I highly doubt you would have to pay anything if you cancel your service. I’ve never heard of anything like that around here, but rules can vary from place to place. You could find out with a call to the gas company though.

Soulseek has had my back so many times when I need to find a really obscure track that can’t be found anywhere else.

If you want to get non-techy users, then there is absolutely no need to even use the word fediverse or to try to explain what any of this means. If you want to help a friend get onboard, just send them a link to sign up on the same server that you use, or a nice general purpose server. That’s it. They sign up, they use it, and THEN they can start to learn about fediverse shit if they care to.