.
• Network Monitoring: Utilizing active firewalls and perimeter monitoring systems to prevent, detect, and mitigate unauthorized system access attempts.

5. Sharing and Disclosure

UBT treats customer personal information as strictly confidential. We do not sell, rent, or lease customer data. Personal information is shared only under the following limited circumstances:

• Authorized Third-Party Service Providers: Secure entities operating under strict contractual privacy obligations on behalf of UBT (such as third-party mail houses for statement printing or authorized engineering consultants).{‘ ‘}
• Legal and Regulatory Compliance: When compelled by law, valid legal process, subpoena, or mandatory state/federal regulatory enforcement actions.

6. Retention and Disposal

In alignment with the NIST principle of data lifecycle management, UBT enforces a clear data retention timeline:

• Active Status: Account application files and personal details are maintained under lock and key for the entire duration of your stay as an active UBT customer.
• Post-Service Retention: Once a customer leaves our service area and closes their account, UBT retains their records for a mandatory five (5) year period to fulfill administrative, tax, and auditing requirements.
• Secure Destruction: Upon reaching the conclusion of the 5-year post-service retention threshold, all physical and digital records containing personal information are permanently destroyed using secure shredding and data sanitization methods compliant with NIST SP 800-88 guidelines.

7. Customer Choices, Rights, and Redress

UBT provides accessible mechanisms for you to verify and maintain control over your utility account data:

• Access and Correction: You have the right to review the contact or billing info we hold for your account and request immediate corrections to inaccuracies.
• Alternative Transaction Methods: For customers who prefer not to utilize digital interactions, UBT fully supports physical, in-person account service and payments at our administrative office.

8. Contact Information and Redress

If you have questions regarding this Privacy Notice, wish to update your account records, or need to submit a formal privacy concern, please contact our administrative team directly: