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Utility Rates by Census Region (GET /api/census_rate/v3)

Given a location and Census Bureau region level (block, blockgroup, tract), return the Census Bureau ID, utility rate and company information.

Utility Rates by Census Region API will be shutdown on April 20, 2026

This deprecated API will be shutdown on April 20, 2026 and will not be accessible after that date.

For further questions or assistance, contact us.

NOTE: the utilities and rates data returned by this API is from 2012 and there are currently no plans to update the data in the future.

Request URL

GET /api/census_rate/v3.format?parameters

Request Parameters

Parameter	Required	Value	Description
format	Yes	Type: string Default: None Options: json, xml	The output response format.
api_key	Yes	Type: string Default: None	Your developer API key. See API keys for more information.
id	Yes	Type: integer Default: None	Identifiying number provided by requester.
lat	Yes	Type: decimal Default: None Range: -90 to 90	The latitude for the location to use.
lon	Yes	Type: decimal Default: None Range: -180 to 180	The longitude for the location to use.
region	No	Type: string Default: block Options: block, blockgroup, tract	The Census Bureau region level to return.

Response Fields

The response is composed of service-related informational fields and the results of the data query.

Field	Value	Description
inputs	Type: collection	The input parameters received in the request.
version	Type: string	The current version of the web service.
errors	Type: array of strings	Any error messages resulting from the request.
warnings	Type: array of strings	Any warning messages resulting from the request.
metadata	Type: collection	Any metadata associated with the request (sources, etc)
outputs	Type: collection	The data outputs from the request. (see output fields for more detail)

Output Fields

Field	Value	Description
utility_name	Type: string	The name of the utility company. If there are multiple utility companies serving the location, the names will be returned as a pipe-delimited string.
company_id	Type: integer	The ID of the utility company. If there are multiple utility companies serving the location, the IDs will be returned as a pipe-delimited string.
utility_info	Type: collection	An array of hashes containing the name(s) and ID(s) of the utility company or companies serving the location.
census_region	Type: string	The Census Bureau ID.
residential	Type: decimal	The residential electricity rate.
commercial	Type: decimal	The commercial electricity rate.
industrial	Type: decimal	The industrial electricity rate.

Examples

JSON Output Format

GET /api/census_rate/v3.json?api_key=DEMO_KEY&region=tract&id=101&lat=37&lon=-92

{
  "inputs" : {
    "region" : "tract",
    "id" : "101",
    "lat" : "35.45",
    "lon" : "-82.98"
  },
  "errors" : [ ],
  "warnings" : [ ],
  "outputs" : {
    "id" : 101,
    "uid" : "179f89b3-5fc2-4fc9-9993-926d71486b70",
    "census_region" : "921200",
    "company_id" : "8333|18642",
    "utility_name" : "Haywood Electric Member Corp|Tennessee Valley Authority",
    "utility_info" : [ {
      "company_id" : "8333",
      "utility_name" : "Haywood Electric Member Corp"
    }, {
      "company_id" : "18642",
      "utility_name" : "Tennessee Valley Authority"
    } ],
    "commercial" : 9.77,
    "industrial" : 8.62,
    "residential" : 12.3
  },
  "version" : "3.1.0",
  "metadata" : {
    "sources" : [ "Ventyx Research (2012)" ]
  }
}

XML Output Format

GET /api/census_rate/v3.xml?api_key=DEMO_KEY&region=tract&id=101&lat=37&lon=-92

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<response>
  <inputs>
    <region>tract</region>
    <id>101</id>
    <lat>35.45</lat>
    <lon>-82.98</lon>
  </inputs>
  <errors type="array"/>
  <warnings type="array"/>
  <outputs>
    <id type="integer">101</id>
    <uid>c310bc56-ebbf-496c-8925-74bdf55d57a8</uid>
    <census-region>921200</census-region>
    <company-id>8333|18642</company-id>
    <utility-name>Haywood Electric Member Corp|Tennessee Valley Authority</utility-name>
    <utility-info type="array">
      <utility-info>
        <company-id>8333</company-id>
        <utility-name>Haywood Electric Member Corp</utility-name>
      </utility-info>
      <utility-info>
        <company-id>18642</company-id>
        <utility-name>Tennessee Valley Authority</utility-name>
      </utility-info>
    </utility-info>
    <commercial type="float">9.77</commercial>
    <industrial type="float">8.62</industrial>
    <residential type="float">12.3</residential>
  </outputs>
  <version>3.1.0</version>
  <metadata>
    <sources type="array">
      <source>Ventyx Research (2012)</source>
    </sources>
  </metadata>
</response>

Rate Limits

Standard rate limits apply. No more than 1,000 requests may be made in any hour

Errors

Standard errors may be returned. In addition, the following service-specific errors may be returned:

HTTP Status Code	Description
422	Unprocessable Entity - One or more parameters did not pass validation, or a parameter may be missing. Check the errors section of the response to see how the request should be modified to address the error.

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