Real Price Desk

Data sources and terms

Which agencies and series Real Price Desk uses, the attribution lines each requires, and when the terms were last checked.

Updated

Terms last checked: 2026-10-19 (Asia/Seoul). This is a plain summary, not legal advice. The terms pages should be re-read before launch and again every quarter; this page has not been re-checked since the date above. Our computed numbers are labeled as our calculations, not as agency figures. We use no agency logos, emblems or seals and we never imply agency endorsement.

EIA: US Energy Information Administration#

  • Used for: Electric Power Monthly (Table 5.3, Table 5.6.A, bulk series ELEC.PRICE.US-RES.M, -COM.M, -IND.M, -ALL.M) and the Short-Term Energy Outlook (series ESRCUUS).
  • Attribution: EIA asks users to acknowledge EIA as the source with the publication date, for example Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (Oct 2008). We give the publication date and, as our own practice, our retrieval date.
  • Terms: EIA copyright and reuse policy, read 2026-10-19. EIA says US government publications are in the public domain and not subject to copyright. The EIA logo is a registered trademark and is not used here. We download the bulk file and the Electric Power Monthly and STEO spreadsheets directly and do not use the EIA API, so the API terms of service are not relied on.
  • EIA marks 2025 and 2026 values preliminary and 2024 and earlier final (Table 5.3 notes). We label preliminary values.
  • EIA's statements that its average price is revenue divided by sales and is not a utility rate come from the Electric Power Monthly Technical Notes and EIA FAQ 507. Both pages were opened and read on 2026-10-19.

BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics#

  • Used for: CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0), CPI-U electricity (CUUR0000SEHF01) and average hourly earnings (CES0500000003), retrieved through the BLS Public Data API version 1 (no key), with the retrieval date stated.
  • Required statement: BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.
  • Required by the API terms: cite the date the data were retrieved, and state the sentence above. The terms also say users may not modify or falsely represent content and still cite it as BLS.gov, and that the BLS.gov logo may not be used on products not sponsored by BLS.
  • Terms: BLS API terms of service (page last modified 2023-08-30) and BLS copyright information (page last modified 2016-08-05), both read 2026-10-19. BLS says what it publishes is in the public domain except some photographs and illustrations, and asks that BLS be cited as the source. We never edit BLS values and use no BLS logo or emblem. Real prices and ratios are our own calculations and are labeled that way.

USDA ERS: Economic Research Service#

  • Planned for later food posts (Food Price Outlook). No ERS data is used in any published post yet.
  • Attribution plan: Source: USDA Economic Research Service, Food Price Outlook, with the update date, and U.S. Department of Agriculture where appropriate.
  • Terms status: NOT VERIFIED. The USDA policies page (https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/policies-and-links) could not be opened when we checked (HTTP 403 and timeouts). What we know comes from a search-tool snippet of that page: most USDA website information is public domain, a byline credit is requested, and some materials are protected. That snippet is not confirmed. The ERS website policy page says ERS follows USDA website policies and states no reuse terms of its own. Product facts for the Food Price Outlook (update date 2026-09-25, next update 2026-10-23) were read on the ERS product page. Do not treat USDA terms as confirmed until the page is read directly.

Not affiliated#

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