presuming that $270 credit is truly lost, i just want to work out the logic in not paying the bill - or why paying the bill doesn't make any sense.

suppose i pay the bill in full, tomorrow, and that i'm able to cut my usage down to around 2-3 kwh for the next few months by just closing the lid on the laptop when i'm not using it. 2.5*30 = 75 kwh, which is going to be some like $5.00 in actual electricity. but, then they're going to charge me $15 in service charges, so the bill will be around $20. the credit is $45, so i'd be building up $25/month.

if that works itself out, i'll have a credit of $25 for november, $50 for december, $75 for january, $100 for february, etc. but, what i've learned is that i can't access this money, so it will just continue to build. i made $270 in credits over ten months in the last apartment - after paying down the first bill.

if i don't pay the bill, i'm going to be down $47 for september ($30 setup...) and i'm going to be looking at around a $60 bill for october, minus the $20. let's say it's $100, even, together. but, that will $75 when the  bill gets calculated for november, $50 for december, $25 for january and then breaks even when the bill gets calculated for february, some time in mid march.

you could say "that's a long wait. just pay the $100.", but you're missing the point - i can't do anything with that money, otherwise.

now, if i have access to the other credit, then that's different. i can take the $270 and use it to pay the difference off right away. but, if i don't, i'm just throwing away $100 for no discernible reason.

it's not clear why the province designed the system they way it did, other than hoping that most people wouldn't know about it and wouldn't apply. but, i think you need to blame them, and not me, as they designed the system in such a way that incentivizes me to miss payments.

i'll call them tomorrow to get a straight answer.