API

Our documentation covers all the resources and references needed to efficiently access and integrate FERC's data into your application.

Steps for Identifying and Retrieving Required Data:

To retrieve data from the details, data, and dictionary endpoints, start by visiting the Data-Assets endpoint. The data assets endpoint serves as your central catalog, providing comprehensive metadata for all available datasets. Here, you will find the unique identifier (dataset ID) associated with each available dataset on Data.FERC.gov. This ID is essential for further queries.

Authorization Process

After registration for an API key is completed, a unique 40-character key is sent to the email address used during sign-up. To activate access, open the API Endpoints page and select the Authorize button. Entering the key in the designated field will grant access to all FERC endpoints once validated. For any issues encountered during this process, please review our Help and support .

Instructions for Navigating API Endpoints

The following section outlines a clear method for identifying dataset information within the endpoint structure. It explains where key identifiers appear and how they are applied throughout related requests. After entering your API key, begin your search at the Data-Assets endpoint to identify the available datasets and their corresponding IDs. Once you have located the desired dataset, use its ID as a parameter for the Details, Data, and Dictionary endpoints. The below diagram shows where to find the dataset ID in the Data-Assets endpoint response body:

Data-Assets Response

The JSON structure above demonstrates how data assets are organized and mapped to various unique identifiers, where a top-level array holds key information including data asset IDs, descriptions, and additional metadata to clearly define the type and purpose of each data asset. Within every data asset, a nested array provides a deeper level of detail, containing dataset IDs along with all relevant information required to verify and confirm that the correct dataset is being referenced for any given use case.

Once you have located the desired dataset, use its ID to access its corresponding metadata, data contents, and data dictionary through the Details, Data, and Dictionary endpoints respectively.
To continue with the above example, you can retrieve the dataset details by using the following:

Dataset ID Parameter Entry

By replacing the ID with the actual identifier, you can retrieve the specific dataset information in the Details, Data, and Dictionary endpoints. Keep in mind that these IDs are subject to change and the official ID will always be reflected in the Data-Assets endpoint.

API Code Snippet

We have provided ready-to-use code snippets for every endpoint in the API. Examples are available in Python, JavaScript, Java, curl (bash), and curl (cmd), each preconfigured with the correct query structure for retrieving FERC data.

Access to these samples requires completing the authorization process first. After authorization, open the desired endpoint, select Try it out, and then click on execute button as shown in the diagram below. Once the request runs, the response section expands to display the available code snippets, with the Python example shown by default. Any preferred code snippet can then be copied directly into a project.

More information on API key usage, supported use cases, and limitations can be found in the API Key Usage