Saying it doesn't cost a lot to run a game server with 1000+ people on it is silly.
Let's strong man the argument and say his power/internet bill is not much higher than the average person, lets say 2x as expensive due to computers running 24/7 and the requirement of running a high speed internet service.
Those are not the only costs that go in to maintaining the server. They cost a lot of time to manage if don't want frequent outages. The fact that these servers are so consistent on their up time is pretty impressive.
Who is monitoring the servers to ensure there isn't a problem when the server manager wants to go out on a date with their wife, or on vacation? Either you are paying someone else to monitor it, or you are watching it yourself, which means you aren't really enjoying that date or that vacation.
Whenever hardware goes bad someone has to go out, buy the parts, fix the computer, and make sure everything is ok.
Also, the Dev's are not just keeping the server up, they are actively developing new code and watching for cheaters/RMTers. That also takes a lot of time out of your day if you do it semi-frequently.
Managing a server, even one that is relatively small like P99, isn't easy, unless you don't mind there being tons of problems and spotty coverage. If the Devs were like that, however, P99 would have died years ago.
There is a reason why Amazon Web Services is so popular. Most people prefer someone else to handle all of the headaches that go in to server management. But of course you could be paying quite a lot on AWS based on usage.
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