Yes, skills that are actually used count toward token consumption.
The question is whether the number of tokens required to achieve a certain behavior/intelligence/quality is equal between you manually providing those tokens via skills versus the model "deriving" the "skills" it needs on-the-fly in order to produce the outcome you want.
The claim above is that the former requires far fewer tokens.
Also skills only consume tokens when they are used, and part of the value is that the model will dynamically find and disclose only what's needed (assuming the skill is "well-designed").
The question is whether the number of tokens required to achieve a certain behavior/intelligence/quality is equal between you manually providing those tokens via skills versus the model "deriving" the "skills" it needs on-the-fly in order to produce the outcome you want.
The claim above is that the former requires far fewer tokens.
Also skills only consume tokens when they are used, and part of the value is that the model will dynamically find and disclose only what's needed (assuming the skill is "well-designed").