Utilities are a bane of modern existence. You cannot live with the payments, and you cannot live without the utilities. Well, you could, but living by candlelight or battery-operated light is tough, and all forms of entertainment short of books would be useless. Plus, no heat, no air conditioning, and no running water leaves you in an uncomfortable and potentially unhealthy situation. If you find that you are frequently missing a utility payment or you are late, the following reasons are often why. There is a reasonable solution that can help, too.

Payments Going out on the Due Date

In your mind, you are thinking that sending your payment via snail mail on the due date means that you paid the bill on time. Not so; in fact this is a very common mistake. The payment is due into the utility provider on this date. The due date is not a "mail by" date. It is a "have the payment in our office on this date" date. Repeatedly sending your payments by mail on the due dates consistently results in late payments because mailed payments are not instantaneous and will not be credited to your account until 3-5 business days later. 

Forgetting to Make Payments Entirely

Busy lives create problems for single people because they forget to budget ahead and/or are just so busy that they do not take the time to go over their bills and pay them. When married couples forget to make payments, it is because one person in the pair is supposed to do it, and does not. One person only should be tasked with paying the bills while the other person provides input and gives access to the financial accounts. The person taking responsibility for household finances who frequently forgets puts both him/herself and his/her partner in financial jeopardy because it affects both of their credit scores and records. Better organization and communication can help, but you need something better than that.

Being Unaware of Alternative Payment Methods

Most people assume that you have to mail payments for your utilities. Actually, in this day and age, you can pay ALL of your utility bills online. You can also pay them at payment centers, such as a bank or grocery store. You can use money orders, checks, debit cards, and credit cards to make payments on time, too.

The Ultimate Solution to All of the Above

Of course, if you want to avoid all of the above problems and reasons for late utility payments, you could just set up a special account like an Utilities Merchant account. These accounts are created for the sole purpose of paying your utilities without you having to remember who and when you have to pay. All you do is transfer money into the account every payday, and the company pays your utility bills for you.