tou.tools (the "Service") is a developer API that returns Time-of-Use (TOU) electricity schedule metadata for U.S. utility tariffs — period names (peak, off-peak, super off-peak, etc.), period boundaries, and forward schedules — over REST and the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
The Service does not return $/kWh values, customer-specific bill amounts, or tariff rider calculations. Those vary by customer class, baseline allowance, and other factors outside the scope of this API.
By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the Service. We may update these Terms from time to time; continued use after changes are posted constitutes acceptance.
The Service covers electricity utility tariffs in the United States and its territories only. You may call the API from anywhere in the world, but the data we return is U.S.-scoped.
You must be at least 13 years old to register a developer account. If you are under 18, you must have permission from a parent or guardian.
A free developer account is required to issue API keys. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and your API keys, and for all activity that occurs under them.
Raw API keys are shown to you exactly once at the moment of creation and are never recoverable from our servers afterward (we store only a SHA-256 hash). If you lose a key, revoke it and issue a new one. Treat keys as secrets — do not commit them to public repositories or embed them in client-side code.
Notify us at hello@tou.tools immediately if you suspect a key has been exposed or your account has been accessed without authorization.
Current plans, prices, and quotas are listed on the pricing page. Paid plans are billed in U.S. dollars, in advance, by Stripe — monthly by default, or annually on Growth and above by arrangement.
When you reach your monthly call or location quota, additional calls return 429 Too Many Requests. We do not auto-bill overages or silently degrade responses. Quotas reset at the start of each billing cycle.
Upgrades take effect immediately, with the price difference prorated against the remainder of the current billing cycle. Downgrades take effect at the start of your next billing cycle so that paid-for capacity is not lost.
You may cancel at any time. Cancellation stops future billing; the current paid month runs to its end. Monthly fees already paid are non-refundable except where required by law. The Accuracy Guarantee in section 5 is satisfied by a 30-day subscription extension, not a cash refund.
We may change plan prices for future billing periods. You will be notified by email at least 30 days before any change affects your renewal.
The guarantee applies to the current period field returned by GET /query/current and the period definitions returned by GET /query/schedule, for any utility appearing on our published covered utilities list. The list is maintained at /coverage/ and is updated as we onboard or pause utilities; the list in effect at the time of the call governs.
The returned period is "wrong" if, at the timestamp of the call, the period name we returned for the queried rate plan materially differs from what that rate plan's then-current public tariff — as filed with the relevant state public utility commission — defines for that timestamp.
confidence: "ambiguous").200 OK with a period value.Email hello@tou.tools within 30 days of the call with: the request timestamp (UTC), the request parameters, the response we returned, and a citation to the published tariff page that contradicts it. We will respond within 10 business days. If we agree the response was wrong, we extend your subscription by 30 days: your next scheduled Stripe charge is pushed forward by one month. Free-plan accounts receive the same 30-day extension applied to the first paid month after upgrade.
The 30-day subscription extension described above is the sole and exclusive remedy under this guarantee, regardless of how many wrong responses occurred in the affected month. We do not issue cash refunds under this guarantee. Multiple confirmed claims in the same billing cycle yield a single 30-day extension, not stacked extensions. The guarantee does not cover consequential damages, lost revenue, dispatch losses, or any other indirect harm — see section 9.
You agree not to:
We target high availability for all paid tiers but do not provide a contractual uptime SLA below the Growth plan. SLAs that apply to Growth, Business, and Enterprise plans are listed on the pricing page and, for Enterprise customers, in the signed order form.
We may schedule maintenance windows and will make a reasonable effort to announce non-emergency maintenance in advance.
EXCEPT FOR THE ACCURACY GUARANTEE EXPRESSLY SET OUT IN SECTION 5, THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
TOU schedules are derived from utility-published tariffs and may change without notice when a utility files a new rate case or schedule revision. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or current to the second.
The Service is informational and is not a substitute for reading your utility's tariff. You are solely responsible for any decisions — financial, operational, or otherwise — that you make on the basis of data returned by the Service.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, TOU.TOOLS AND ITS OPERATORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOST DATA, DISPATCH LOSSES, ENERGY-MARKET LOSSES, OR LOSS OF GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE OR ANY DATA RETURNED BY IT, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE IN ANY 12-MONTH PERIOD SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF $100 OR THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US FOR THE SERVICE IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.
You may delete your account at any time from your account settings. Deletion revokes all API keys immediately and cancels any active subscription at the end of the current billing cycle.
We may suspend or terminate your account at any time, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms. We will refund any prepaid, unused subscription fees on termination unless the termination is for cause under section 6.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the state in which tou.tools's operators are domiciled, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any disputes shall be resolved in the appropriate courts of that jurisdiction.
Questions about these Terms, the Accuracy Guarantee, or anything else may be directed to hello@tou.tools.