EnergyMonkey ("EnergyMonkey," "we," "us," "our") is a mobile application that helps Ohio residents shop competitive electricity and natural-gas suppliers. This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, and how you can control it. We wrote it in plain English on purpose — your bill is yours, and you should know what we do with it.
Questions? Email support@energymonkey.app.
1. Who we are
EnergyMonkey is operated by Bilal Naqshbandi as an individual operator based in Ohio. The app is distributed through Apple's App Store and Google Play.
We act as an information-and-comparison service. We are working toward registration as a Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ("PUCO") certified power broker / aggregator; until that registration is complete, EnergyMonkey does not enroll customers with suppliers on its own — instead the app links you directly to a supplier's enrollment page where the supplier handles enrollment under their existing PUCO certification.
2. Information we collect
We collect only the information needed to compare rates for you and let you save a switch.
You give us this directly
- Your name and email address (when you create an account)
- Your service address and ZIP code (when you enter a bill)
- Your billing account number (and, for FirstEnergy customers, your separate Customer Number)
- Your current utility, current supplier, current rate, and current usage (typed manually or extracted from a photo of your bill)
We extract this from photos of your bill
- The same fields above
- The image itself is sent to Anthropic's Claude API for one-time processing and is not retained on Anthropic's servers under their zero-retention policy
We collect this automatically
- A device-generated unique identifier
- Crash reports — used to fix bugs, never linked to your name
- Anonymous usage analytics (which screens, how long the OCR takes)
We do not collect
- Passwords (we use OAuth or passwordless email)
- Bank account numbers, credit cards, or social security numbers
- Government-issued ID
- Phone contacts, location (beyond your service address), browsing history, or data from other apps
3. How we use your information
- Show you electricity and gas offers that may save you money
- Calculate an estimated annual savings figure based on your real usage
- Send you alerts when a competitive offer drops below your current rate (only if you opt in)
- Pre-fill your details when you choose to enroll with a supplier
- Improve the app (fix bugs, understand which features are useful)
We do not use your information for ad targeting, profile-building, or sale to third parties.
4. Where your information lives
Most of your information is stored on your device in secure storage (iOS Keychain or Android EncryptedSharedPreferences). That includes your account info, saved bills, and preferences. You can wipe it any time from Settings → Privacy & Security → Clear my data from this device.
A small subset is processed on our servers when needed: when you take a photo for OCR, the image and our parsing instructions are sent over HTTPS to Anthropic's Claude API. The response (extracted text) is sent back and stored on your device. The image itself is not retained on our servers. Anonymous analytics events are stored in aggregate.
When you enroll with a supplier, your information leaves EnergyMonkey and is handled by that supplier under their privacy policy.
5. Who we share with
We share information with a small set of service providers, only as needed to make the app work:
- Anthropic, PBC — receives the bill image you choose to scan, plus our parsing prompt; OCR / data extraction
- Apple, Google, Meta — receive OAuth identity tokens (only if you sign in with one); authentication
- Sentry — receives anonymized crash logs; bug fixing
- Apple App Store / Google Play — distribution metadata
We do not sell your information. We do not share it with advertisers, data brokers, energy suppliers, utilities, or marketing platforms.
6. Suppliers and PUCO data
The supplier rate offers shown in EnergyMonkey come from PUCO's public Apples-to-Apples comparison feed at energychoice.ohio.gov. That feed is fetched in bulk and bundled with the app — your individual rate browsing is not sent to PUCO.
When you tap "Continue to supplier" to enroll, you leave EnergyMonkey and visit the supplier's own website. Anything you do there is governed by that supplier's privacy policy.
7. Your rights and choices
- See what we have on you — open the app and tap Settings → Account Profile
- Change what we have on you — same place
- Delete everything from your device — Settings → Privacy & Security → Clear my data
- Email us at support@energymonkey.app with any access, correction, or deletion request — honored within 30 days
Ohio residents can also reach the Ohio AG and PUCO for energy complaints (PUCO: 1-800-686-PUCO / puco.ohio.gov).
8. Children
EnergyMonkey is not intended for users under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has used the app, email support@energymonkey.app and we'll delete the data.
9. Data retention
Information stored on your device is kept until you uninstall the app or clear the data from Settings. OCR request payloads are not retained on our servers; analytics events are kept aggregated for up to 24 months.
10. Security
We use encrypted on-device storage, HTTPS / TLS for every network request, OAuth flows where we don't see passwords, and routine dependency review. No system is perfectly secure, but we follow industry-standard practices and will notify affected users in the event of a security incident in accordance with applicable Ohio breach-notification law.
11. Changes
If we change this policy in a meaningful way, we'll post an updated version with a new effective date and surface a notice in the app the next time you open it. Continued use indicates acceptance.
12. Contact
EnergyMonkey
Operated by Bilal Naqshbandi
support@energymonkey.app
energymonkey.app
PUCO consumer hotline: 1-800-686-PUCO · puco.ohio.gov