CAISO · Pricing

CAISO real-time binding constraints

Every transmission constraint CAISO's real-time dispatch was up against, five minutes at a time, with the contingency it bound for and its shadow price. Empty when nothing binds, which is a fact and not a gap.

caiso-rt-shadow-pricesevery 5 min, when bound · 5m rows28 entities
31336_HPLND JT_60.0_31370_CLVRDLJT_60.0_BR_1 _1
$246.37
2026-09-18 05:00 UTC
24114_PARDEE _230_24115_PASTORIA_230_BR_1 _1
$4.30
2026-09-17 04:55 UTC
7820_TL 230S_OVERLOAD_NG
-$109.38
2026-09-18 05:00 UTC
Read from the Dryos API and cached for an hour; the stream itself updates every 5 min, when bound.

What is in it

Updates
every 5 min, when bound · 5m rows
Entities
28 entities — 31336_HPLND JT_60.0_31370_CLVRDLJT_60.0_BR_1 _1, 24114_PARDEE _230_24115_PASTORIA_230_BR_1 _1, 7820_TL 230S_OVERLOAD_NG…
Source timezone
US Pacific — every timestamp Dryos serves is UTC
Coverage
13 September 2026 to now
Rows held
8,772
Primary key
iso, constraint_name, contingency, interval_start_utc

What it measures

Every value, its unit, and what the source means by it.

  • Shadow price$/MWh

    The constraint's shadow price for the interval, in CAISO's sign.

    shadow_price

Columns

Exactly what a request answers with, read from the API rather than written here.

ColumnTypeDescription
interval_start_utcrequiredtimestampStart of the interval, UTC, read from OASIS's GMT column.e.g. 2026-09-14T17:00:00Z
isorequiredstringPublishing ISO.e.g. CAISO
constraint_namerequiredstringThe constrained element as OASIS names it, verbatim: a branch ends `_BR_n _1`, a transformer `_XF_n`, a nomogram `_NG`. Inner spaces kept.e.g. 24701_KRAMER _230_24601_VICTOR _230_BR_2 _1
contingencyrequiredstringThe contingency the constraint bound for, as OASIS lists it. `Base Case` when none.e.g. PG1 LOSBNS-MIDWAY 500 2
shadow_pricerequirednumberThe constraint's shadow price for the interval, $/MWh, in CAISO's sign: positive on branches and transformers, negative on nomograms almost always.e.g. 14.67
source_published_at_utctimestampWhen CAISO published the row, UTC.
collected_at_utcrequiredtimestampWhen Dryos collected this row, UTC. Stamped by the platform, not the collector.e.g. 2026-09-14T18:32:12Z

Read it

Public, read-only, no key and no sign-up. Relative times stay relative, so a URL keeps working.

The newest rows

shell
curl "https://api.dryos.ai/v1/datasets/caiso-rt-shadow-prices/query?node=31336_HPLND%20JT_60.0_31370_CLVRDLJT_60.0_BR_1%20_1&limit=12"

The catalogue entry — every column, its type and the source

shell
curl "https://api.dryos.ai/v1/datasets/caiso-rt-shadow-prices"

Hourly averages for the last day

shell
curl "https://api.dryos.ai/v1/datasets/caiso-rt-shadow-prices/query?node=31336_HPLND%20JT_60.0_31370_CLVRDLJT_60.0_BR_1%20_1&start=-24h&interval=1h&agg=avg"

Full parameters — bucketing, aggregation, filters and search — are on the API reference.

Ask an agent

The same stream through the Model Context Protocol, so Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client can query it directly.

shell
claude mcp add --transport http dryos https://api.dryos.ai/mcp

Then ask:

What has Shadow price been at 31336_HPLND JT_60.0_31370_CLVRDLJT_60.0_BR_1 _1 over the last 24 hours, and when did it peak?

Setup for every client is on the MCP server page.

Changes to this collector

A change in the collector is a change in the data. Anyone reading a step in a series is owed the day it moved under them.

  1. 2026-09-14

    First collected, from CAISO OASIS.

    The binding constraints PJM already had. Reconciled against a live response on 2026-09-14.

How this stream is checked

  • Pulled straight from CAISO OASIS · PRC_RTM_NOMOGRAM (real-time market) — no reseller in between — and compared against that file before it is served.
  • Null means the source did not report it — never zero.
  • A reading lands every 5 min, when bound; the interval timestamp is the start of the interval, in UTC.
  • CAISO's market clock is US Pacific; OASIS answers in UTC. Every timestamp Dryos serves is UTC.

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