Credit question about paying utility bill

[u/loftrain16]

I use ConEdison for my electric in case it matters. I'm set up for auto-pay and I click on pay bill I get a message reading "Your bill payment is deducted automatically every month. You could be charged twice if you submit a new payment."

My bill says it is due the day that it is issued, which was on 8/29. It says it will pull the autopayment on 9/15, 7 days before I'd reportedly be charged a late fee.

Would it be better for my credit to pay it the day it's supposedly due? Could I really be charged again if the balance is at 0?

[u/BrutalBodyShots]

Utility bills do not appear on your credit report, so how you pay them does not impact your credit profile and scores. If you fail to pay your ConEd bill for months on end and it ends up going to collections, that could land on your credit reports and impact your profile and scores.

With all bills in general, keep it simple. Pay the statement balance by the due date monthly. Whether you do that manually or through auto pay really makes no difference, although auto pay is convenient and helps aid against missing payments. No bill is due the day that it is issued, BTW. Your statement period ends and your statement is generated. At that time you're given a due date which cannot be on that same day; no one expects a payment the day a bill is cut.

[u/porgstink]

That double charge warning sounds annoying but understandable

Wait, Do you usually check your bills carefully to avoid those errors?

[u/soonersoldier33]

Generally, utility bills like gas, electric, cell phone, etc., are not reported to the Big 3 Credit Reporting Agencies, so these types of bills are usually not included on your credit reports, and even if they are being reported, they're not a scoring factor in the most commonly used FICO scoring models today. In other words, how you pay your electric bill currently has no bearing on your credit profile/scores one way or the other, unless you're extremely late and your bill is eventually sent to a collection agency.

All bills of this nature are designed to be paid the same way. You'll get a statement that shows the amount you owe, called your statement balance, and your payment due date. As long as you pay the statement balance on or before the due date, you've paid the account as agreed, and there's no difference in paying it 'early' or just paying it 'on time'. It's paying it late that will cause problems. So, set up autopay or just pay manually, whatever works for you, as long as you pay the bill on or before the due date.