Protect Your Information

Keeping personal information secure is a top priority at Xcel Energy. We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect the privacy and security of the information we maintain about customers, employees, shareholders and others, including procedures for investigating and responding to information security incidents.

Below are steps that you can take to help protect your personal information, including identifying potential scams and securing information you may access on line about your Xcel Energy account. For your general safety, we have also included recommendations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding identity theft protection.

Email

Xcel Energy uses email to communicate with customers about their accounts, inform them about available Xcel Energy programs and provide newsletters. Xcel Energy will never ask for your Social Security Number, driver's license number, passwords or financial information by email.

Please be aware of “phishing” attacks that involve emails that appear authentic but seek to obtain personal information, such as Social Security Numbers, passwords or financial information. If you receive an email that appears to be from Xcel Energy that you are not sure about, do not respond to it; instead, forward the email to CustomerService@xcelenergy.com, indicating that you suspect that it might be fraudulent. You can also call us at 1-800-895-4999.

Phone

Xcel Energy may communicate with customers by phone for a variety of reasons. We may call you to provide information about Xcel Energy products and services, assist in establishing an account, inform you about service outages, discuss the status of your account (particularly if we notice that the account is not current), or offer payment plans or other options to maintain service.

If we contact you by phone, we will take steps to clearly identify ourselves as Xcel Energy and to identify you as our customer of record. If you have doubts about the authenticity of the caller, you should hang up the phone and call us back directly at 1-800-895-4999. Please be aware of unauthorized callers who may falsely assert that they are calling you on behalf of Xcel Energy, and ask for personal information. Remember, you may always hang up and call us directly at 1-800-895-4999 to confirm the validity of our call.

We encourage you to follow generally accepted practices regarding password and computer security when on line, including when you establish your login identification for My Account. We have outlined some of these practices below.

Create a Strong Login Credential

• Keep your password and user name confidential and store them securely
• Use a unique user name and password that can be easily remembered, but difficult for others to guess
• Never share your passwords with anyone
• Choose a password that is at least eight characters long and use upper case, lower case, numbers and symbols
  • Combine two or more words or abbreviations with numbers and symbols; for example, “cpu3-4chip”
  • Remove vowels from a phrase and add numbers; for example use “I love dogs” to derive “Il0v3d0g5”
  • Abbreviate a favorite phrase; for example, use “Bob drives 20 miles to work to fetch a pail of water” to create “Bd20twtfapow”
  • Use the “license plate rule.” Take a phrase and try to squeeze it into eight characters, as if you wanted to put it on a vanity license plate
• Develop appropriate security questions
  • Use different combinations of questions, such as hobbies or leisure activities, sports played as a child, first car, favorite pet’s name, grandmother’s maiden name, and change the questions for different accounts
  • Choose questions you can answer consistently
  • Avoid using easily available information — like your mother’s maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of your Social Security Number, or your phone number
  • Avoid using any information you may have shared on a social network website such as Facebook
  • Never use profanity
• Take reasonable precautions to protect your information
  • Social networks like Facebook may inadvertently share information that’s important to you. 52 percent of social-network users post their full birth date, home addresses, vacation plans or other personal information. This information can be used to compromise your password, or to gain access to your accounts
  • Adjust the privacy settings on your account on Facebook (and other social network sites) to help protect your personal information

Protect Your Computer

• Install and keep your anti-virus software current. Most anti-virus software is set up to automatically update
• Use a personal firewall software program and keep it turned on
• Install anti-spyware software from a trusted vendor
• Ensure your operating system is up-to-date with the latest critical patches. Most modern operating systems (i.e., Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh, iOS) will automatically install the latest security patches
• Be careful what you download from an email or from the Internet. Some email attachments can circumvent even the best anti-virus software
• When traveling in a car with your laptop or tablet, always put these devices in your trunk before you leave, not after you arrive
• Be aware of emails or web site pop-ups that claim they’ve scanned your computer and found viruses. Their offer to “clean your computer” for a small price is usually a scam to actually install malware on your computer

If you suspect that you have been a victim of identity theft or have been notified that your personal information may have been acquired by an unauthorized person, you should consider taking the following steps:

Order Your Free Credit Report

You are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually from each of the three national credit bureaus.

To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com, call 877-322-8228 toll-free, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form on the Federal Trade Commission’s website at www.ftc.gov and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. The credit bureaus provide free annual credit reports only through the website, toll-free number or request form. If you have already obtained your free credit report this year, you may purchase a copy of your credit report by contacting one or more of the three national credit reporting agencies listed below.

When you receive your credit report, review it carefully. Look for accounts you did not open (note that some companies bill under names other than their store names; the credit bureau will be able to tell you when that is the case). Look in the “inquiries” section for names of creditors from whom you haven’t requested credit. Look in the “personal information” section for any inaccuracies in your information, such as home address and Social Security Number. If you see anything you do not understand, call the credit bureau at the telephone number specified in the report. Errors in this information may be a warning sign of possible identity theft.

You should notify the credit bureaus of any inaccuracies in your report, whether due to error or fraud, as soon as possible so the information can be investigated and, if found to be in error, corrected. If there are accounts or charges you did not authorize, immediately notify the appropriate credit bureau by telephone and in writing. If you find items you do not understand on your report, call the credit bureau at the number given on the report. Credit bureau staff will review your report with you. If the information cannot be explained, you will need to call the creditors involved. Information that cannot be explained also should be reported to your local police or sheriff’s office because it may signal criminal activity.

Federal Trade Commission Recommendations

If you detect any unauthorized transactions in your financial account, promptly notify your financial institution or your debit or credit card company. If you detect any incident of identity theft or fraud, promptly report the incident to your local law enforcement authorities, your state Attorney General and the FTC. If you believe your identity has been stolen, the FTC recommends that you take these additional steps:

• Close the accounts that you have confirmed or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. Use the FTC’s ID Theft Affidavit when you dispute new unauthorized accounts.
• File a local police report. Obtain a copy of the police report and submit it to your creditors and any others that may require proof of the identity theft crime.

You can contact the FTC to learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft at:

1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338)
www.ftc.gov/idtheft/

Place a Fraud Alert on Your Credit File

To help protect yourself from possible identity theft, consider placing a fraud alert on your credit file. A fraud alert helps protect you against the possibility of an identity thief opening new credit accounts in your name. When a merchant checks the credit history of someone applying for credit, the merchant gets a notice that the credit file may have been affected by identity theft. The alert notifies the merchant to take steps to verify the identity of the applicant. You can place a fraud alert on your credit file by calling any one of the credit bureaus at the toll-free telephone numbers provided below. You will reach an automated telephone system that allows you to flag your file with all three credit bureaus.

Place a Security Freeze on Your Credit File

You may wish to place a “security freeze” (also known as a “credit freeze”) on your credit file. A security freeze is designed to prevent potential creditors from accessing your credit report at the three national credit bureaus without your consent. There may be fees for placing, lifting or removing a security freeze, which generally range from $5 to $20 per action. Unlike a fraud alert, you must separately place a security freeze on your credit file at each credit bureau. Because the instructions for how to establish a security freeze differ from state to state, please contact the three credit bureaus to find out more information.

The credit bureaus may require you to verify your identity prior to placing a security freeze on your credit file. You may be asked to provide information such as:

• Your full name with middle initial and generation
• Your Social Security number
• Your date of birth
• Proof of your current residential address
• Addresses where you have lived over the past five years
• A legible copy of a government-issued ID

If you have any further questions, please call us at 1-800-895-4999 or send an email at CustomerService@xcelenergy.com.