Download all approved U.S. rates in csv/gzip format or json/gzip format (documentation)
Download all approved International rates in csv/gzip format or json/gzip format (documentation)
Utility Rate Database
From Open Energy Information
Utility Rate Database
Electric Utility Rates
The Utility Rate Database (URDB) is a free storehouse of rate structure information from utilities in the United States. The URDB includes rates for utilities based on the authoritative list of U.S. utility companies maintained by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration.
Utility Rate Database Description
The Utility Rate Database (URDB) provides rate structure information for over 3,700 U.S. utilities. Rates from a smaller subset of these utilities are checked and updated annually by NREL under the supervision of rate expert . Each record indicates the date of the last update.
International rates for Belize and Mexico were also added and are available via the International Rates link.
The URDB allows you to search for your utility and rates to find out exactly how you are charged for your electric energy usage. Understanding this information can help reduce your bill; for example, by running your appliances during off-peak hours (times during the day when electricity prices are less expensive) and help you make more informed decisions regarding your energy usage.
Rates are also extremely important to the energy analysis community for accurately determining the value and economics of distributed generation resources. The URDB allows anyone to access these rates via bulk download, web interface, or computer-readable Application Programming Interface (API) for use in their tools and models. OpenEI provides an API for software to automatically download the appropriate rates, thereby allowing detailed economic analysis to be done without ever having to directly handle complex rate structures.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s System Advisor Model or SAM has the ability to communicate with the URDB over the internet. SAM can download any rate from the URDB directly into the program, thereby enabling users to conduct detailed studies on various power systems ranging in size from a small residential rooftop solar system to large utility scale installations.
Work is underway at NREL to develop more efficient and timely ways to gather the tariff data that makes up the URDB. NREL has formed working groups with utilities and industry to explore options for adopting a standard machine-readable format that utilities could use to publish their rates, and that the URDB could then use to harvest data in a more timely, less labor-intensive manner. If you’d like more information about this activity, contact solar.tools@nrel.gov.
How Can the Utility Rate Database be Used?
Tariffs in the URDB underlie multiple data products and form the basis for studies examining the effects of electricity rates on commercial activities. Below are some examples of how the URDB has been used in tools, reports, and studies.
Using the System Advisor Model (SAM) with the URDB enables users to perform economic analyses of energy systems.
The Impacts of Utility Rates and Building Type on the Economics of Commercial Photovoltaic Systems evaluates the value of solar for different rate structures across the United States.
Marketing and Modeling Uncertainty in Distributed Solar Deployment Projections projects trends in the net present value of residential-scale solar systems on a county-level basis from 2017 through 2050.
California Power-to-Gas and Power-to-Hydrogen Near-Term Business Case Evaluation investigates the impact of TOU mandate on economic attractiveness of behind-the-meter distributed wind and solar systems in California for residential, commercial, and industrial sectors.
Cost competitiveness of Electrolytic Hydrogen evaluates the production cost of grid-based electrolytic hydrogen across the US with eye toward hydrogen vehicles.
The impact of retail electricity tariff evolution on solar photovoltaic deployment investigates how the evolution of electric tariffs affects future PV deployment.
Electricity rates for electric vehicle direct current fast charging in the United States assesses the electricity cost for different scenarios of DC fast charging stations.
The Impacts of Changes to Nevada’s Net Metering Policy on the Financial Performance and Adoption of Distributed Photovoltaics investigates changes in how much PV will be deployed based on Nevada NEM policy change.
Envisioning a low-cost solar future: Exploring the potential impact of Achieving the SunShot 2030 targets for photovoltaics studies PV deployment capacities based on SunShot targets.
Joint Optimization Scheme for the Planning and Operations of Shared Autonomous Electric Vehicle Fleets Serving Mobility on Demand investigates SAEVs replacing current fleet, finding that all mobility in the US currently served by 276 million personally owned vehicles could be served by 12.5 million SAEVs at a cost of $ 0.27/vehicle-mile.
Assessment of the Economic Potential of Distributed Wind in Colorado, Minnesota, and New York studies the economic potential of new wind energy generation across three states.
Forecasting residential solar photovoltaic deployment in California forecasts PV deployment for residential customers in California.
Technology solutions to mitigate electricity cost for electric vehicle DC fast charging considers thousands of commercial electricity retail rate structures and improves the state of the art by optimizing DCFC station design using multiple technology solutions for each of the rates considered.
Time-of-Use Transition: Effects on Distributed Wind and Solar Economic Potential examines the impact of TOU mandate on economic attractiveness of behind-the-meter distributed wind and solar systems in California.
Average Energy Prices
Map of average US residential electricity price by utility service territory (URDB 2024 data).
Regularly Updated Tariffs
We update rates annually for utilities that comprise 70% of the total US electricity load. This list includes approximately 150 different utilities across the country. A complete list of these utilities can be found at URDB Rates Data.
Other Utility Rates Resources
Looking for a list of all U.S. utilities by zip code? Find the latest data as a csv. Note: This file includes average rates for each utility, but not the detailed rate structure data found in the database above.
System Advisor Model
National Renewable Energy Laboratory's System Advisor Model integrates with OpenEI's utility rates, which aids analysis of simple net metered rates as well as complex rate structures that include time-of-use rates, demand charges, tiered rates, fixed monthly fees, adjustment riders, and separate buy and sell rates.