OpenEI MCP. Model energy costs using US utility rates.

You're dealing with US electricity rates? You need OpenEI. This MCP Server connects your agent straight to the National Utility Rate Database—it’s where all the official utility tariffs live. Forget digging through PDFs or outdated spreadsheets; you just tell your AI client what you need, and it handles the whole complicated rate lookup process.

Finding Rates by Location

If you know exactly where you are, you don't gotta guess. You can use get_rates_by_address to input a simple street address; the server figures out which utility serves that location and lists all applicable rates right there. If you prefer GPS coordinates, just feed those into get_rates_by_coordinates. This gives your agent an instant list of residential, commercial, and industrial tariffs for that exact spot.

You can also run a broader check using get_utility_rates, which lets you filter by rate sector—residential, commercial, or industrial—if you just have the general area.

Deep Diving into Specific Sectors

You'll pull dedicated structures when you need to model specific operations. For homes, you use get_residential_rates. This tool pulls all home electricity tariffs, covering everything from tiered rate plans and time-of-use schedules to rates designed for EV charging options. If you’re working on a business site, the get_commercial_rates function gives you access to general service, large power, and time-of-use commercial tariffs based on location or address.

For heavy manufacturing analysis and load forecasting, you'll grab industrial electricity rates using get_industrial_rates. These are critical for understanding high-consumption cost centers.

Utility Research and Mapping Service Areas

You might not know who serves the site yet. You can start by listing all available utility companies in a region with list_utilities, letting you filter results by state, country, or company name to map out service territories. If you only catch part of a business name, no sweat—you use search_utilities_by_name to find the matching utility and its ID number.

Once you have the company ID, get_utility_detail gives you the full rundown: their service territory boundaries, contact info, and even what mix of power sources they’re using. You'll also pull specific details on a single tariff structure using get_rate_detail, which returns the complete cost breakdown—that means fixed charges, demand charges, and how seasonal variations impact the bill.

Modeling Energy Costs and Feasibility Data

When you run these rates through your agent, you're not just getting a list of numbers. You're building models. The data allows you to analyze complex rate structures like time-of-use periods and demand charges for accurate cost modeling. For site proposals or solar ROI calculations, the available tariffs let you get quotes tailored specifically for net metering and energy efficiency analysis.

By combining location searches with sector-specific rates, you'll walk away knowing exactly what a client's utility costs are across residential, commercial, and industrial uses anywhere in the country.