@@ -186,6 +186,10 @@ describe.runIf(Boolean(redisUrl))('shared reporting usage read', () => {
     transaction.mockClear()
     summedPeriods.length = 0
     redisConfigMockFns.mockGetRedisClient.mockReturnValue(redis)
+    redisConfigMockFns.mockReleaseLock.mockImplementation(async (key: string, value: string) => {
+      if ((await redis.get(key)) !== value) return false
+      return (await redis.del(key)) === 1
+    })
     payer = { type: 'organization', id: generateId() }
     await connection`INSERT INTO usage_log (id, cost, billing_entity_type, billing_entity_id, created_at)
       VALUES (${generateId()}, 4.25, 'organization', ${payer.id}, '2026-03-01'),
@@ -390,6 +394,29 @@ describe.runIf(Boolean(redisUrl))('shared reporting usage read', () => {
     expect(await exactSum(payer, period)).toBe(9)
   })
 
+  it('refreshes a prefix discarded by a top-up once, instead of summing the window on every read', async () => {
+    const period = openReportingWindow()
+    await insertUsage(payer, 3, new Date(Date.now() - MINUTE_MS))
+    const eventKey = await startCumulativeCharge(
+      payer,
+      2,
+      new Date(period.start.getTime() + DAY_MS)
+    )
+    await expect(readInNewProcess(payer, period)).resolves.toBe(5)
+    await prefixStored(payer, period)
+    await vi.waitFor(async () => expect(await redis.exists(prefixLeaseKey(payer, period))).toBe(0))
+
+    await recordCumulativeUsage(cumulativeCharge(payer, eventKey, 6))
+    await vi.waitFor(async () => expect(await redis.exists(payerEpochKey(payer))).toBe(1))
+    await redis.del(sharedKey(payer, period))
+    await expect(readInNewProcess(payer, period)).resolves.toBe(9)
+    await redis.del(sharedKey(payer, period))
+    await expect(readInNewProcess(payer, period)).resolves.toBe(9)
+
+    expect(await exactSum(payer, period)).toBe(9)
+    expect(windowStartSums(period)).toHaveLength(2)
+  })
+
   it('leaves the prefix in place for a top-up to a row still in the tail, and reads it exactly', async () => {
     const period = openReportingWindow()
     await insertUsage(payer, 2, new Date(period.start.getTime() + DAY_MS))
 
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { db } from '@sim/db'
 import { createLogger } from '@sim/logger'
 import { getErrorMessage } from '@sim/utils/errors'
+import { generateShortId } from '@sim/utils/id'
 import { randomInt } from '@sim/utils/random'
 import type Redis from 'ioredis'
 import { LRUCache } from 'lru-cache'
@@ -18,6 +19,7 @@ import {
   getBillingPeriodUsageCost,
   type UsageQueryPeriod,
 } from '@/lib/billing/core/usage-log'
+import { releaseLock } from '@/lib/core/config/redis'
 import { withinDeadline } from '@/lib/core/utils/deadline'
 import type { DbClient } from '@/lib/db/types'
 
@@ -85,7 +87,9 @@ const PREFIX_REFRESH_AFTER_MS = 3 * 60_000
  * The refresh lease is held for as long as one ledger sum may run, so a second process starts
  * the same sum only once the first has certainly ended, and a holder that died frees it then.
  * Nothing tells a stranded lease from a live one, and nothing needs to: while it is held, every
- * other reader serves the stored prefix or, with none, sums the whole window.
+ * other reader serves the stored prefix or, with none, sums the whole window. Its holder
+ * releases it once the new prefix is stored, so a prefix discarded by an epoch bump right after
+ * is refreshed by the next read rather than leaving every reader summing the whole window.
  */
 const PREFIX_LEASE_MS = USAGE_LEDGER_STATEMENT_TIMEOUT_MS
 
@@ -259,33 +263,35 @@ async function readStoredPrefix(
 }
 
 /**
- * Whether this process took the refresh lease. It is never released: the stored prefix ends the
- * need for it, and expiry frees it for the next refresh. A lease whose `SET` failed or timed out
- * may still have landed, held by nobody, for {@link PREFIX_LEASE_MS}. Not `acquireLock`, which
+ * This process's token for the refresh lease, or `null` when it did not take it. A refresh that
+ * fails keeps the lease until expiry, as a backoff. A lease whose `SET` failed or timed out may
+ * still have landed, held by nobody, for {@link PREFIX_LEASE_MS}. Not `acquireLock`, which
  * issues on a client that is not ready and has no read deadline.
  */
-async function acquirePrefixLease(redis: Redis, key: string): Promise<boolean> {
+async function acquirePrefixLease(redis: Redis, key: string): Promise<string | null> {
+  const token = generateShortId()
   try {
     const result = await withinDeadline(
-      () => redis.set(sharedPrefixLeaseKey(key), '1', 'PX', PREFIX_LEASE_MS, 'NX'),
+      () => redis.set(sharedPrefixLeaseKey(key), token, 'PX', PREFIX_LEASE_MS, 'NX'),
       Date.now() + SHARED_READ_TIMEOUT_MS
     )
-    return result === 'OK'
+    return result === 'OK' ? token : null
   } catch (error) {
     logger.warn('Shared reporting usage prefix lease failed', {
       error: getErrorMessage(error),
     })
-    return false
+    return null
   }
 }
 
 /**
  * Fire-and-forget, and only on a ready client, like {@link writeSharedReportingUsageCost}. A
  * plain `SET` replaces the stored prefix: every prefix is a lower bound for its own cutoff, so
  * two refreshes racing can leave either one, and the tail always resumes from the cutoff stored
- * with it.
+ * with it. Once it lands, the lease is released only while it still holds `lease`, so one that
+ * expired and was taken by another process is left to that process.
  */
-function writeStoredPrefix(key: string, prefix: LedgerPrefix): void {
+function writeStoredPrefix(key: string, prefix: LedgerPrefix, lease: string): void {
   try {
     const redis = readyRedisClient()
     if (!redis) return
@@ -296,6 +302,7 @@ function writeStoredPrefix(key: string, prefix: LedgerPrefix): void {
         'PX',
         prefix.cutoff + PREFIX_CUTOFF_LAG_MS + PREFIX_RETAIN_MS - Date.now()
       )
+      .then(() => releaseLock(sharedPrefixLeaseKey(key), lease))
       .catch(warnSharedWriteFailed)
   } catch (error) {
     warnSharedWriteFailed(error)
@@ -335,10 +342,11 @@ async function resolveLedgerPrefix(
   const { epochs, prefix: stored } = state
   if (stored && cutoff - stored.cutoff < PREFIX_REFRESH_AFTER_MS) return stored
 
-  if (await acquirePrefixLease(redis, key)) {
+  const lease = await acquirePrefixLease(redis, key)
+  if (lease) {
     const cost = getBillingPeriodUsageCost(entity, { ...period, end: new Date(cutoff) }).then(
       (prefixCost) => {
-        writeStoredPrefix(key, { ...epochs, cutoff, cost: prefixCost })
+        writeStoredPrefix(key, { ...epochs, cutoff, cost: prefixCost }, lease)
         return prefixCost
       }
     )