---
name: eia-open-data-ingestion
description: "How to get EIA Open Data data into a pandas DataFrame and Parquet: access, the request, the format, limits, quirks and terms."
---

# Load EIA electricity data into pandas and Parquet

Source entry: https://signal-lab-jet.vercel.app/datasets/eia-open-data
Provider: https://www.eia.gov/opendata/
Checked against the provider's documentation: 2026-10-29

## Access
- A free API key is required. Put it in EIA_API_KEY.
- Bulk files do not require a key.

## Request
```bash
curl 'https://api.eia.gov/v2/electricity/retail-sales/data/?api_key='$EIA_API_KEY'&frequency=monthly&data[0]=price&facets[stateid][]=US&start=2025-01&length=5000'
```

## Format
JSON: response data array plus warnings, total, dateFormat and frequency metadata. Values can be strings or numbers by route.

## Load into pandas and Parquet
Needs Python 3 with requests, pandas and pyarrow.
```python
"""EIA monthly US retail electricity price -> pandas -> Parquet. Free API key."""
import os
import requests
import pandas as pd

URL = "https://api.eia.gov/v2/electricity/retail-sales/data/"
params = {"api_key": os.environ["EIA_API_KEY"], "frequency": "monthly", "data[0]": "price",
          "facets[stateid][]": "US", "start": "2025-01", "length": 5000, "offset": 0}
rows = []
while True:
    r = requests.get(URL, params=params, timeout=30)
    r.raise_for_status()
    response = r.json()["response"]
    rows += response["data"]
    params["offset"] += len(response["data"])
    if params["offset"] >= int(response["total"]):
        break
df = pd.DataFrame(rows)
df["period"] = pd.to_datetime(df["period"])
df["price"] = pd.to_numeric(df["price"])
df.to_parquet("eia_us_retail_electricity_price.parquet", index=False)
print(len(df), "rows", df["period"].min().date(), "to", df["period"].max().date())
```
Needs a personal API key; not run.

## Limits
- JSON responses return at most 5,000 rows; page with offset and length.
- Rate limit: Not stated. EIA requires clients to throttle requests per second and per hour.

## Quirks
- Each route has its own facets, frequency values and data columns; inspect route metadata first.
- Keep the unit column with each series.
- A key can be temporarily suspended if request tolerances are exceeded.

## Terms and attribution
- US government EIA publications are in the public domain, but third-party material may be protected.
- EIA asks users to identify EIA as the source and include the publication date.
- Do not imply endorsement and do not use the EIA logo without permission.
- Terms page: https://www.eia.gov/about/copyrights_reuse.php

## Sources
- https://www.eia.gov/opendata/documentation.php: "our API only returns a maximum of 5,000 rows"
- https://www.eia.gov/opendata/terms-of-service.php: "You should use the "EIA" or the "U.S. Energy Information Administration" names in order to identify the source"
- https://www.eia.gov/about/copyrights_reuse.php: "U.S. government publications are in the public domain and are not subject to copyright protection."

Information for educational purposes only. Free tiers, limits and licenses belong to the providers and may change; check the provider's own terms before using the data.