“Quota Exceeded” error you are receiving despite having a paid account and a substantial credit balance is the key symptom here. This indicates that your project, aqueous-depth-472201-e6, is still being treated as if it were on the free-tier quota limits for the Gemini API.
The Cause of the Problem
Based on similar reports from other developers in forums, this issue typically arises from a misconfiguration or a delay in the system that links your Google Cloud billing account to the specific API quotas for the Gemini service. While your project is correctly linked to your paid billing account, the API’s internal system hasn’t recognized this “upgrade,” and is therefore applying the much lower rate limits of the free tier.
What to Do Next
Since Google Cloud support has already pointed you to this community, the best path forward is to provide the necessary information to the Gemini API team. Here is the recommended course of action:
Create a post in the official Google AI Developers Forum. This is the primary channel for direct support on API-specific issues like this. In your post, include the following information:
Project ID: aqueous-depth-472201-e6
The specific error message you are receiving (e.g., “Quota exceeded for quota metric ‘Generate Content API requests per minute’ and limit ‘GenerateContent request limit per minute for a region’…”).
Confirmation that billing is enabled on the project and that you have a positive credit balance.
Mention that you have already contacted Google Cloud support and they have referred you to this forum.
Attach the screenshots that you mentioned, as they are crucial evidence.
Request a “Tier 1” or “Paid Account” Quota Upgrade. When you create your forum post, be explicit in your request. Explain that the system is not recognizing your paid account status, and you need a manual intervention to have your API quotas for the Gemini API (sometimes referred to as the Generative Language API) adjusted to the paid tier.
Check for a “Set up Billing” or “Upgrade” Button. In some cases, there is a specific step you need to take within Google AI Studio to link a project to a paid billing plan.
Go to Google AI Studio.
In the bottom-left sidebar, navigate to Settings > Plan Information.
Look for a button that says “Set up Billing” or “Upgrade”. Even if you believe you have already done this, sometimes a bug requires a re-submission or a re-linking.
Monitor your quotas in the Google Cloud Console. While the error is occurring, you can verify that your usage is being counted against the wrong limits.
In the Google Cloud Console, go to IAM & Admin > Quotas & System Limits.
Use the filter to search for the “Generative Language API” service.
Check the quotas for “Requests per minute” and “Requests per day.” You will likely see that your usage is hitting a very low limit, which corresponds to the free tier, not the paid tier. This information can be included in your forum post to strengthen your case.
This situation is frustrating because it requires a manual fix from the API team. By providing a clear and comprehensive post on the official developer forum with all the relevant details and screenshots, you are giving the team the exact informat
