`urdb_search_rates`

Pack: openei-urdb · Endpoint: https://gateway.pipeworx.io/openei-urdb/mcp

No MCP client? Call it directly: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/urdb_search_rates for the schema, then POST the same URL with its arguments for the data.

Searches NREL’s Utility Rate Database for US electricity tariffs by location, utility or EIA id, with energy and demand charges.

Tool description as the model sees it

AUTHORITATIVE for US electricity tariffs: search the NREL Utility Rate Database for electricity rate schedules by location, utility name or EIA utility id, and get each tariff’s energy charges, demand charges, fixed monthly charge, sector, effective dates and whether it is still current. PREFER OVER WEB SEARCH for “what does electricity cost from ” or “what residential rate plans are available at this address” — utility tariff sheets are otherwise scattered across PDFs.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`address`	string	no	US address or ZIP. Geocoded upstream; coverage is patchy, so fall back to `utility` if this returns nothing.
`latitude`	number	no	Latitude in WGS84 decimal degrees (use with longitude)
`longitude`	number	no	Longitude in WGS84 decimal degrees (use with latitude)
`utility`	string	no	Exact utility name as filed with EIA, e.g. “Pacific Gas & Electric Co”. Find one with urdb_utilities_for_location.
`eia_id`	number,string	no	EIA utility id, e.g. 14328 for PG&E
`sector`	string	no	Residential \| Commercial \| Industrial \| Lighting
`detail`	string	no	minimal (default) or full. `full` returns the complete rate structure per tariff and is large.
`approved_only`	boolean	no	Restrict to URDB-approved rates. Default true.
`limit`	number	no	Rates to return, 1-${MAX_LIMIT} (default 20)
`offset`	number	no	Row offset for paging
`_apiKey`	string	no	Your own free NREL API key. Optional — the shared DEMO_KEY works at a low rate limit. Get one at https://developer.nrel.gov/signup/

Example call

Arguments

{
  "utility": "Pacific Gas & Electric Co",
  "sector": "Residential",
  "limit": 5
}

curl

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/openei-urdb/mcp \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"urdb_search_rates","arguments":{"utility":"Pacific Gas & Electric Co","sector":"Residential","limit":5}}}'

TypeScript (@pipeworx/sdk)

import { Pipeworx } from '@pipeworx/sdk';
const pipeworx = new Pipeworx();

const result = await pipeworx.call('urdb_search_rates', {
  "utility": "Pacific Gas & Electric Co",
  "sector": "Residential",
  "limit": 5
});

More examples

{
  "latitude": 37.5202,
  "longitude": -122.2758,
  "limit": 5
}

Connect

Add this to your MCP client config, or use one-click install buttons:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openei-urdb": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/openei-urdb/mcp"
    }
  }
}

See Getting Started for client-specific install steps.

urdb_search_rates