Consumers Energy: Ongoing and Historical Data Duration Limits

When you set up a data authorization through UtilityAPI, you can normally configure how far back (historical) and how far forward (ongoing) your data collection extends — either as a one-time setting on the Request Data page, or as a permanent default in your account Settings.

Consumers Energy limits how far these durations can be extended. This is a requirement set by Consumers Energy itself, not by UtilityAPI, and it applies no matter where you configure it.

• Ongoing data: up to 1 year
• Historical data: up to 2 years

For comparison, most other utilities on our Utility Data Exchange network allow ongoing data to be extended up to 3 years.

This maximum applies consistently everywhere a duration can be set for Consumers Energy:

• Settings page (default scope configuration)
• Request Data page (a one-time override for a specific request)
• Authorization form shown to the utility account holder
• API, when a form prefill or scope is created programmatically

If you try to configure a longer duration for Consumers Energy in any of these places, the request will be rejected with an error message explaining that the limit is a Consumers Energy–specific restriction.

If you manage data scope through the API, keep in mind that Consumers Energy's limit is enforced at the utility level. If a universal (cross-utility) scope setting in your integration would exceed Consumers Energy's maximum, the utility-specific limit takes precedence — the excess duration is rejected rather than applied. If your integration sets scope both universally and per-utility, expect Consumers Energy's cap to override any broader default.

• Ongoing data for Consumers Energy is capped at 1 year
• Historical data for Consumers Energy is capped at 2 years
• This limit is set by Consumers Energy and enforced consistently across Settings, Request Data, the Authorization form, and the API
• A longer duration is not currently configurable for Consumers Energy authorizations