Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and what this Policy covers

Operator. The Site is operated by American River Gas Co., Inc., a family-owned propane company founded in 1966 by Don Veninga and located at 10290 Ophir Rd, Newcastle, CA 95658. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 4590, and our office telephone number is (530) 888-7438. We provide residential, commercial and agricultural propane delivery, propane tank installation, underground gas lines, leak checks and system checks, appliance conversions, and portable cylinder and RV refills at our Newcastle yard, serving the Placer County foothills and nearby communities.

Scope. This Policy applies to personal information we collect through the Site; through the forms, the before-you-go pop-up and the chat assistant on the Site; through emails you send to the address published on the Site; and through calls to our office telephone number to the extent they concern a request made through, or information published on, the Site. It also applies to other communications that refer to this Policy.

What this Policy does not cover. This Policy does not govern the practices of third parties we do not control, such as the operator of the My Account payment portal, review platforms, social networks, map providers, government agencies, safety organizations or other websites we link to, even if you reach them from the Site. Information you give us as a customer, such as information in an account application, a lease or service agreement, delivery tickets, invoices, statements and records of work at your property, is also subject to your account paperwork. If your account paperwork or a signed agreement with us contains privacy terms that differ from this Policy, that paperwork or agreement controls for your account.

How the Site is built. The Site is built and hosted for us by our website provider, YelloPost, on servers located in the United States. The Site does not offer user accounts or logins of its own and does not accept payments. Existing customers who want to view an account or pay online are linked to the My Account payment portal, which is operated by a third party and is described in Section 11. The purpose of the Site is to provide information about propane, propane safety and our services, and to let you ask our office for help.

2. Definitions

In this Policy, the following terms have the meanings below. Other capitalized or quoted terms have the meanings given where they first appear.

• "Site" means americanrivergas.com, including the plain-text (Markdown) versions of its pages, its site map and any other page that links to this Policy.
• "Personal information" means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household, such as a name, telephone number, email address, service address or propane account number. It does not include information that is publicly available, de-identified or aggregated, as those terms are used in California law.
• "CCPA" means the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, and the regulations adopted under it.
• "Request" means any form submission, pop-up submission, chat conversation in which you provide your contact details, email or telephone call through which you ask us for information or service, including a request to open an account, schedule a delivery, refill a cylinder or check a tank or gas line.
• "Service provider" means a company that processes personal information on our behalf to help us operate the Site and our business, under a written contract that restricts it from using the information for its own unrelated purposes, as described in the CCPA.
• "Third party" means a person or company that is not American River Gas, not a service provider or contractor of ours, and not you.
• "Browser storage" means small pieces of information that the Site saves in your web browser using the browser's local storage or session storage features. It is similar in purpose to a cookie but is not sent to our servers with every page request.
• "Cookie" means a small text file placed in your browser by a website or by a third-party service loaded on a website.

3. Summary of our practices

This summary highlights the key points of this Policy. It is not a substitute for the full Policy, which controls.

• We collect the information you choose to give us when you ask for help, such as your name, telephone number, email address, service address and details about your propane tank and needs, plus limited technical information from your browser.
• We use it to respond to you, open and service your account, schedule deliveries and service, keep safety and business records, protect the Site from abuse and understand how people find us.
• Analytics and advertising measurement tools may load when you use the Site. Our privacy choices banner lets you turn them off at any time by choosing "Essential only," and we honor the Global Privacy Control signal automatically.
• We do not sell personal information for money. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing.
• We share information with service providers who help us run the Site and our business, with the third-party operator of the My Account payment portal when you choose to use it, and with others only as described in this Policy.
• If you are a California resident, you may have rights to know, access, correct and delete your personal information, to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, to limit certain uses of sensitive personal information, and not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. Section 22 explains how to make a request.
• The Site, its forms and its chat assistant are not an emergency service. If you smell gas, leave the building and call 911 and our office from outside.

4. Information you provide to us

Most of the personal information we have comes directly from you, when you ask us for help. What we collect depends on how you contact us and what you choose to share. Fields marked as required on a form are the minimum we need to call you back; everything else is optional.

Request forms. The forms on the Site, including the open-an-account application, the delivery request form for existing customers, the contact form, the cylinder and RV refill question form, the Budget Plan request, the system check request and the call-back forms on service, guide and other pages, ask for your name and telephone number. Depending on the form, they also allow you to add your last name, email address, service address, city or town, ZIP code, the service you need, your American River Gas account number, the percentage your tank gauge reads, your delivery program, whether the propane is for a home, business or farm, the status of your tank today, the type of cylinder you want filled, how you heard about us and a message. When you send a form, we also record which form you used and the page you sent it from, so that we know what you were reading and can respond to the right request.

Before-you-go pop-up. On larger screens, some pages may show a short pop-up when it appears you are about to leave the page, asking what you need and whether you would like a call back. It collects your choice, your name and your telephone number, and it works like our other request forms. It appears at most once per visit, and you can close it without providing anything.

Chat assistant. When you use our chat assistant, Scout, we receive the content of the conversation, including anything you type. If you give your name and telephone number in the chat, your details and a summary of what you asked for are emailed to our office so that we can follow up. Section 6 describes the chat assistant in more detail.

Telephone calls and voicemail. When you call our office or our after-hours answering service, we receive the information you share on the call and any message you leave. Our after-hours answering service takes your message and reaches a member of our staff.

Emails, letters and faxes. If you email us, write to us or send us a fax, we receive the contents of your message, your contact details and anything you attach.

Information for your account and service. If you become our customer, we collect the information reasonably needed to open and maintain your account and to deliver propane and service your system safely, such as your name and contact details, your service and billing addresses, directions and access instructions (for example gates, dogs and where the tank is located), information about your tank, appliances and gas lines, your delivery program and usage history, gauge readings, delivery tickets, records of leak tests, pressure checks and other safety work we perform, and billing and payment history. This information may be collected by our office, by our drivers and service technicians at your property, and through your account paperwork, and it is also subject to that paperwork.

Information about other people. If you give us information about another person, such as a tenant, a family member, a property manager or a caretaker who can let our driver in, please make sure you have their permission to do so.

Please do not send us Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, bank account or payment card numbers, passwords or medical information through the Site, the chat assistant or email. We do not need that information to respond to a request made through the Site, and the Site does not accept payments.

5. Information collected automatically

When you use the Site, some information is collected automatically by your browser, by our hosting and security providers, and, unless you turn them off, by analytics and advertising measurement tools.

Server and security logs. Like virtually all websites, the servers that host the Site and the security services that protect it receive technical information that your browser sends with each request, such as your IP address, the type of browser and device you are using, the page you requested, the page that referred you, and the date and time of the request. This information is used to deliver pages, keep the Site secure, diagnose problems, limit abusive traffic and prevent spam.

Browser storage. The Site uses browser storage to remember your choices and keep the Site working as you expect. Section 8 lists each use.

Site events. The Site notes certain actions on the page, such as tapping our telephone number, sending a form, starting a chat that produces a request, or using the accessibility toolbar, in a measurement layer within your browser. These notes are passed to analytics and advertising measurement tools only if those tools are loaded, as described in Section 9. If you choose "Essential only," they are not sent anywhere.

Analytics and advertising measurement. Unless you choose "Essential only" or your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, the Site may load Google Tag Manager, which may in turn load Google Analytics and Google Ads conversion measurement. These tools use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about your visit, such as pages viewed, how you arrived, how long you stayed, the approximate location derived from your IP address, device and browser information, and whether you took actions such as submitting a form or tapping our telephone number. Section 9 explains these tools and your choices.

Third-party resources. Some parts of the Site are delivered by third parties whose servers receive your IP address when your browser requests them. Section 10 lists them.

What we do not collect automatically. The Site itself does not use your device's precise location (GPS), does not access your camera, microphone or contacts, and does not use session-replay or keystroke-recording tools. Information you type into a form is not sent to us until you press the button to send it.

6. Our website chat assistant (Scout)

What it is. Scout is an automated chat assistant on the Site, powered by YelloPost AI, the artificial-intelligence service provided by our website provider, YelloPost, and its technology partners. Scout is not a person. It generates replies automatically based on what you type and on general information we have provided about our company and services.

What is collected and where it goes. The messages you type, and Scout's replies, are processed by YelloPost AI to generate responses. To keep the conversation going, the most recent messages of the conversation are sent with each new message; the page you are on is also sent so that answers can fit what you are reading. If you give Scout your name and telephone number, your details and a summary of your request are emailed to our office so that a person can follow up with you, and our website provider receives a copy of that notification. When you leave the page or close the tab after sending at least one message, a plain-text transcript of the conversation is emailed to our website provider's team, which uses it to confirm that the assistant is working properly, to review the quality of its answers and to maintain and improve the service. A transcript may be kept by our website provider for those purposes.

Confirmation. If you give Scout your email address along with your name and telephone number, you will receive an automatic email confirming that your chat request was received. Replies to that email come to our office.

How it is used. We and our website provider use chat conversations to respond to your request, to understand what you need before we call you, to review and improve the answers the assistant gives, and to protect the chat from abuse, including by limiting how many messages can be sent in a short period.

What it cannot do. Scout gives general information only. It cannot place an order, schedule a delivery, see or change your account, take a payment, quote a binding price or respond to an emergency. A request made through Scout is handled by our office like any other request.

What not to share. Please do not type sensitive information into the chat, such as payment card or bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, passwords or medical information.

Accuracy. Chat responses may be incomplete or inaccurate. They are not binding on us, and you should confirm anything important with our office. Our Terms of Use explain this further. If you smell gas, do not use the chat: leave the building and call 911 and our office from outside.

7. Automated screening and bot protection

Screening. To protect our office and our customers, requests submitted through the Site and the chat assistant are automatically screened for spam, abuse, duplicate submissions and unsolicited sales solicitations. Screening is performed by automated rules and tools operated for us by our website provider. A message that the screening identifies as a sales solicitation may be held for review by our website provider's team rather than delivered to our office. When the same person sends the same request again within a few minutes, for example by pressing the send button twice, only the first request is delivered; to do this, a short-lived record of the submission is kept on the server for a limited time. Submissions blocked as spam may be noted in a server log along with the IP address they came from.

No significant decisions. Screening is used only to decide how a message is handled. It is not used to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you, such as decisions about credit, housing, employment or access to essential goods or services. Whether to open an account or provide service is decided by our office.

If your request is held. If you submitted a genuine request and have not heard from us, please call our office at (530) 888-7438 during office hours, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (closed noon to 1:00 p.m.).

Cloudflare Turnstile. Our forms may use Cloudflare Turnstile, a bot-detection check that usually runs invisibly in the background and asks for a click only when it needs one. To determine whether a submission is coming from a person or an automated program, Turnstile processes information about your browser and device and your interaction with the page, and Cloudflare receives your IP address. Cloudflare processes this information under its own privacy policy.

8. Browser storage and cookies we use

The Site itself does not set advertising cookies and does not use browser storage to track you across other websites. It uses browser storage for the following limited purposes, which are necessary for the Site to work as you expect or to remember choices you have made:

• Local storage: your privacy choice ("Accept all" or "Essential only"), so that the privacy banner does not reappear on every page and your choice is respected on later visits.
• Local storage: your accessibility toolbar settings, such as text size, contrast, spacing or reduced motion, if you use the accessibility toolbar.
• Local storage: whether you closed the accessibility button or the chat button, so that it stays closed until you bring it back.
• Session storage: whether you have already sent a request during your current visit, so that we do not show you the before-you-go pop-up after you have contacted us and do not count your request twice.
• Session storage: whether the before-you-go pop-up has already been shown during your current visit, so that it appears no more than once.
• Session storage: whether a chat conversation during your current visit has already produced a request, so that it is counted only once.

Session storage is cleared when you close the browser tab. Information in local storage stays in your browser until you clear it. None of this storage contains your name, telephone number or email address, and it is not sent to us. You can clear browser storage and cookies at any time through your browser settings. If you do, the Site will treat you as a new visitor, show the privacy choices banner again and forget your accessibility settings.

Cookies placed by analytics and advertising measurement tools, if those tools are loaded, are described in Section 9. The third-party resources described in Section 10 may set or read their own cookies or similar technologies under their own policies, for example to protect their services from abuse.

9. Analytics, advertising measurement and your choices

The privacy choices banner. When you first visit the Site, a banner titled "Your privacy" explains that we use cookies to run the Site and to measure which pages help people, that you can turn off analytics and ad measurement, and that we never sell your data. It offers two choices: "Accept all" and "Essential only." You can change your choice at any time by selecting the "Privacy choices" link in the footer of any page, which reopens the banner.

Accept all, or no choice. If you choose "Accept all," or continue using the Site without making a choice, and your browser does not send a Global Privacy Control signal, the Site may load Google Tag Manager, a tool that manages the loading of other measurement tags, shortly after the page finishes loading. Through Google Tag Manager, the Site may load Google Analytics, which helps us understand how visitors use the Site, and Google Ads conversion measurement, which helps us understand whether our Google advertising leads to requests and calls. On the page you see after sending a form, these tools may load right away so that the request can be counted. These tools set cookies and collect information about your visit and actions on the Site, which Google processes. Google may combine that information with other information it holds about you, such as information associated with your Google account, according to Google's own policies and your Google settings.

Essential only. If you choose "Essential only," the Site does not load Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics or Google Ads conversion measurement, and if they were already loaded on the page, the page reloads without them. Your browser remembers this choice using the browser storage described in Section 8, so these tools stay off on later pages and visits unless you change your choice. The Site continues to work, including the forms, the chat assistant, the accessibility toolbar and the service-area map. Our hosting and security services continue to operate as described in this Policy, because they are necessary to provide the Site.

Global Privacy Control. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, the Site automatically treats your visit as "Essential only" for that browser and does not load these tools. Section 24 explains more.

Tracking over time and across websites. Unless you choose "Essential only" or send a Global Privacy Control signal, Google may collect information about your online activities over time and across different websites, including the Site. If you choose "Essential only," the Site does not load these tools. Our hosting and security providers, and the third-party resources described in Section 10, receive your IP address when your browser contacts them, as part of delivering those resources.

Google's controls. You can learn about Google's practices and choices at policies.google.com, and you can control ad personalization through your Google account settings. Google also offers a browser add-on for opting out of Google Analytics.

Browser-level controls. Most browsers let you block or delete cookies and browser storage, and some offer built-in tracking protection. Blocking all storage may cause parts of the Site, such as remembering your privacy choice, to stop working.

10. Third-party resources that receive your IP address

Some content on the Site is loaded from third-party servers. When your browser requests that content, the third party receives your IP address and standard technical information from your browser, and it processes that information under its own privacy policy. These resources are:

• Google Fonts, which provides some of the typefaces used on the Site.
• Cloudflare, which runs the Turnstile check on our forms and may provide security and network services for our domain.
• The service-area map. The map is built with the Leaflet library, which is delivered from the unpkg content network, and displays map and imagery tiles from Esri. The map loads only when the map section comes into view on your screen; if you never scroll to the map, none of these resources is requested. The towns we serve are also listed in text on our service area pages.
• The accessibility toolbar, provided by ADAWebPro, which runs within the Site. Your toolbar settings are stored only in your browser, as described in Section 8. If analytics tools are loaded under Section 9, the toolbar may report which features are used, without your name or contact details, so that we can understand how visitors use it.
• Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics and Google Ads conversion measurement, which may load unless you choose "Essential only" or send a Global Privacy Control signal.

The Site also contains links to other websites, such as the My Account payment portal, our Google listing and Facebook page, and safety and government resources. Those websites receive information from your browser only if you click a link and visit them. See Sections 11 and 27.

11. The My Account payment portal

Existing customers can follow the "My Account" or pay-online links on the Site to view their account and make payments. The portal is hosted at members.rccbi.com and is operated by a third-party provider, not by American River Gas or YelloPost. When you use the portal, you leave the Site, and the information you enter there, including any login credentials, bank account or payment card information, is collected and processed by the portal's provider under its own terms of use and privacy practices.

Account information is exchanged between us and the portal's provider as needed for the portal to show your account and record your payments, and so that we can keep your account current and answer your questions. We do not receive your full payment card number through the Site. Questions about your balance, billing, autopay or the Budget Plan are best answered by calling our office, and your account paperwork governs your payment terms.

12. How we use personal information

We use personal information for the following business purposes:

• Responding to requests. To answer your questions and call or email you back, including by reviewing your form, your chat conversation and any message you leave.
• Opening and maintaining accounts. To evaluate and open new accounts, set up or transfer tanks, and maintain your account records, delivery program, service and billing addresses, and contact preferences.
• Providing propane and service. To schedule and make propane deliveries, fill cylinders, install tanks and gas lines, perform leak tests, pressure checks, system checks and appliance conversions, and document the work performed.
• Safety and compliance. To keep records of leak tests, system checks and other safety work; to follow the safety codes, regulations and insurance requirements that apply to propane service; and to respond to reports of gas odor, leaks or other safety concerns.
• Confirmations and service communications. To send you an automatic confirmation of a request if you gave us an email address, and to communicate with you about deliveries, service appointments, your account, billing and safety.
• Billing and payments. To invoice you, post payments, administer the Budget Plan and autopay, and answer billing questions.
• Quality and delivery monitoring. To confirm that requests from the Site reach our office, that responses are timely, and that our forms and chat assistant work properly.
• Measurement and improvement. To understand which pages, services and advertisements lead people to contact us, and to improve the Site, our content, our advertising and our customer service.
• Security and abuse prevention. To protect the Site, our forms, our chat assistant, our office, our drivers and our customers against spam, fraud, unsolicited solicitation and other abuse, and to debug and repair errors.
• Legal and business purposes. To keep business, tax and accounting records, comply with legal obligations, respond to lawful requests, establish or defend legal claims, enforce our agreements and our Terms of Use, and in connection with a business transfer described in Section 13.

We do not use personal information for purposes that are materially different from, unrelated to or incompatible with the purposes described above without telling you and, where required by law, obtaining your consent. We do not use personal information to make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you, and we do not use it to build profiles for advertising by other companies.

13. How we share personal information

We do not sell personal information for money, and we do not disclose it to third parties for their own direct marketing. We disclose personal information only as described below.

Service providers. We disclose personal information to service providers that perform services for us, under contracts or terms that require them to keep it confidential and to use it only to provide their services to us. They include:

• Our website provider, YelloPost, which builds and hosts the Site, operates our forms, the chat assistant and the screening described in Section 7, sends request notifications and confirmation emails, and receives copies of request notifications and chat transcripts so that it can monitor delivery and quality.
• YelloPost AI, the artificial-intelligence service, provided through YelloPost and its technology partners, that powers our chat assistant.
• Email delivery services that send request notifications to our office and confirmation emails to you.
• Google, which provides our office email service, and, unless you choose "Essential only" or send a Global Privacy Control signal, analytics and advertising measurement as described in Section 9.
• Cloudflare, which provides the Turnstile bot check and may provide security and network services.
• Our after-hours answering service, which takes messages from callers and reaches a member of our staff.
• Providers of the business, accounting, billing and record-keeping tools we use to maintain accounts, schedule deliveries and service, and bill for our work, which process information as needed to provide those services to us.

The My Account payment portal. When you choose to use the My Account payment portal, the information you enter is collected by the portal's provider, and account information needed to operate the portal is exchanged between us and that provider, as described in Section 11.

People involved in your service. We may share information with a property manager, landlord, tenant, caretaker or other person you tell us to coordinate with, and with contractors or technicians we engage to perform part of the work at your property, to the extent needed for them to do that work.

Safety, legal and compliance. We may disclose information to emergency responders and fire authorities when needed to respond to a gas leak or other safety emergency; when we believe in good faith that disclosure is required by law, regulation, subpoena, court order or other legal process; to respond to lawful requests from government authorities or regulators; to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; to enforce our agreements; or to protect the rights, property or safety of our customers, our employees, the public or us.

Insurers and professional advisers. We may disclose information to our insurers, lawyers, accountants and auditors, who are bound by duties or agreements of confidentiality, as needed for them to advise or protect us.

Business transfers. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, sale of all or part of our business or assets, or a similar transaction, personal information, including customer account records, may be disclosed to the parties involved and transferred as part of the transaction, subject to this Policy or to a notice we provide.

With your direction or consent. We may share information with anyone else when you ask us to or give us permission.

Aggregated or de-identified information. We may use and share information that has been aggregated or de-identified so that it no longer reasonably identifies any individual or household, for example the number of requests we receive by type of service. We maintain and use de-identified information only in de-identified form and do not attempt to re-identify it, except as permitted by law.

14. Sale and sharing of personal information

No sale for money. We do not sell personal information in exchange for money.

Advertising measurement. The CCPA defines "sale" and "sharing" broadly. "Sharing" includes making personal information available to a third party for cross-context behavioral advertising, meaning advertising targeted to you based on your activity across different businesses' websites. Unless you choose "Essential only" or send a Global Privacy Control signal, Google Ads conversion measurement may allow Google to associate your visit and actions on the Site, such as your device identifiers, IP address and the pages you view, with our advertising and with information Google holds. This kind of measurement may be treated as "sharing" or as a "sale" under the CCPA. We describe it here so that you can decide. Apart from these analytics and advertising measurement tools, we do not sell or share personal information.

Your right to opt out. You can opt out of this sale or sharing at any time by choosing "Essential only" through the "Privacy choices" link in the footer of any page, which serves as our "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" choice, or by enabling a Global Privacy Control signal in your browser. Because the opt-out works through your browser, you will need to make the choice on each browser and device you use. You may also ask us by email or telephone, as described in Section 22, and we will apply your request to any personal information we hold about you. You do not need to create an account or provide more information than necessary to opt out.

Minors. We do not have actual knowledge that we sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16 years of age.

15. Emails we send and receive

Notifications to our office. Every request submitted through the Site generates an email notification to our office containing the information you provided. Chat conversations in which you give your name and telephone number also generate a notification to our office.

Copies to our website provider. Our website provider, YelloPost, receives copies of request notifications so that it can monitor whether requests are delivered and handled promptly and whether the forms are working properly, and it receives chat transcripts as described in Section 6.

Confirmation to you. If you include an email address in a form or give it to Scout along with your name and telephone number, you will receive an automatic confirmation email from American River Gas. It is sent through our website provider's email service on our behalf, and if you reply to it, your reply comes to our office.

Our office email. Our office email address is info@americanrivergas.com. Email you send to that address is delivered and stored through Google's email service and is subject to Google's security practices.

No marketing lists. We do not add you to a marketing email list because you submitted a request. If we ever send marketing email, it will identify us and include a way to unsubscribe. Account and service messages, such as delivery, billing and safety notices, are not marketing and are sent to you as a customer.

16. How long we keep personal information

We do not keep personal information for a fixed period in every case. Instead, we keep each category of personal information for as long as reasonably necessary and proportionate for the purposes described in this Policy, and then delete it or de-identify it when it is no longer needed. In deciding how long to keep information, we consider:

• Whether you became a customer and, if so, how long your account is open, and the time needed afterward to close out billing, remove or transfer a tank and answer questions about past deliveries or service.
• The need to keep records of leak tests, pressure checks, tank installations, gas line work and other safety work at a property, which can remain relevant for as long as the system is in use.
• Tax, accounting, licensing, insurance, safety and other legal record-keeping requirements.
• Whether the information is relevant to an actual or potential dispute, claim, investigation or legal proceeding.
• The need to protect against spam, fraud and abuse.
• Whether you have asked us to delete the information and whether we are permitted or required to keep it.

Requests that do not lead to an account are generally kept only as long as needed to respond, to follow up and to maintain ordinary business records. Chat conversations and transcripts are kept with the record of the request they relate to, or by our website provider for the purposes described in Section 6, and are handled under the same criteria. The short-lived duplicate-submission records described in Section 7 are replaced or become unused within minutes. Information in your browser storage stays in your browser until you clear it. Information collected by Google, if analytics tools are loaded, is kept according to Google's retention settings and policies. Backup copies may persist for a limited time after deletion from active systems until they are overwritten in the normal course.

17. How we protect personal information

We use reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the information, including administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. These safeguards include:

• Encrypted connections (HTTPS) between your browser and the Site.
• Encrypted connections when our forms send request notifications by email.
• Access controls on the systems that hold personal information, and keeping server-side records outside the public part of the website.
• Limiting access, on a least-privilege basis, to people who need the information to do their jobs.
• Requiring our service providers to keep personal information confidential.
• Automated screening and bot protection on our forms and chat assistant.

No method of transmitting information over the internet, and no method of electronic storage, is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security. Email in particular is not always encrypted in transit. Please keep this in mind when deciding what to send us, and call our office if you prefer.

18. Security incidents and breach notification

If we learn of a breach of the security of a system that holds personal information about California residents, we will provide notice as required by California Civil Code section 1798.82, in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, consistent with the legitimate needs of law enforcement and any measures necessary to determine the scope of the breach and restore the reasonable integrity of the system. For residents of other states, we will provide notice as required by the laws that apply. If you believe your information has been compromised through our Site or our communications, please contact us right away.

19. California notice at collection

This section, together with the rest of this Policy, is our notice at collection under the CCPA. It describes the categories of personal information we collect, or have collected in the preceding 12 months, the categories of sources, the business purposes for collection, the categories of recipients to whom we disclose each category for a business purpose, and whether each category is sold or shared. The categories below are those listed in the CCPA; the examples are the kinds of information we actually handle.

Categories of personal information we collect:

• Identifiers, such as your name, telephone number, email address, postal and service address, American River Gas account number, IP address and online identifiers set by analytics tools. Sources: you, our staff, and your browser and device. Purposes: those described in Section 12. Disclosed for a business purpose to: our service providers, the payment portal provider when you use it, and the other recipients described in Section 13. Sold or shared: IP address and online identifiers only, through analytics and advertising measurement, unless you opt out; no other identifiers.
• Customer records described in California Civil Code section 1798.80(e), such as your name, address, telephone number and, if you are a customer, billing and payment records. Sources: you, our staff and the payment portal provider. Disclosed to: our service providers, the payment portal provider, and the other recipients described in Section 13. Sold or shared: no.
• Commercial information, such as the services you asked about, your delivery program, gauge readings, delivery and service history, and account and billing history. Sources: you and our staff. Disclosed to: our service providers and the other recipients described in Section 13. Sold or shared: no.
• Internet or other electronic network activity information, such as pages viewed, links and buttons used, the page that referred you, browser and device type, and interaction with the Site, the chat assistant and the accessibility toolbar. Sources: your browser and device. Disclosed to: our website provider, hosting and security providers, and, unless you opt out, Google. Sold or shared: through analytics and advertising measurement, unless you opt out.
• Approximate geolocation derived from your IP address (not precise location). Sources: your browser and device, through our hosting provider and, unless you opt out, Google. Disclosed to: the same recipients as internet activity information. Sold or shared: through analytics and advertising measurement, unless you opt out.
• Audio or electronic information, limited to the content of chat conversations and any messages you leave with our office or answering service. Sources: you. Disclosed to: our website provider and YelloPost AI (chat), our answering service (messages), and the other recipients described in Section 13. Sold or shared: no.
• Property and safety information, such as tank location and size, appliances, gas line details, access instructions and records of leak tests and safety checks. Sources: you and our staff. Disclosed to: our service providers, contractors working at your property, and safety or legal recipients described in Section 13. Sold or shared: no.

We do not collect biometric information, precise geolocation, or information about your race, religion, health, sex life or sexual orientation, citizenship or immigration status, or union membership, and we ask you not to send it to us. We do not use personal information to make inferences about you for profiling.

Retention. We keep each category of personal information for the periods, and according to the criteria, described in Section 16.

Business purposes. We collect and use each category of personal information for the purposes described in Section 12, which include performing services, maintaining accounts, ensuring security and integrity, debugging, short-term transient use, quality and safety assurance, and, unless you opt out, advertising measurement.

20. Your California privacy rights

If you are a California resident, and to the extent the CCPA applies to our handling of your personal information, you have the following rights, subject to the exceptions allowed by law. Even where a particular law may not require it, we will consider any privacy request in good faith and honor it where we reasonably can.

• Right to know and access. You may ask us to disclose the categories of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources, the business or commercial purposes for collecting, selling or sharing it, the categories of third parties to whom we disclose it, and the specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, delivered in a portable and, to the extent technically feasible, readily usable format.
• Right to delete. You may ask us to delete personal information we have collected from you. We may keep information where the law allows, for example to complete a transaction or provide service you requested, to maintain safety and legal records, to detect security incidents or fraud, to comply with a legal obligation, or for internal uses reasonably aligned with your expectations. If we deny all or part of a deletion request, we will tell you why. When we delete information, we will also direct our service providers to delete it from their records where required.
• Right to correct. You may ask us to correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you, taking into account the nature of the information and the purposes for which it is processed.
• Right to opt out of sale or sharing. You may direct us not to sell or share your personal information, as described in Section 14.
• Right to limit the use of sensitive personal information. You may ask us to limit our use and disclosure of sensitive personal information to the purposes permitted by law. As explained in Section 21, we do not use sensitive personal information for any purpose that would trigger this right.
• Right to non-discrimination and no retaliation. We will not deny you goods or services, charge you a different price or rate, provide a different level or quality of service, or suggest that you will receive a different price or level of service, because you exercised a right under the CCPA. We will not retaliate against an employee, applicant or independent contractor for exercising those rights.
• Financial incentives. We do not offer financial incentives or price or service differences in exchange for personal information.

21. Sensitive personal information

The CCPA treats certain information as "sensitive personal information," such as Social Security, driver's license and passport numbers, account log-in credentials, financial account or card numbers together with codes that allow access to the account, precise geolocation, and information about health, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, union membership, sex life or sexual orientation.

We do not seek sensitive personal information through the Site, and we ask you not to send it. Your American River Gas account number is not a financial account number and does not give access to funds. If sensitive personal information is provided to us, for example payment information given to our office to pay a bill, or information you choose to volunteer in a message, we use it only to perform the services you request, to process your payment, to maintain security and integrity, and for other purposes permitted by California law, and not to infer characteristics about you. We do not sell or share sensitive personal information. For that reason, we do not offer a separate "Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information" link, but you may contact us at any time with questions about how we use such information.

22. How to make a privacy request

How to ask. To make a request to know, access, delete or correct personal information, or to opt out of sale or sharing, you may call our office at (530) 888-7438 during office hours, email info@americanrivergas.com with the subject line "Privacy Request," or write to us at P.O. Box 4590 or 10290 Ophir Rd, Newcastle, CA 95658. Please describe your request and tell us how we can reach you. You can also opt out of sale or sharing directly through the "Privacy choices" link or a Global Privacy Control signal, as described in Section 14.

Verification. To protect your information, we will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before acting on a request to know, access, delete or correct, which usually means matching information you give us with information we already have, such as your name, telephone number, email address, service address or account number. The more sensitive the information requested, the more information we may ask for. We do not require verification for an opt-out request, although we may ask for information needed to locate your records, and we may decline an opt-out request we have a good-faith, reasonable and documented belief is fraudulent. We will use the information you provide in a request only to verify and respond to it and to keep a record of the request as required by law.

Authorized agents. You may use an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. We may ask the agent to provide your signed permission or a valid power of attorney, and, unless the agent holds a power of attorney, we may ask you to verify your identity directly with us or to confirm that you gave the agent permission.

Timing. We will confirm receipt of a request to know, access, delete or correct within 10 business days and will respond within 45 calendar days after we receive it. If we need more time, we may extend that period by up to an additional 45 calendar days, and we will tell you the reason within the first 45-day period. We act on opt-out requests as soon as feasibly possible and no later than 15 business days after we receive them. Our response to a request to know or access will cover personal information collected in the 12 months before the request, and earlier information where the law requires and it is reasonably available.

Fees and frequency. We do not charge a fee to process or respond to a request, unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, in which case we may charge a reasonable fee or decline it and will explain why.

Limits. We may keep information that we are required or permitted by law to retain, such as account records, delivery and safety records, invoices and information needed for legal claims, even after a deletion request. Deleting certain information may mean we can no longer maintain your account or provide service, and we will tell you if that is the case. We will explain the reason if we cannot fulfill all or part of a request.

Residents of other states. We are a local business, and the Site is intended for people seeking propane service in our California service area. If you live elsewhere and the privacy law of your state applies to us, we will honor requests made under it using the methods above.

23. California Shine the Light

California Civil Code section 1798.83, known as the Shine the Light law, allows California residents who are our customers to request information about the personal information we have disclosed to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes. If you have questions, or would like to confirm this in writing, email info@americanrivergas.com with the subject line "Shine the Light Request" or write to us at the address in Section 30.

24. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

This section provides the disclosures required by the California Online Privacy Protection Act.

Do Not Track. Some browsers can send a "Do Not Track" signal. Because there is no common industry standard for how to respond to these signals, the Site does not change its behavior in response to them. You can still turn off analytics and advertising measurement with the "Essential only" choice, or by using Global Privacy Control.

Global Privacy Control. The Site honors the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal. If your browser sends a GPC signal, the Site treats it as a valid request to opt out of the sale and sharing of personal information for that browser, applies the "Essential only" setting automatically and does not load analytics or advertising measurement tools. The signal takes priority over any earlier "Accept all" choice made in our banner on that browser. If you have given us your contact information and would like the opt-out applied to your records beyond that browser, contact us as described in Section 22.

Third-party tracking. As described in Section 9, unless you choose "Essential only" or send a GPC signal, third parties such as Google may collect personal information about your online activities over time and across different websites when you use the Site.

25. Children and minors

The Site is intended for adults who arrange propane service, and it is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years of age, consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, and we do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided personal information through the Site, contact us and we will delete it.

Individuals under 18 should not submit requests or chat with our assistant without the involvement of a parent or guardian. If you are under 18 and you smell gas at home, tell an adult, leave the building, and call 911 from outside.

California residents under 18 who have posted content on a website may request removal of that content under California Business and Professions Code section 22581. The Site does not allow visitors to post public content, but if you believe content you provided appears on the Site, contact us and we will review your request.

26. Propane safety and emergencies

The Site, its forms, its chat assistant and our email are not monitored continuously and are not an emergency service. Do not use them to report a gas leak or any other emergency. If you smell gas or suspect a leak: put out any flames and do not smoke; do not turn light switches or appliances on or off or use telephones in the area; get everyone out of the building; close the tank valve only if it is safe to do so; and, from a safe distance outside, call 911 and then our office at (530) 888-7438. Do not go back inside or turn the gas back on until a qualified person says it is safe. After office hours, on weekends and on holidays, our answering service reaches a member of our staff.

Information you give us, or that emergency responders give us, in connection with a gas emergency is used to respond to the emergency, to make the system safe, to keep required safety records and as otherwise described in this Policy.

27. Links, review platforms and social media

The Site contains links to third-party websites and services, including the My Account payment portal, Google, Facebook, safety organizations, utility and government resources and other sites. When you follow a link, the third party's own privacy policy governs what it collects. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of websites we do not operate, and we encourage you to read their policies.

Review platforms and social media. The Site links to our Google listing and our Facebook page and may display our Google rating. If you post a review, comment or message on one of those platforms, what you post may be public and is governed by that platform's terms. If you contact us through a social media platform, we receive the information you send and the information that platform makes available to us, and we handle it under this Policy.

28. Where your information is processed

We are located in California, and the Site is hosted on servers located in the United States. Our service providers may process information in the United States and, in some cases, in other countries where they or their subcontractors operate. The Site is intended for people seeking propane service in our California service area. If you access the Site from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your country.

29. Changes to this Policy

We review this Policy at least once every 12 months and may update it from time to time to reflect changes in the Site, our services, our service providers or the law. When we do, we will post the updated Policy on this page and change the effective date at the top. If we make material changes, we will provide additional notice on the Site, such as a notice near the top of this page or in the Site footer, for a reasonable period, and, where required by law, we will ask for your consent. Changes take effect when posted, unless the notice says otherwise. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically. We will not use personal information collected under a prior version of this Policy in a materially different way without providing notice and, where required, obtaining your consent.

Accessibility of this Policy. This Policy is available as a web page that works with screen readers, text resizing and the accessibility toolbar, and as a plain-text version. If you need it in another format, such as large print or read aloud over the telephone, call our office and we will provide it.

30. Contact

If you have questions or concerns about this Policy or our privacy practices, or you want to make a privacy request, contact us:

• American River Gas Co., Inc.
• Yard and office: 10290 Ophir Rd, Newcastle, CA 95658
• Mailing address: P.O. Box 4590
• Telephone: (530) 888-7438, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (closed noon to 1:00 p.m.); after hours, on weekends and on holidays our answering service reaches a member of our staff
• Fax: (530) 888-1901
• Email: info@americanrivergas.com (for privacy requests, use the subject line "Privacy Request")