Questions & How to Use It

Understanding the People's Energy Audit

A plain-language guide to the two-register audit prompt — what it does, how to run it, and how to read the result.

How to use it

1

Pick a project

Choose any publicly supported energy project. The Projects to Audit page lists where to find them.

2

Paste the prompt

Copy the audit prompt below into any capable AI assistant, naming the project you want examined.

3

Add what you have

Paste in any contracts, approvals, or reports you've found. The more public records, the stronger the audit.

4

Read the rating

Check the Green / Amber / Red verdicts and the ‘not found’ gaps. Decide for yourself.

The audit prompt

Copy this into any AI assistant

Audit this energy project using two registers. First, produce a Public Support Register identifying all direct funding, concessional finance, revenue underwriting, certificate income, tax concessions, public transmission, planning advantages, government offtake, firming support, mandated private payments, and all risk transferred to taxpayers, consumers, landholders, councils, or future governments. Second, produce a Bankable Exit Register identifying the project-specific decommissioning plan, including the independently costed and financially secured mechanism for removal, disposal, recycling, replacement, and land rehabilitation. Identify who pays if the operator sells the project, becomes insolvent, underestimates costs, or if recycling/disposal pathways are unavailable at end of life. Separate confirmed evidence from inference. Where information is missing, mark it as ‘not found’ rather than assuming it does not exist. Conclude with Green / Amber / Red ratings for public-support transparency, lifecycle assurance, and residual public liability.

Frequently asked

It's a simple, repeatable method for examining publicly supported energy projects — wind, solar, batteries, transmission, pumped hydro, gas firming, and modular nuclear where legalised. It doesn't tell you whether a project is good or bad. It makes two things visible: how the project was made bankable with public support, and whether it has a funded, enforceable plan to exit responsibly at end of life.
The Public Support Register asks how was the project made bankable? — funding, concessional finance, underwriting, certificates, tax concessions, public transmission, offtake, and any risk shifted onto taxpayers, consumers, landholders, councils, or future governments. The Bankable Exit Register asks how will it exit responsibly? — a project-specific, independently costed, financially secured plan for removal, disposal, recycling, replacement, and land rehabilitation.
No. The method is built for citizens. You can run the prompt on its own, and it will mark anything it can't confirm as ‘not found.’ If you add public records — contracts, planning approvals, annual reports — the audit gets sharper, but you don't need any of them to start.
Into any capable AI assistant. Name the project, paste the prompt, and add any documents you've gathered. For a list of which projects qualify and where their records live, see the Projects to Audit page.
They are three separate verdicts, not one overall score: Green for public-support transparency (the support is disclosed and traceable), Amber for lifecycle assurance (whether an end-of-life plan exists and is secured), and Red for residual public liability (whether the public is left carrying the risk). A project can rate differently on each.
Because a missing record is not the same as proof that something doesn't exist — and it's not proof that it does. Marking a gap as ‘not found’ keeps the audit honest: it separates confirmed evidence from inference, and shows exactly where more public disclosure is needed.
No. The method carries no party allegiance and reaches no preset conclusion. It is applied the same way to every project regardless of technology or who supports it. The goal is stated plainly: show the support, secure the exit, disclose the residual liability — so the public can decide with the reasoning chain in view.
EnergyAudit.me is part of the GovAIaaS People's Audit programme — a public method for governed reasoning. The energy audit applies that same discipline to one sector. You can explore the broader method at govaiaas.com and read regular worked audits at govaiaas.substack.com.
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