Why a refusal costs 40% of a governed action

When we first priced elan1 Govern, a refusal was metered at ₹0. From 10 October 2026, a refusal costs 40% of one governed action at the same rate. This note explains why a refusal carries a charge at all, and why that charge is lower than for an allowed action.

What a refusal still does

A refusal is not thrown away. The checks run up to the rung that says no. The caller receives a typed code that names the reason. The record carries the same 16 fields as an allowed write, and it is sealed and chained like any other. That work is real, so it is charged.

Why it costs less

An allowed action does one thing a refusal never does: it changes your books. Rung 7 ACT commits the change, and that committed write is the unit we charge in full, a governed action. Rungs 0b to 6 of the Right Path can refuse, and a refused write stops before rung 7. Nothing is written to the system of record, so the charge is 40% of one governed action.

The incentives we want

Price a refusal like an allowed write, and a governance layer earns as much when it says no as when it says yes. Price it above an allowed write, and a team under budget pressure loosens a rule to save money. The rule was the point.

At 40%, a refused write intent always costs less than the same intent allowed. Tightening a rule never makes a write intent cost more. Loosening one never makes it cost less.

The line on the meter

A refusal appears on the meter as its own line, at 0.4 of a governed action. That line matters more than it looks. It tells you how often your agents propose changes your rules do not allow, which rule said no, and at which rung. A rising refusal rate on one write type is an early signal: either the agent is drifting, or the rule no longer describes how the business works. Both are worth knowing.

How a refusal is billed

• Within your included allowance, each refusal uses 0.4 of an included governed action.
• Beyond the allowance, a refusal costs ₹0.64 at L1 Guarded, ₹0.48 at L2 Attested, ₹0.36 at L3 Proven and ₹0.22 on a sovereign deployment: 40% of each per-action rate.
• In elan1 Work, a change that Govern refuses uses 0.4 of a credit. The credit is the rendering of Govern's charge, so nobody pays twice.
• In elan1 Decide, a write intent that Govern refuses is metered by Govern at 40% of a governed action. The decision itself is counted once, as a decision.
• In elan1 Run, a call refused at the edge by Run's runtime controls returns a 409 before the first token, so no token is sent. It costs 40% of one governed action: ₹0.64 at the L1 rate.

What this means for a budget

• An allowed change costs one governed action; a refused one costs 0.4. There is no per-seat and no per-outcome pricing.
• A stricter rule set never raises the cost of a write intent.
• From L2, evidence is billed as its own line, so you can see what assurance costs separately from activity.

The four meters, and the list prices behind them, are on the pricing page. To see a refused write field by field, open the refused-write specimen.