diff --git a/benchmarks/harbor-buzz-orchestra/src/harbor_buzz_orchestra/container_runtime.py b/benchmarks/harbor-buzz-orchestra/src/harbor_buzz_orchestra/container_runtime.py
index 4d2c19114e..43dd675cf4 100644
--- a/benchmarks/harbor-buzz-orchestra/src/harbor_buzz_orchestra/container_runtime.py
+++ b/benchmarks/harbor-buzz-orchestra/src/harbor_buzz_orchestra/container_runtime.py
@@ -381,12 +381,26 @@ async def run(
                 ),
                 timeout=manifest.trial_budget.timeout_seconds,
             )
-            # `DONE:` is published before the turn's usage notification is, so
-            # teardown has to wait or the trial's tokens are lost. Inside the
-            # try, and only on this path: a timeout has no usage to flush.
-            await self._settle_usage(environment, agents)
             await self._verify_m1_output(environment, manifest)
         finally:
+            # `DONE:` is published before the turn's usage notification is, so
+            # teardown has to wait or the trial's tokens are lost.
+            #
+            # In the `finally`, so the TIMEOUT path settles too. That path used
+            # to fall straight through to the kill on the reasoning that "a turn
+            # that never completed has no usage to flush", which was true while
+            # buzz-agent reported once per turn and is not any more: it now
+            # reports after every provider round, so an unfinished turn has
+            # reported everything but its in-flight request. Skipping the settle
+            # here is what made `continue_until_timeout` runs uncostable —
+            # every phase but the last ends on this path, and 97% of one
+            # measured run's receipt rows came back all zeros.
+            #
+            # Cheap in the common case: this returns on the first poll once a
+            # usage line exists, which after the first round it does. Only a
+            # phase that never completed a single round can spend the full
+            # budget, and that phase has nothing to report anyway.
+            await self._settle_usage(environment, agents)
             await self._stop_agents(environment, agents + infra)
             # Logs first, and ahead of anything that touches the network. The
             # verifier pre-install below used to run first and, when the proxy
@@ -1021,10 +1035,10 @@ async def _settle_usage(
     ) -> None:
         """Give each agent the moment it needs to report what it spent.
 
-        buzz-agent emits its `_goose/unstable/session/update` usage notification
-        once per turn, immediately *before* returning the `session/prompt`
-        response (buzz-agent/src/lib.rs:708). A solo agent gets exactly one turn
-        per trial, so that single notification is the only record of the trial's
+        buzz-agent emits a `_goose/unstable/session/update` usage notification
+        after every provider round, and once more immediately *before* returning
+        the `session/prompt` response. A solo agent gets exactly one turn per
+        trial, so the final notification is the complete record of the trial's
         tokens — and it is written after the agent has already published `DONE:`
         as a tool call.
 
@@ -1039,10 +1053,12 @@ async def _settle_usage(
         `DONE:` reaches the channel from inside a tool call, so the turn may
         still owe one model round-trip before it ends and reports, and for a
         thinking model that is tens of seconds, not milliseconds.
-        Waiting is pointless on the timeout path — a turn that never completed
-        has no usage to flush — so callers only invoke this once `DONE:` is seen.
-        A miss is not fatal; the accounting note already reports an unpriced
-        trial, and losing the tokens is better than hanging the sweep.
+        Called on the timeout path too, not just after `DONE:`. An interrupted
+        turn has still reported every round it finished, and under
+        `continue_until_timeout` the interrupted turn is the normal case, not
+        the exception. A miss is not fatal; the accounting note already reports
+        an unpriced trial, and losing the tokens is better than hanging the
+        sweep.
         """
         deadline = asyncio.get_running_loop().time() + self.usage_settle_seconds
         pending = {agent.credential.agent_id: agent for agent in agents}
diff --git a/benchmarks/harbor-buzz-orchestra/tests/test_container_runtime.py b/benchmarks/harbor-buzz-orchestra/tests/test_container_runtime.py
index b7a42c542b..1f1b0717d3 100644
--- a/benchmarks/harbor-buzz-orchestra/tests/test_container_runtime.py
+++ b/benchmarks/harbor-buzz-orchestra/tests/test_container_runtime.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 """The container runtime must launch the production stack, unmodified."""
 
+import asyncio
 import hashlib
 import json
 import re
@@ -783,6 +784,62 @@ async def done(*args, **kwargs):
     assert "kill" in order
 
 
+async def test_usage_is_settled_when_the_trial_times_out(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """The timeout path has to settle too, and it is the path that matters most.
+
+    It used to fall straight through to the kill, on the reasoning that a turn
+    which never completed had nothing to flush. buzz-agent now reports after
+    every provider round, so an interrupted turn HAS reported — and under
+    `continue_until_timeout` every phase but the last ends here. Skipping the
+    settle on this path is what left 97% of one measured run's receipt rows at
+    all zeros while the provider billed it in full.
+    """
+    manifest = write_manifest(tmp_path)
+    trial = trial_handle((credential("orch-1", "orchestrator", "orch-model", "lead"),))
+    rt = runtime(tmp_path, poll_seconds=0, usage_settle_seconds=5)
+    order = []
+
+    class TimingOutEnvironment(Environment):
+        async def exec(self, command, env=None, **kwargs):
+            if "buzz-acp" in command:
+                return ExecResult(stdout="99\n", stderr="", return_code=0)
+            if command.startswith("cat "):
+                order.append("usage")
+                return ExecResult(
+                    stdout="goose usage update input=1 output=2\n",
+                    stderr="",
+                    return_code=0,
+                )
+            if "/proc/[0-9]*" in command:
+                order.append("kill")
+            return ExecResult(stdout="", stderr="", return_code=0)
+
+    async def never_done(*args, **kwargs):
+        await asyncio.sleep(3600)
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(rt, "_install_stack", lambda env: _noop())
+    monkeypatch.setattr(rt, "_wait_for_agents_ready", lambda *a, **k: _noop())
+    monkeypatch.setattr(rt, "_wait_for_done", never_done)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(rt, "_buzz_json", lambda *a, **k: _value([]))
+    # TrialBudget is frozen, so swap in a zero-budget copy rather than mutating.
+    budget = manifest.trial_budget.model_copy(update={"timeout_seconds": 0})
+    manifest = manifest.model_copy(update={"trial_budget": budget})
+
+    with pytest.raises(asyncio.TimeoutError):
+        await rt.run(
+            instruction="do the thing",
+            environment=TimingOutEnvironment(),
+            manifest=manifest,
+            trial=trial,
+        )
+
+    assert "usage" in order, "the timeout path never settled usage"
+    assert order.index("usage") < order.index("kill"), (
+        "usage was settled after teardown killed the agent, which is the same "
+        "as not settling at all"
+    )
+
+
 async def test_wait_for_agents_ready_requires_every_channel_subscription(tmp_path):
     rt = runtime(tmp_path, poll_seconds=0)
     logs = {"orch-1": "", "worker-1": ""}