Savage Worlds (and all RPGs) advice on balancing encounters

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Since some people wonder about encounter balancing in Savage Worlds, as I do, I’ve devised a method to determine the strength of a creature.
When you advance a character, you get to buy an Attribute, an Edge or two Skill points (roughly). So you basically get two points, the same type you used at character creation to buy Skills or you get from taking Hindrances. You can use them to calculate the total value of all stats of a creature. Let’s call them “Creation Points” (CP).
So, a novice character has 10 Attribute points (including the first d4), each costing 2 CP for 20 CP in Attributes, 12 Skill points (or 15 in a modern setting) that is equal to 12–15 CP, plus 2 points for the race (since race points equal CPs). Edges cost 2 CP, while Hindrances give 1 or 2 CP, but they balance out at creation. So a Novice character is worth 34-37 CP, a Seasoned character is 40-43 (3 advances that give 2 CP each), a Veteran 48-51 (4 advance), and so.
You can calculate a monster’s CP in the same way. Here the problem is special abilities that must be given a cost. For that, however, one can look at existing edges and racial abilities, and evaluate them accordingly. Many special abilities can be split up in sub-abilities that can easily be compared. For example, undead would cost somewhere between 8 and 12 (not counting aging, since it has no immediate game effect). Something like Invulnerability or Ethereal or Swat must be judged, as well as different Pace values. For animal intelligence, I divide its cost by half.
Then, adjust the total CPs for Extras dividing it by the relative strength to a Wild Card. Many people state that a WC will roughly be confronted by two Extras, so you would divede Extras CP by 2, however, I think that divide by three is probably better.
Now you can calculate the CP value of monsters in the manual. For example, the alligator has a CP cost of 41 (to be divided by 3 for being an Extra), the bear 54 (to be divided by 3), while the mighty dragon is 122 CPs.
That said, balance in all RPGs is a delicate question, because balance depends not only on the strength of a creature, but also on the situation, the location and relative abilities of the contenders. Also, in SW as in all RPGs, luck is a factor that cannot be accounted for.
So, in all RPGs, I find balance is something of a non-issue. In addition, I find balanced encounters unrealistic and forced, something that will remove challenge and fun from the game.
My advice for managing encounters is to first focus on why you feel the need to balance them. Okay, easy encounters are boring. But they can be complicated on the fly. Hard encounters can kill characters, right?
But, they can surely happen. Wouldn’t it be silly if all encounters are magically of the same level of the PCs? In the same town, one year the guards are of 2nd level, the year after they are all of 8th?
So what can we do when PCs encounter some peril (not strictly combat)?
First, give the PCs the chance to approach the encounter and prepare. Do not have them stumble on adversaries and roll initiative. Give them the chance to hear and see signs of the approaching encounter. Then, when they see the adversaries from a distance, give them the opportunity to assess the opponent’s abilities. Give them the opportunity to roll Battle, Survival or whatever and even on a single success give them a good idea of the capacity of the enemies (more or less precise gauge of Fighting, Toughness, Powers, or even the CP value). So that, if the encounter is over their capacity, they can choose to avoid it, or think about a better plan (and if they choose to attack anyway, well, that's their choice).
Second, always keep an escape route open for your PCs (but also for your main villains). In “real” encounters, an animal, for example, would never fight to the death, and will always have some different objective for a fight than killing its opponents. Perhaps they fight for their lairs or their offspring, and if they’re fighting to feed but get hurt, they might decide to leave and look for less hazardous prey. Villains can also have more interesting plans for the PCs than simply killing them. Give your losing PCs the opportunity to surrender, offer it to them if they don't come up with the idea themselves.
So, my combats very rarely end with the death of one side. The losing PCs' side can be trapped, jailed, left on a small island without food, and so on. I prefer to turn a lost combat into a new challenge rather than a TPK with new characters appearing in the next session, and the game goes ahead as if nothing had happened. But obviously, this greatly depends on the preference of the players.
Also, I keep a door open for my main villain. If he was not supposed to die in an encounter but the dice say otherwise, I’ll never hide this from my players, as cheating always betrays their trust. Simply I’ll admit it “guys, you’re too good, you beat him!” and then give them some kind of reward, Bennies or something more permanent, maybe some help in their adventure, and then improvise some way to save him with some special effect or so.
This also comes in handy in the big end fight with the main villain (because, well, they are good and sometimes it happens): if the PCs manage to kill him with their first blow, but you imagined a more epic fight, admit it, give your PCs a good prize, and then have him resurrect, turn the hit into a scratch or something similar. I find this more enjoyable.