Privacy Policy
Overview
Last updated: June 2026
Table of Contents
1. Scope of this Privacy Policy
3. SouthStar’s Processing and Use of Personal Information
4. Cookie Usage
6. With Whom Do We Share Information That We Collect?
8. How Do We Protect Information Collected About You?
10. Social Media Platforms and Websites
11. Children
12. Changes to our Privacy Policy
13. Contact Details
1. Scope of this Privacy Policy
SouthStar Energy Services LLC (“SouthStar,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a natural gas marketer operating under the names “SouthStar Energy Services,” “Georgia Natural Gas,” “Ohio Natural Gas,” “Florida Natural Gas,” “Grand Rapids Energy,” and “Pennsylvania Energy.” SouthStar respects your privacy and is committed to complying with this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”), which describes what information we collect about individuals, acting in a personal capacity, with whom we interact in the context of our services (the “Consumers”), including how we collect it, how we use it, with whom we may share it, and what choices Consumers have regarding our use of your information. This Privacy Policy applies to Personal Information (defined below) collected: (i) in connection with the services we provide to you, including direct interactions via phone calls, emails, or other communications with our business; (ii) on our websites, which include, but are not limited to, southstarenergy.com, gng.com, ohionaturalgas.com, grandrapidsenergy.com, illenergysolutions.com, illenergy.com, onlyfng.com, and pennsylvaniaenergy.com (each, individually, a “Website” and, collectively, the “Websites”); (iii) through any mobile applications associated with the Websites (the “Mobile Applications”); (iv) via all interactive features and referral features, applications, widgets, blogs, social media platforms; and (v) through other online or wireless offerings that reference this Privacy Policy, whether accessed via computer, mobile device, or other technology or any associated content, material, or functionality contained on the Websites or Mobile Applications (collectively, the “Channels” and, together with the Websites and the Mobile Applications, the “System”). For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, references to “SouthStar” shall include SouthStar Energy Services LLC and all of its members, subsidiaries (Illinois Energy, USA, LLC and Illinois Energy Solutions, USA, LLC), directors, officers, agents, and employees.
This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is a part of the terms of use of the System located here (the “Terms of Use”). We encourage you to read both this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use. By accessing or using our services, whether through the System, our call centers, or any other means, you acknowledge that you have read, understand, and consent to this Privacy Policy and the collection and use of your Personal Information by us as set forth herein.
2. Personal Information
This Privacy Policy applies to Personal Information that SouthStar receives during its business operations as a “data controller,” which means we determine the purpose and means of processing such Personal Information. For purposes of this Privacy Policy, the term “Personal Information,” means any information that, alone or in conjunction with other information or data, identifies or is linked to a particular individual or household and that is subject to, or otherwise afforded protection under, a data protection law, statute, or regulation. The term “Personal Information” includes such identifying information collected from or about an individual in connection with their use of, or submissions to, the System. The term “Personal Information” includes such identifying information provided to the System on an individual’s behalf by one of our call center employees when an individual calls our call centers to: (i) make a payment; (ii) enroll in one of our products or services; or (iii) otherwise engage with our services. The term “Personal Information” does not include anonymized or de-identified data that is not attributable to a particular individual or household and that is not otherwise subject to a data protection law, statute, or regulation. SouthStar may anonymize or de-identify Personal Information. Such anonymized or de-identified data is not subject to this Privacy Policy, and SouthStar may use such data for any purpose.
3. SouthStar’s Processing and Use of Personal Information
The table below sets forth the categories of Personal Information that SouthStar processes and the purposes for which such information is used.
Category of Personal Information Processed | Examples of Data Elements Collected | Processing Purpose |
Personal Identifiers
| Name Mailing address IP Address Email address Phone numbers Social Security Number Tax Identification Number Other government identification information Account number Customer ID Geographic location | ● To provide services to Consumers ● To maintain and service Consumer accounts, provide customer service, process or fulfill transactions, verify information, bill Consumers, and process account payments ● To provide quotes and other pricing information ● To respond to Consumer inquiries and requests ● To deliver content and inform Consumers about our services ● To create and deliver personalized marketing ● To deliver direct marketing ● To detect security incidents and protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity ● To perform short-term, transient internal use ● To respond to or defend against subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process ● To respond to or defend against regulatory orders ● To provide required regulatory communications ● To establish or exercise our legal rights ● To comply with applicable law ● To maintain our website ● To better understand our website visitors ● To track performance and optimize website performance |
Commercial Data | Records of services purchased
| ● To provide services to Consumers ● To maintain and service Consumer accounts, provide customer service, process or fulfill transactions, verify information, bill Consumers, and process account payments ● To create and deliver personalized marketing ● To deliver direct marketing ● To provide quotes and other pricing information ● To respond to Consumer inquiries and requests ● To audit interactions and transactions ● To perform short-term, transient internal use ● To respond to or defend against subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process ● To respond or defend against regulatory orders ● To establish or exercise our legal rights ● To comply with applicable law |
Electronic Network Activity
| IP Address Device brand, model and name, browser information, operating system, platform version, screen resolution and preferred language Performance data and limited, non-sensitive interaction data through analytics technologies (e.g., where a website visitor clicks, scrolls, moves in between pages, time spent per visit, cumulative time spent across all usage, frequency of usage, features used, buttons clicked, actions taken and frequency of each) | ● To track and to optimize SouthStar’s System performance ● To conduct internal research for technological development ● To better understand our website visitors ● To analyze aggregate interaction patterns (using analytics tools configured to mask or exclude any personal, financial, or other sensitive information before transmission) ● To create and deliver personalized marketing ● To detect security incidents and protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity ● To perform short-term, transient internal use ● To respond to or defend against subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process ● To establish or exercise our legal rights ● To comply with applicable law |
Other Personal Data | Date of birth Financial account information Credit card information Website(s) username and password Mobile Application(s) username and password Credit report information | ● To provide services to Consumers ● To provide quotes and other pricing information ● To evaluate a Consumer’s ability to pay on an account ● To maintain and service Consumer accounts, provide customer service, process or fulfill transactions, verify information, bill Consumers, and process account payments ● To detect security incidents and protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity ● To establish or exercise our legal rights ● To comply with applicable law
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Referral Features
Some of our promotional offers have a referral feature that allows you to send an offer to a friend or contact. If you choose to use this feature, we may collect from you and use the email address of your friend(s) and contact(s) to facilitate the referral. Any information provided to us through the referral feature will not be shared with any third parties or stored for other uses.
We work with trusted third parties, such as real estate agents and agencies, to provide service to potential customers through referrals, and we may ask such trusted third parties to provide us with personal identifiers about potential customer in connection with such referrals. These third parties maintain their own privacy statements. We are not responsible for, and this Privacy Policy does not apply to, the privacy practices of these third parties or of any companies that we do not own or control. We cannot be responsible for the privacy practices of any such third parties not under our control and we do not endorse any such third parties. In addition, should you initiate a transaction with such third parties, the information you submit to complete that transaction becomes subject to the privacy practices of such third party.
Market Segmentation
We may buy additional data related to Personal Information from certain trusted business partners for the purpose of creating custom demographic profiles, or to otherwise improve such user’s System experience or use of our products or services.
Scrubbing
We may use your phone number or other Personal Information we have collected to “scrub” the information from our advertising lists if such Personal Information is included in a “Do Not Call” list (or such other no-contact list), or as may otherwise be necessary to comply with any regulation, law, or order.
Miscellaneous
In addition to the purposes listed above, SouthStar may collect and use your Personal Information for any other purpose for which we obtain your consent or as authorized by law. Furthermore, we may, but are under no obligation to, use Personal Information as necessary to ensure that existing customers or users of our services or products do not receive advertising for such products or services. Unless otherwise stated in this Privacy Policy, we may also catalog and add Personal Information we’ve collected from you to our database.
4. Cookie Usage
When visitors visit the Websites, our goal is to make the experience simple and effective. By placing a small file known as a “cookie” on your computer (or other device), SouthStar and its third-party service providers’ passively gather information about visitors’ use of the System for various purposes, including statistics collection, System optimization, analytics, market research, and maintaining user login information.
Essential Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the operation of our Websites and include:
- Session Cookies: Track technical and navigational information, such as browser type, time spent on a Website, and pages visited.
- Security Cookies: Used for authentication and to ensure the security of our Websites.
- Functional Cookies: Facilitate site navigation and maintain user login information and personalize your experience by remembering your preferences and settings.
Non-Essential Cookies
These cookies enhance functionality and help us improve our services:
- Analytics Cookies: Used for statistics collection, System optimization, market research, and understanding user behavior. The Websites use Google Analytics for these purposes. We do not combine Google Analytics data with your Personal Information. For more information on Google’s data use, review Google’s Privacy Terms and Google’s My Ad Center Help. If you want to prevent your Personal Information from being used by Google Analytics, visit the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on Download Page. In addition to Google Analytics, we may use other analytics services provided by our service providers to help us understand how visitors interact with our Websites. These analytics tools may use cookies or similar technologies to collect pseudonymous information about page usage, clicks, scrolls, or navigation patterns for statistical and performance purposes. These tools are configured by our service providers to prevent the collection of personal, financial, or other sensitive information.
- Advertising Cookies: Placed by third-party service providers using pixels to store cookies on your browser for retargeting services, helping us target advertising to your interests and improve our products and services.
- Personalization Cookies:Used to enhance your experience by remembering your preferences and setting, allowing us to tailor content and features to your interests.
Information Tracked
The information tracked with cookies includes, but is not limited to:
- Type of Internet browser (such as Google Chrome or Safari) and device used
- IP Address, home domain, or Internet service provider
- Referrer URL (the URL for the website you were viewing prior to visiting the System) and how you were directed to the System
- Pages accessed, duration of page views, time and date of access, and total number of visitors
We use your IP Address to determine the general location of your device and understand the geographic locations of our visitors.
Web Beacons
Some of the areas of the System may contain electronic images known as “web beacons” (also known as Internet tags, pixel tags, and clear GIFs) that allow SouthStar and its third-party service providers to count and track users who have visited certain portions of the System. Web beacons collect limited information, including a cookie number, time and date of a page view, and a description of the page.
For the avoidance of doubt, by accessing and using our Websites and System you hereby acknowledge, agree, and consent to the aforementioned cookie usage activities by us and our third-party service providers.
5. Correspondence
If you correspond with SouthStar through the System or via email, the Personal Information we collect may include the content of, and metadata regarding, any such correspondence. We may share your messages with those within our organization who are most capable of addressing the issues contained in your message. We may archive your message for a certain period of time or discard it. We may also share your messages with third parties in connection with: (i) improving our services; (ii) responding to or defend against subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process; (iii) responding to or defending against regulatory orders; and (iv) to establish or exercise our legal rights.
6. With Whom Do We Share Information That We Collect?
The table below sets forth the categories of Personal Information that SouthStar shares with third parties and the categories of third parties with whom the Personal Information may be shared.
Category of Personal Information | Is the Personal Information Shared with Third Parties | Categories of Third Parties with Whom Shared |
Personal Identifiers | Y | ● Service providers ● State regulatory bodies ● Natural gas utilities |
Commercial Data | Y | ● Service providers ● State regulatory bodies ● Natural gas utilities |
Electronic Network Activity Data | N | -- |
Other Personal Data | Y | ● Service providers ● State regulatory bodies ● Natural gas utilities |
To improve, protect, and support our business, we may also share your information with trusted entities including: (i) service providers (e.g., technology providers, payment processors, collection agencies, consumer authentication providers, business advisors, auditors, marketing service providers, etc.); (ii) potential investors in the business; (iii) our affiliates, as appropriate for providing products and services to you; and (iv) if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) comply with a legal or regulatory obligation (e.g., government agencies); (b) protect and defend our rights or property; or (c) protect the rights, property, or safety of others. We may also engage analytics providers, such as Microsoft Corporation, to collect and analyze information about use of our Websites on our behalf. These providers act as our service providers and may process pseudonymous interaction data solely to provide analytics and performance reporting to SouthStar.
We may provide your Personal Information to an affiliate or third-party service provider to re-target certain advertising to you on different portions of the System, for market or user modeling, or use in direct advertising through the System or via direct mailing. SouthStar may also share such Personal Information with trusted third parties in connection with joint marketing efforts and strategic alliances.
We may also disclose Personal Information if we become subject to a subpoena or court or regulatory order, or if we are otherwise legally required to disclose information. We may also use and disclose Personal Information to establish or exercise our legal rights, to enforce the Terms of Use, to assert and defend against legal claims, or if we believe such disclosure is necessary, to investigate, prevent, or take other action regarding actual or suspected illegal or fraudulent activities or potential threats to the physical safety or well-being of any person. In an effort to protect the security of our critical infrastructure, any use of a Website or information relating to such use may be monitored and disclosed to federal authorities or agencies.
As SouthStar grows and develops its business, it is possible that its corporate structure or organization might change or that it might merge or otherwise combine with, or that it or portions of its business might be acquired by, another company. In any such transactions, customer information generally is, and should be expected to be, one of the transferred business assets.
We do not sell, rent, or lease our user lists, the identity of individual users, or any Personal Information of Consumers to third parties. However, SouthStar may use and disclose certain aggregated, anonymized information, such as System usage data, to our affiliates, third-party service providers, or trusted business partners. Such information may also be shared with other users or the general public for advertising, informational, or comparison purposes. However, such information shall not be personally identifiable to any user.
7. What Choices Do You Have?
When submitting information, corresponding, making requests for information, and otherwise interacting with SouthStar, including in connection with the System, you choose what information you provide, whether you wish to receive further information, and how you may be contacted. Please share only such information as is necessary to complete the desired interaction. Note, however, that if you don’t provide certain requested information, it may prevent us from providing certain Services or natural gas services to you and could also prevent you from taking full advantage of the System (or some portion thereof) and its capabilities or cause some features of the System to function improperly. With respect to promotional emails we send to you, you may opt out of receiving any further promotional correspondence via email by using the link at the bottom of the email to unsubscribe. With respect to correspondence preferences, you may have the ability to change your correspondence preferences by creating a new, or logging into your existing, online account and selecting your preferences.
8. How Do We Protect Information Collected About You?
SouthStar takes commercially reasonable measures to secure and protect the Personal Information we collect, including information transmitted via or stored on the System. Unfortunately, no transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of such information, and any such information provided by or through our website is at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we make reasonable efforts to ensure security on our systems. You agree to immediately notify us of any breach of System’s security, this Privacy Policy, or the Terms of Use of which you become aware. When we use analytics or session-replay technologies, those technologies implement masking and filtering controls designed to prevent the capture of personal or sensitive information.
9. Linked Websites
For your convenience, some hyperlinks may be posted on the System that link to third-party websites (e.g. LinkedIn and Meta). These third-party websites publish their own privacy statements, which disclose the manner those third parties process Personal Information. We are not responsible for, and this Privacy Policy does not apply to, the privacy practices of those third-party websites or of any companies that we do not own or control. We cannot be responsible for the privacy practices of any such websites or pages not under our control and we do not endorse any of these websites or pages, the services or products described or offered on such sites or pages, or any of the content contained on those sites or pages. We encourage you to seek out and read the privacy statements of each linked website that you visit. In addition, should you happen to initiate a transaction on a website that our System links to, even if you reach that site through the System, the information that you submit to complete that transaction becomes subject to the privacy practices of the operator of that linked website. We encourage you to read that website’s privacy statements to understand how personal information that is collected about you is used and protected by such third party.
10. Social Media Platforms and Websites
Any information, communication, or material of any type or nature that you submit to any of our pages that exist on a social media platform or website by email, posting, messaging, uploading, downloading, or otherwise submitting (collectively, a “Submission”) is done at your own risk and without any expectation of privacy. We cannot control the actions of other users of a social media platform, and we are therefore not responsible for any Submissions contained on a social media platform or website. By visiting any of our pages that exist on any social media platform or website, you are representing and warranting to us that you have reviewed the applicable privacy policy and terms of use of such social media platform or website and that you agree and consent to all such provisions contained therein.
According to the terms and conditions governing certain social media platforms, you may request that the information, data, or other content we obtain from or through the social media platform (“Platform Data”) be deleted or modified. If you would like Platform Data related to you deleted or modified, please contact us in accordance with the “Whom Can You Contact For More Information” section below and (i) identify the social media platform at issue and (ii) the Platform Data that you would like deleted and/or modified, and if modified, the modification to said Platform Data. We may also delete Platform Data if requested by the social media platform.
11. Children
The services SouthStar offers, including the System, are not directed to children under the age of 16 and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 16. If we become aware that we inadvertently received Personal Information about an individual under the age of 16, we will delete the information from our records.
12. Changes to our Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes in our business practices. All such updates are effective immediately upon publication on the Website and are applicable to your access and use of the System on that date. You should view this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed of changes that may affect you, as your continued use of the System signifies your consent to be bound by this Privacy Policy. We expressly reserve the right to make any changes to this Privacy Policy at any time, without prior notice to you unless required by law.
13. Contact Details
If you have any questions or suggestions about the System, SouthStar (or any of our affiliates), or our privacy practices please contact us at ContactUs@southstarenergy.com.