The category issuers keep cutting
Utility payments used to be an easy way to put predictable monthly spend on a card. Issuers noticed. Over the past few years the trend has been one-directional: lower caps, category exclusions, and surcharge fees on utility spends above monthly thresholds.
What to check before you autopay
1. Does the card earn on utilities at all? Many cards now exclude utility MCCs from rewards entirely. The category table on each card page in our database lists the utility rate explicitly — a dash means zero.
2. The surcharge trap. Several issuers now levy ~1% surcharges on utility spends beyond a monthly threshold. Crossing it can turn a 1% reward into a net-zero or net-negative transaction.
3. App-specific accelerations. Some cards pay accelerated rates only when bills are routed through specific payment apps — same biller, different rate depending on the rail. The fine print is on the card page; do not assume.
A sane setup
- Route bills through whichever card in your wallet has an explicit, capped utility rate — and stay under the cap.
- Put the overflow on a flat-rate card rather than breaching a surcharge threshold.
- Re-check quarterly: this category changes more often than any other. Our alerts page logs verified terms changes as issuers publish them, and you can subscribe for the cards you hold.
Bottom line
Utilities are still worth routing through a card for the discipline and the float — but in 2026 the rewards are a managed scrap, not a strategy. Know your card's cap, watch the surcharge line, and let the wallet optimizer decide which card takes the bills.