Privacy Policy

ALLETE, Inc. (“we,” “us,” and “our”) respects the importance of the privacy of your personal information. We provide this Privacy Policy so you know about our information handling and storage practices and understand how we collect, use, and share the personal information we receive about you from your use of the website on which this Privacy Policy is posted or referenced (the “Site”), or otherwise in connection with our products and services. By accessing or using the Site or interacting with us in connection with our products or services, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Your visit to the Site and any dispute over privacy is subject to the Terms of Use, including limitations on damages and application of the law of the State of Minnesota. Use of the Site is strictly voluntary. If you do not agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, you must immediately log off the Site and may not use the Site. Additionally, we may not be able to assist you in connection with matters relating to our products and services.

1. Your Consent

BY SUBMITTING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO US (EITHER DIRECTLY TO US OR INDIRECTLY THROUGH ONE OF OUR SERVICE PROVIDERS), YOU ARE CONSENTING TO THE COLLECTION AND PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND TO OUR USE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND ANY RELATED INFORMATION IN THE MANNER DESCRIBED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY, INCLUDING THE TRANSMISSION TO, AND STORAGE AND PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION BY THIRD PARTIES OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.

IF YOU ARE SUBMITTING PERSONAL INFORMATION OF THIRD PARTIES TO US, YOU WARRANT AND REPRESENT YOU HAVE THEIR CONSENT TO PROVIDE THEIR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO US AND YOU WILL INDEMNIFY US AND HOLD US HARMLESS FROM AND AGAINST CLAIMS BY SUCH INDIVIDUALS RELATING TO OUR PROCESSING AND USE OF SUCH PERSONAL INFORMATION WITHIN THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY.

2. The Data We Collect

Through Your Interactions with Us. When you engage in certain activities on the Site or otherwise interact with us, such as making an inquiry with us or becoming a customer, we may ask you to provide personal and other information. The information we will require will depend on the activity and could include your name, email address, property address, billing address, contact number, and payment information. Whether or not you provide this information is your choice; however, if you do not provide the required information for a particular activity, you will not be able to engage in that activity and we may not be able to assist you. You may also limit your ability to use all or a portion of the Site.

Anonymous Electronic Information. In general, you can browse the Site without telling us who you are or revealing any personal information about yourself. However, we collect your computer’s or mobile device’s IP address, which you necessarily disclose when you visit the Site so that data (such as the web pages you request) can be sent to your computer or device. We may also collect other electronic information such as the type of browser you are using, the operating system you are using, the website from which your visit to the Site originated, the specific web pages within the Site that you visit, and the time of day, date and duration of your visits.

Cookies. The Site may utilize "cookies," which are text files placed on your computer or device that web pages or screens may use to store data on your computer or mobile device or send data to our web servers. We may use cookie data to "recognize" you when you return to the Site, to track usage information, to troubleshoot how the Site operates, and for internal analysis of how people use the Site. While most browsers are set to accept cookies by default, you can set yours to refuse cookies or alert you before accepting them. Should you decide not to accept cookies from the Site, you may limit the functionality we can provide you.

Additional Electronic Information. We may use standard Internet technology, such as web beacons, tracking pixels, and other similar tracking technologies, to track your use of the Site.

The Site is not designed to respond to "do not track" requests from web browser. As such, we may collect information about your Site usage regardless of any "do not track" setting you have configured in your browser.

Location Information. We may collect information about your location if you provide your address or zip code or we may approximate your location based on your IP address.

Information Obtained from Other Sources. In addition to the information we receive from you, we may obtain information about you from companies and organizations, such as from service providers that may perform certain operations on our behalf. We may combine such information with information we have collected or may collect about you. We may also collect information that is publicly available. We are not responsible for the accuracy of any information provided by other sources or the data practices of other sources.

3. Use and Disclosure of the Data We Collect

Generally, we process and use personal information to provide and improve our products and services, including the Site, for purposes in our legitimate interests and for compliance with applicable laws.

To Operate Our Business. We process personal information where: (a) you have given consent to the processing, either to us or to our service providers; (b) processing is necessary to perform a contract with you or our customer (if you are not a customer); (c) processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or a third party; or (d) processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation.

We may use your personal information for particular business activities, including, without limitation, responding to your inquiries, providing products and services to you, providing customer service and support, providing promotional information to you, marketing and research, sending you newsletters or mailings, reviewing your job application, and soliciting feedback on your experience with us.

Depending on the circumstances and the nature of the information, we may share this information with our subsidiaries, marketing partners, vendors/suppliers, and other parties with whom we collaborate. In addition, when we use service providers that assist us in operating the Site and conducting our business, these service providers may have access to your personal information to perform contractually specified services on our behalf.

To Improve our Business. We may use your IP address and similar Site usage information to: (i) help diagnose problems with the Site, administer and improve the Site, and measure use of the Site; (ii) identify the type of web browsers used, the pages viewed, the websites from which a visitor found the Site, and the search terms and search engines used to find the Site; and (iii) gather other analytics information relating to use and navigation of the Site. This information does not identify you personally. On occasion we may aggregate this data with data from other users to track overall visitor traffic and usage patterns and provide this aggregate information to our subsidiaries, marketing partners, vendors/suppliers, and other parties with whom we collaborate.

The information we obtain using standard Internet technology, such as tags and other similar technologies enables us to customize the services we offer visitors to the Site, to deliver targeted content, and to measure the overall effectiveness of our online content, advertising, or programming or other activities.

We may use your location information to provide personalized content, to enhance your experience with the Site, to assist us with analytics, and to improve the effectiveness of the Site.

We may use the information in an anonymous or aggregated format that does not identify you personally, which uses might include, without limitation, to evaluate existing products, services, and systems, to assist in the development of new products or services, research, advertising, and to identify trends and changes.

For Law Enforcement, Regulators and Other Parties for Legal Reasons. We may also disclose personal information in any of the following circumstances: (a) in response to a subpoena, search warrant, court order, or other legal process or request, or as may otherwise be required by law, rule, or regulation; (b) to protect and defend our rights or property or those of our subsidiaries, business partners, or others; or (c) as we, in our sole discretion, believe is appropriate under exigent circumstances in response to a perceived threat to the personal safety, property, or rights of any person or organization.

In addition, since our databases are business assets, in the event we are reorganized or become part of another organization, you consent to the sale, assignment, or transfer of your personal information to a successor that acquires substantially all of our business assets, or to a corporate affiliate, as applicable.

We do not sell personal information to third parties. Other than as set forth in this Privacy Policy, we do not transfer, share or disclose personal information to third parties. We do not disclose personal information of individuals we know to be under the age of 16 to other businesses or third parties for consideration except as noted above.

4. Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager

The Site uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect and analyze information about how users interact with the Site. The information generated by the cookies about your use of the Site (including your IP address) is transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google uses this information to evaluate your use of the Site, compile reports on Site activity, and provide other services related to website activity and internet usage. You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

The Site also uses Google Tag Manager, a tag management system provided by Google, Inc. Google Tag Manager helps us manage and deploy various tracking and analytics scripts (tags) on the Site, including Google Analytics. Google Tag Manager does not collect any personal data, but facilitates the operation of other tracking tools.

For more information on how Google uses this data, please refer to Google's Privacy Policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy) Google’s page describing how Google uses data when you use sites or apps that use Google’s services (https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites).

5. Security of Personal Information

We take the security of personal information seriously and we take what we believe to be reasonable precautions and have implemented certain safeguards to protect the security of data and personal information. We may transmit your personal data to third parties outside the United States for storage or processing. We will attempt to ensure that your personal information will be subject to appropriate safeguards and that it is processed and secured in accordance with applicable law. However, we cannot guarantee against any loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, or alteration or destruction of data or personal information. While we strive to protect your personal information, we do not guarantee the security of any information you transmit to or from the Site or by email or otherwise, and you provide such information at your own risk. You acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations in computer systems and on the Internet which are beyond our control; (b) the security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and us through the Site, including personal information, cannot be guaranteed; and (c) any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with by a third party while such information or data is being used, transmitted, processed, or stored.

6. Our Relationship to Other Websites

The Site may contain links to other websites. If you visit one of these other websites, we encourage you to review the privacy policy on that website. We are not responsible for the policies and practices of other websites, and any information you submit to those websites is subject to their privacy policies.

7. Privacy Rights and Requests

You may have rights under applicable laws concerning personal information we have collected about you, which may include the right to access your personal information we have, to ask us to delete, correct, or restrict the use of your personal information, to withdraw your consent to our use of your personal information, to ask how we have used your personal information, and to ask whether to which parties we have shared your personal information. We will honor your rights to the extent required by us under applicable law or as we may agree to honor in our sole discretion.

All privacy requests relating to your personal information, including those related to access to, rectification of, restriction of, processing of, sharing of, profiling of, or objection to the processing of your personal information, withdrawal of consent to handle your personal information, the right to be forgotten, or to opt-out of the sale of your personal information (in case our policy changes), can be submitted to us one of the following ways:

All communications must be in the English language. Please clearly state what information you are requesting and any other requests you are making. You can designate an authorized agent to submit requests on your behalf. However, we will require written proof of the agent’s permission to do so and verify your identity directly.

We will respond to reasonable requests within the time limits established by applicable law or within a reasonable time if no time limit is established by applicable law.

If you or your authorized agent sends us an email requesting that we take action regarding your personal information or the right to be forgotten, the requesting email MUST come from the email address we have on file for you in order to verify that the request is valid and also to protect your personal information. All other requests must be made in writing or otherwise be verifiable as originating from you or your authorized agent. In order to protect your information and because people may have the same name, we will only provide or delete personal information that we can verify is associated with your particular email address or where we can reasonably identify the identity of the requestor.

For your protection, we may ask you for additional information to verify your identity. In most cases, we will provide the information you request and correct or delete any inaccurate personal information you discover. We reserve the right, however, to limit or deny your request to the extent permitted by applicable law if: (a) complying with the request may present a threat to the personal safety, property, or rights of any other person or organization; (b) complying with the request may lead to a violation of applicable laws or regulations; (c) we are not required to comply with the request because of a legal rule or exception; or (d) you have failed to provide us with sufficient evidence to verify your identity. We will not delete personal information if that personal information is related to an ongoing transaction. Even after a request, we may also keep personal information where necessary to comply with applicable laws or where necessary to protect a legal right or fulfill a legal obligation.

If we have denied your request to exercise your rights under an applicable privacy law, you may appeal our denial by writing us at the above address explaining in detail why our denial was improper under the law as applied to your situation.

8. How Long We Keep Personal Information

We store the personal information we collect about you for as long as is relevant and reasonably necessary for the purpose(s) for which we collected it, or for other legitimate business purposes, including to meet our legal, regulatory, or other compliance obligations.

9. Changes to Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to revise this Privacy Policy, in whole or in part, at any time without notice to you. You expressly waive any right to receive notice of any revisions to this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy regularly in your use of the Site to ensure you are aware of current practices. Any use of the Site following the date on which the revised Privacy Policy is published on the Site shall constitute your acceptance of all such changes.

10. Contact

For questions or comments related to this Privacy Policy, please email us at corporatecommunications@allete.com.