Utilities continue to find success in eliminating or reducing credit card fees

By Noah Solomon, Research Manager –

Credit cards are among of the most convenient payment options available to consumers, offering the ability to pay now and settle up later while gaining cash back or other benefits.

Additionally, credit cards can offer some relief in times of financial difficulty, as seen during the COVID-19 crisis. As a result, consumers enjoy paying by credit card where possible, but with one significant caveat – they do not like paying a fee for the privilege.

One of the most significant pain points utilities deal with in payment is convenience fees for credit card payments, the complaints manifesting in both the call center and digital forms. To address this, many utilities have pursued or continue to work toward reducing or removing the fee for paying with credit cards and the number of utilities successfully doing so has increased steadily year-over-year.

Other utilities who have not yet embarked on the journey to remove fees permanently suspended them during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic impacts to aid affected customers.

Chartwell’s recently published report on credit card fees covers the perspective of utilities and customers alike on this topic, sharing benchmarks and trends for the reduction and removal of fees and consumer preferences and interest in the payment method.

The report also provides case studies on utilities which have successfully removed the fee, either permanently or temporarily to respond to COVID-19. To learn more about reducing and/or removing credit card fees and the consumer and utility perspectives on the topic, check out the report in Chartwell’s Insights Center.