LEED Interpretation 5253

I'm working on an appeal and the reviewer is asking me why our baseline heating went up significantly between the initial submission and our review response model. There are several reasons, many of them should be obvious to the reviewers since they were actions they required we do. That said they referenced one interpretation in their initial review comments. In that interpretation it says that in heating load driven residential units there is an energy offset penalty of approximately 40% for reductions to the residential lighting loads. So, for 4 of every 10 Watts saved by reduced lighting loads, it must be made up for increased heating energy and that the offset must be accounted for in the model. Well this explains why my baseline heating load jumped since the lighting load went down fairly significantly when we altered the baseline to match the proposed. My question is: when they say the model must account for the offset does that mean I am supposed to see an increase or are they saying I have to reduce my heating load in the baseline due to this. If I lower the coil size of the system serving these apartments by approximately 40% then my unmet hours will skyrocket. I guess I am just confused by what exactly they mean by the offset must be shown in the model because if that's the case, it makes me wonder why the reviewer denied my model when they expect the heating load to increase.