Doctor of Credit reported a few days ago on an interesting new option to pay your utility bill with a credit card without a fee: Arcadia. This could be a great way to help meet minimum spend or just generate points that definitely beats paying the 2.5% fee charged by providers like Plastiq.
Brief overview
Arcadia works similarly to Plastiq in the sense that you pay Arcadia with a credit card and Arcadia pays your utility company with a check, though according to the comments at Doctor of Credit, you must give Arcadia the login information for your utility company so they can see the bill and charge you accordingly. It appears that while Arcadia is widely available, it isn’t quite available everywhere (for example, I wasn’t able to set up my utilities with Arcadia). Still, for those who can take advantage of a no-fee option to pay a bill that couldn’t otherwise be paid by credit card, this looks like a great option.
Two plans: One free, one paid
Arcadia’s focus is in encouraging cleaner sources of energy. With that aim, they offer two plans: one is free and Arcadia pays to offset 50% of your power consumption by investing in wind power (you just pay your bill with a credit card and they convey the payment to your utility company and also invest in renewable energy to cover half your consumption). The other plan involves some cost to you and they offset 100% of your consumption with an investment in wind power.
Signup bonus
Arcadia is offering a $5 signup bonus when signing up via referral. However, thanks to Ted in the Frequent Miler Inisders Group, we’ve found that they also have a Facebook ad offering $20 for signing up by March 31st. Here is a link to the $20 signup offer. Ted reports that he originally signed up with a referral link and then emailed Arcadia afterwards asking to be matched to the $20 offer and they matched him, adding an additional $15 to his account. Read more about that and leave your referral link as a reply to my comment on his post. To find that post, go to our Frequent Miler Insiders group and type “Arcadia” in the search box or scroll until you find it.
Bottom line
For a slightly more detailed look at Arcadia, see this post at Doctor of Credit. As noted above, this one is not available in my area, so I haven’t yet tested it. Keep in mind that you’ll still want to keep an eye on your utility bill after paying Arcadia to be sure that the funds get paid as expected.
H/T: Doctor of Credit
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This is one of those things that locks you into a kWh plan it seems like, not so much as a way to pay your bill simply like Plastiq
[…] Update 3/17/18: There’s currently a $20 signup bonus via a Facebook ad, valid through March 31, instead of the typical $5 or $10 bonus mentioned below. (HT: FM) […]
I was able to sign up very easily. I enrolled in bill pay and it says there is no fee. I live in Los Angeles County and Southern California Edison is my energy provider. SCE doesn’t take credit cards so I am hoping this works out. I just received an email saying that they will be in touch once my membership has been activated.
Does ” clean energy ” the fee free ? I only see this option in my area.
It was available in my area (Ohio Edison) for both the free and paid plans. The paid plan was 1.5 cents per kWh, they estimated about $10/month. The interesting thing is that my utility company already takes credit cards without a fee (as long as you set it up for auto-pay and paperless billing) – the only upside here for me seems to be the price monitoring and investment in renewable sources.
Important to note: Arcadia only takes Visa/MC, and payments go through Stripe – so probably no bonus categories with these guys. My utility company won’t take Amex either, so no loss there.
Looking for data points to see Arcadia counts as “utility” since I was planning on using the USB cash+ when utilities becomes a bonus category.
I don’t see where you can sign up for the free option. I’m only seeing the ability to signup for Evergreen monthly premium (or is that the free option?). Does that mean it’s not available in my area? Anyone in the Pittsburgh area using this?
That’s what I think. It only shows that option where I live as well.
I live in the Pittsburgh area and I have the same problem!