Data sources
HomeCost Radar uses official, public data and licensed feeds. We never scrape restricted sites, and we never use an AI model as the source of a numerical estimate.
How we govern data
- Only approved data is published. A source must pass license/terms review and validation before it can feed any calculation.
- Provenance on every number. Each estimate records exactly which data version (and vintage) it used.
- Validated & reversible. Incoming data passes schema, semantic, and distribution checks; anomalies are quarantined, and a bad publication can be rolled back to the previous known-good version.
Current & planned sources
| Source | Used for | Status |
|---|---|---|
| EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.B | Current state-average residential electricity price fallback | In use (monthly EIA publication) |
| State → climate zone (IECC/DOE-derived) | Maintenance personalization by climate | In use (bootstrap snapshot) |
| ZIP → state crosswalk (USPS-derived) | Geography resolution | In use (bootstrap snapshot) |
| Component lifespan & replacement-cost reference | Reserve forecast (national baseline) | In use (reference baseline) |
| EIA Open Data API | Future higher-frequency and historical rate series | Planned (API key) |
| OpenEI Utility Rate Database | Utility-specific tariff modeling | Planned |
| NOAA Climate Normals | HVAC + seasonal models (HDD/CDD) | Planned |
| HUD-USPS ZIP crosswalk | ZIP → county/tract (precise) | Planned |
Electricity prices are refreshed from EIA's official monthly publication through a reviewed, checksummed snapshot workflow. They remain state-average fallbacks, never your exact tariff. See the methodology for how each number is computed.