specification: API Commons Rate Limits
specificationVersion: '0.1'
provider: ERCOT
providerId: ercot
generated: '2026-07-27'
method: searched
created: '2026-07-27'
modified: '2026-07-27'
tags:
- Rate Limiting
- Energy Markets
- Open Data
description: >-
  ERCOT publishes a single flat throttle for the Public Data API — 30 requests per minute, roughly
  one request every two seconds — applied regardless of subscription or product. There are no tiers
  and no documented way to raise it. Two further hard limits sit alongside it: historic file
  downloads are capped at 1,000 files per download, and traffic originating outside the United
  States is blocked at the edge for all *.ercot.com properties.
sources:
- https://developer.ercot.com/applications/pubapi/known-limits/
- https://developer.ercot.com/applications/pubapi/user-guide/using-api/
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
errorBody:
  error_key: throttled
  error_message: Too Many Requests
headers:
  rateLimit: null
  retryAfter: null
  note: No RateLimit-* or Retry-After headers are documented.
limits:
- name: Public Data API requests
  scope: subscription
  metric: requests_per_minute
  limit: 30
  timeFrame: minute
  applies_to: https://api.ercot.com/api/public-reports
- name: Historic file download batch
  scope: request
  metric: files_per_download
  limit: 1000
  timeFrame: request
  applies_to: API and Web UI historic file downloads
restrictions:
- type: geographic
  detail: Regions outside the United States of America are restricted from accessing *.ercot.com sites.
  source: https://developer.ercot.com/applications/pubapi/known-limits/
tiers: []
upgrade_path: null