ComEd Hourly Pricing APIs Terms of Service

Thank you for using Elevate Energy’s Hourly Pricing Application Program Interface (“API”, or, collectively, the “APIs”) to access information concerning the Hourly Electric Pricing offered by Commonwealth Edison Company (“ComEd”) and administered by Elevate Energy. By accessing or using these APIs, you are agreeing to the Terms below. Collectively, we refer to the terms below, any additional terms, terms within the accompanying API documentation, and any applicable policies and guidelines as the “Terms”. You agree to comply with these Terms and that these Terms control your relationship with us so please read these Terms carefully.

Under these Terms, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Elevate Energy, the current administrator of ComEd’s Hourly Pricing Program and any subsequent administrator of ComEd’s Hourly Pricing Program who continues to provide or support the APIs. “ComEd” means Commonwealth Edison Company and its current and future parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, and their respective directors, officers, managers, shareholders, employees, agents, and representatives.

  1. Account and Registration
    1. Accepting these Terms. You may not use the APIs and may not accept these Terms if (a) you are not of legal age to form a binding contract with us or with ComEd or (b) you are a person barred from using or receiving the APIs under the applicable laws of the United States or other countries including the country in which you are resident or from which you use the APIs.
    2. Entity Level Acceptance. If you are using the APIs on behalf of an entity, you represent and warrant that you have authority to bind that entity to these Terms and by accepting these Terms, you are doing so on behalf of that entity (and all references to “you” in these Terms refer to that entity).
    3. Registration. In order to access certain APIs you may be required to provide certain information (such as identification or contact details) as part of the registration process for the APIs, or as part of your continued use of the APIs. It is your obligation to ensure that all registration information you provide is accurate and current.
  2. Using our APIs
    1. Your End Users. You will require your end users to comply with (and not knowingly enable them to violate) applicable laws, regulations, and these Terms.
    2. Compliance with Law, Third-Party Rights, and ComEd Terms of Service, and Elevate Terms of Use. You will comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and third-party rights (including without limitation laws regarding the import or export of data or software, privacy, and local laws). You will not use the APIs to encourage or promote illegal activity or violation of third party rights. You will not violate any ComEd rates or other terms of service including, but not limited to, ComEd or Elevate terms of use associated with the APIs, or the ComEd privacy policy, all of which govern your use of the APIs.
    3. Permitted Access. You will only access (or attempt to access) an API by the means described in the documentation of that API. You will not misrepresent or mask your identity when using the APIs.
    4. API Limitations. We or ComEd may set and enforce limits on your use of the APIs (e.g. limiting the number of API requests that you may make or the number of users you may serve), in our sole discretion. You agree to, and will not attempt to circumvent, such limitations documented with each API. If you would like to use any API beyond these limits, you must obtain ComEd’s express consent (and ComEd may decline such request or condition acceptance on your agreement to additional terms and/or charges for that use).
    5. Open Source Software. Some of the software required by or included in our APIs may be offered under an open source license. Open source software licenses constitute separate written agreements. If required, such open source software will be listed in the documentation for such APIs. To the extent an open source software license would otherwise contradict or conflict with these Terms, that open source license instead sets forth your agreement with the person or entity holding the rights to the applicable open source software.
    6. Communication with us. We or ComEd may send you certain communications in connection with your use of the APIs. Please review the applicable API documentation for information about opting out of certain types of communication.
    7. If you provide feedback or suggestions about our APIs, then we and ComEd (and those we and ComEd allow) may use such information without obligation to you.
    8. Non-Exclusivity.We and ComEd may develop products or services that may compete with API Clients (as defined below) or any other products or services.
  3. Your API Clients
    1. API Clients and Monitoring. The APIs are designed to help you enhance your websites and applications (each an “API Client” and collectively the “API Clients”). YOU AGREE THAT WE AND/OR COMED MAY, WITHOUT ANY LIABILITY TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY, MONITOR USE OF THE APIS TO ENSURE QUALITY, IMPROVE THE COMED HOURLY PRICING PROGRAM AND/OR ANY OTHER OFFERING OF COMED, AND VERIFY YOUR COMPLIANCE WITH THESE TERMS. This monitoring may include we and/or ComEd accessing and using your API Client, for example to identify security issues that could affect ComEd or its customers or other users of the APIs. You agree not to interfere with this monitoring. We and/or ComEd may use any technical means to overcome such interference. We and/or ComEd may suspend access to the APIs by you or your API Client without notice if we reasonably believe that you are in violation of these Terms.
    2. Security. You will use commercially reasonable efforts to protect user information collected by your API Client, including personally identifiable information (“PII”), from unauthorized access or use and will promptly report to your users any unauthorized access or use of such information to the extent required by applicable law.

      For this purpose, PII is defined as follows:

      “Any name, number, or other information that may be used, alone or in conjunction with any other information, to identify, distinguish, trace or assume the identity of a specific person, including any (a) names, initials, mother’s maiden name,  address, email address, password, account number, social security number, date of birth, official state or government issued driver’s license or identification number, alien registration number, government passport number, employer or taxpayer identification number, or any similar identification, (b) personal, financial, or healthcare information, credit card information, bank account number, credit card number or debit card number, (c) unique biometric data, such as fingerprint, voice print, retina or iris image, or other unique physical representation, (d) unique electronic identification number, address, or routing code, (e) telecommunication identifying information or access device (as defined in 18 U.S.C. §1029(e)), or (f) personal preferences, demographic data, marketing data, or any other identification data. For the avoidance of doubt, Personally Identifiable Information includes all “nonpublic personal information,” as defined under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. §6801 et seq.) and “protected health information” as defined under the Health and Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. §1320d), and “Personal Data” as that term is defined in EU Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EEC) on the protection of individuals with regard to processing of personal data and the free movement of such data.”
    3. Ownership. We do not acquire ownership in your API Client(s), and by using our APIs, you do not acquire ownership of any rights in our APIs or the content that is accessed through our APIs.
    4. User Privacy and API Clients. You will comply with all applicable privacy laws and regulations including those applying to PII. You will provide and adhere to a privacy policy for your API Client that clearly and accurately describes to users of your API Client what user information you collect and how you use and share such information (including for advertising) with ComEd and third parties.
  4. Prohibitions and Confidentiality
    1. API Prohibitions
      When using the APIs, you may not (or allow those acting on your behalf to):

      1. Sublicense an API for use by a third party. Consequently, you will not create an API Client that functions substantially the same as the APIs and offer it for use by third parties.
      2. Perform an action with the intent of introducing, enabling, or supporting any viruses, worms, defects, Trojan horses, malware, or any items of a destructive nat
      3. Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others.
      4. Interfere with or disrupt the APIs or the servers or networks providing the APIs.
      5. Promote or facilitate unlawful online gambling or disruptive commercial messages or advertisements.
      6. Reverse engineer or attempt to extract the source code from any API or any related software, except to the extent that this restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable law.
      7. Use the APIs for any activities where the use or failure of the APIs could lead to death, personal injury, or environmental damage (such as the operation of nuclear facilities, air traffic control, or life support systems).
      8. Use the APIs to process or store any data that is subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations maintained by the U.S. Department of State.
      9. Remove, obscure, or alter any ComEd rates or terms of service or any links to or notices of those rates or terms of service.
      10. Unless otherwise specified in writing by ComEd, ComEd does not intend use of the APIs to create obligations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as amended (“HIPAA”), and neither we nor ComEd make any representations that the APIs satisfy HIPAA requirements. If you are (or become) a “covered entity” or “business associate” as defined in HIPAA, you agree not to use the APIs for any purpose or in any manner involving transmitting protected health information to ComEd unless you have received prior written consent to such use from ComEd.
    2. Confidential Matters
      1. Developer credentials (such as passwords, keys, and client IDs) are intended to be used by you and identify your API Client. You will keep your credentials confidential and make reasonable efforts to prevent and discourage other API Clients from using your credentials. Developer credentials may not be embedded in open source projects.
      2. Communications to you and our APIs may contain ComEd confidential information. ComEd confidential information includes any materials, communications, and information that are marked confidential or that would normally be considered confidential under the circumstances. If you receive any such information, then you will not disclose it to any third party without ComEd’s prior written consent. ComEd confidential information does not include information that you independently developed, that was rightfully given to you by a third party without a confidentiality obligation, or that becomes public through no fault of your own. You may disclose ComEd confidential information when compelled to do so by law if you provide ComEd and us reasonable prior notice, unless a court orders that we or ComEd not receive notice.
  5. Content
    1. Content accessible through our APIs. The APIs may contain some third-party content (such as text, images, videos, audio, or software). Any such content is the sole responsibility of the person who makes it available. We and ComEd may sometimes review content to determine whether it is illegal or violates applicable policies or Terms, and we or ComEd may remove or refuse to display content in our sole discretion. Finally, content accessible through our APIs may be subject to intellectual property rights, and, if so, you may not use it unless you are licensed to do so by the owner of that content or are otherwise permitted by law. Your access to the content provided by the API may be restricted, limited, or filtered in accordance with applicable law, regulation, and policy.
    2. Submission of content. Some of our APIs may allow the submission of content. Neither we nor ComEd acquires any ownership of any intellectual property rights in the content that you submit to our APIs through your API Client, except as expressly provided in these Terms or ComEd’s rates. For the sole purpose of enabling ComEd to provide, secure, and improve the APIs (and the related service(s)) and only in accordance with the applicable ComEd privacy policies, you give ComEd a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to use content submitted, posted, or displayed to or from the APIs through your API Client. “Use” means use, host, store, modify, communicate, and publish. Before you submit content to our APIs through your API Client, you will ensure that you have the necessary rights (including the necessary rights from your end users) to grant us the license.
    3. Retrieval of content. If a user’s non-public content is obtained through the APIs, you may not expose that content to other users or to third parties without explicit consent from that user.
    4. Data portability. ComEd Hourly Pricing supports data portability. For as long as you use or store any user data that you obtained through the APIs, you agree to enable your users to export their equivalent data to other services or applications of their choice in a way that’s substantially as fast and easy as exporting such data from ComEd products and services, subject to applicable laws, and you agree that you will not make that data available to third parties who do not also abide by this obligation.
    5. Prohibitions on content. Unless expressly permitted by the content owner or by applicable law, you will not, and will not permit your end users or others acting on your behalf to, do the following with content returned from the APIs:
      1. Scrape, build databases, or otherwise create permanent copies of such content, or keep cached copies longer than permitted by the cache header;
      2. Copy, translate, modify, create a derivative work of, sell, lease, lend, convey, distribute, publicly display, or sublicense to any third party;
      3. Misrepresent the source or ownership; or
      4. Remove, obscure, or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary rights notices; or falsify or delete any author attributions, legal notices, or other labels of the origin or source of material.
  6. Brand Features; Attribution
    1. Brand Features. “Brand Features” is defined as the trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features of each party. Except where expressly stated, these Terms do not grant either party any right, title, or interest in or to the other party’s Brand Features. All use by you of ComEd’s Brand Features (including any goodwill associated therewith) will inure to the benefit of ComEd.
    2. Attribution. You agree to display any attribution(s) required by ComEd as described in the documentation for the API. ComEd hereby grants to you a nontransferable, non-sub-licenseable, nonexclusive license while these Terms are in effect to display ComEd’s Brand Features for the purpose of promoting or advertising that you use the APIs. You must only use the ComEd Brand Features in accordance with these Terms and for the purpose of fulfilling your obligations under this Section. In using ComEd’s Brand Features, you must follow any Brand Feature guidelines provided by ComEd. You understand and agree that ComEd has the sole discretion to determine whether your attribution(s) and use of ComEd’s Brand Features are in accordance with the above requirements and guidelines.
    3. Publicity. You will not make any statement regarding your use of an API which suggests partnership with, sponsorship by, or endorsement by ComEd or Elevate without prior written approval of ComEd and Elevate.
    4. Promotional and Marketing Use. In the course of promoting, marketing or demonstrating the APIs you are using, ComEd may produce and distribute incidental depictions, including screenshots, video, or other content from your API Client, and may use your company or product name. You grant ComEd and us all necessary rights for the above purposes.
  7. Termination
    1. Termination. You may stop using our APIs at any time with or without notice. We and ComEd reserve the right to terminate these Terms with you or discontinue the APIs or any portion or feature of the APIS or your access thereto for any reason and at any time without liability or other obligation to you.
    2. Your Obligations Post-Termination. Upon any termination of these Terms or discontinuation of your access to an API (in whole or in part), you will immediately stop using the API, cease all use of the Brand Features, and delete any cached or stored content that was permitted under these Terms. ComEd may independently communicate with any account owner whose account(s) are associated with your API Client and developer credentials to provide notice of the termination of your right to use an API.
    3. Surviving Provisions. When these Terms come to an end, the provisions hereof that by their nature are intended to continue indefinitely will continue to apply, including but not limited to Sections 4b, 5, 7, 8 and  9.
  8. Liability for our APIs
      1. Warranties. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET OUT IN THESE TERMS, COMED AND ITS ADMINSTRATOR EXCLUDE ALL WARRANTIES, GUARANTEES, CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS, AND UNDERTAKINGS , INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY COMMITMENTS ABOUT THE CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH THE APIS, THE SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS OF THE APIS, OR THEIR RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, OR ABILITY TO MEET YOUR NEEDS. WE PROVIDE THE APIS “AS IS”.
      2. Limitation of liability.TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER COMED NOR ELEVATE WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUES, OR DATA; FINANCIAL LOSSES; OR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM UNDER THESE TERMS, INCLUDING FOR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES, IS LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US TO USE THE APPLICABLE APIS DURING THE SIX MONTHS PRIOR TO THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE LIABILITY. IN ALL CASES, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY EXPENSE, LOSS, OR DAMAGE THAT IS NOT REASONABLY FORESEEABLE.
    1. Indemnification. Unless prohibited by applicable law, you will defend, indemnify and hold ComEd and Elevate harmless against all liabilities, damages, losses, costs, fees (including legal fees), and expenses relating to any allegation, claim or third-party legal proceeding, including judgments, settlements or other resolution thereof to the extent arising from:

      1. The use or misuse of the APIs by you or any of your end users;
      2. Your violation or your end user’s violation of these Terms; or
      3. Any content or data routed into or used with the APIs by you, those acting on your behalf, or your end users.
  9. General Provisions
    1. Modification. We or ComEd may modify these Terms or any portion thereof to reflect changes to the law or changes to our APIs. You should look at these Terms regularly. We’ll post notice of modifications to these Terms to this website or a successor website. Changes may be effective immediately upon posting. If you do not agree to the modified Terms for an API, you should discontinue your use of that API. Your continued use of the API constitutes your acceptance of the modified Terms.
    2. General Legal Terms. Except insofar as they confer rights on ComEd, these Terms do not create any third party beneficiary rights.  These Terms do not create any agency, partnership, or joint venture. Nothing in these Terms will limit any party’s ability to seek injunctive relief. Neither we nor ComEd are liable for failure or delay in performance. If you do not comply with these Terms, and we or ComEd do not take action right away, this does not mean that we or ComEd are conceding or relinquishing any rights that we may have or limiting our or ComEd’s rights or ability to take action in the future. If it turns out that a particular term is not enforceable, this will not affect any other terms. These Terms are the entire agreement between you and us relating to its subject and supersede any prior or contemporaneous agreements on the subject matter herein. For information about how to contact us, please visit our ComEd Hourly Pricing Program Customer Support page. Except as set forth below: (i) the laws of the state of Illinois, U.S.A. (excluding its conflict of laws rules) will apply to any disputes arising out of or related to these Terms or the APIs and (ii) ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE APIS WILL BE LITIGATED EXCLUSIVELY IN THE FEDERAL OR STATE COURTS OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, USA, AND YOU CONSENT TO PERSONAL JURISDICTION IN THOSE COURTS.