Earning Avios for paying your council tax and other utilities
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
Your council tax bill for 2017/8 will be dropping through your letterbox in the next few days. Earning Avios or other points by paying your day-to-day bills is something that a lot of people ignore.
Unfortunately, because of the huge range of utility companies, it is difficult to write a detailed post on paying utility bills by credit card. I have been doing this for years, though, when I can.
There are a couple of things always worth remembering:
Some utility companies keep quiet about their willingness to take credit cards. Thames Water bills do not mention that they accept Visa or Mastercard credit cards. They presumably want to avoid paying the processing cost if they can. Yet, head over to the Thames Water website and you’ll see that Visa and Mastercard credit cards are accepted – with NO surcharge.
Some companies do add a surcharge for paying with a credit card. You need to do the maths to see if it is worthwhile. When we had Sky for our broadband, there was a 50p credit card surcharge. Depending on what card you pay with, these small surcharges may be worthwhile.
Most interesting, though, is this one: It seems, very occasionally, that some companies who do NOT take credit cards do let the odd one slip through. My local authority is Kensington & Chelsea. They are adamant that only debit cards are accepted for online payment – the website says:
“we accept British-issued debit cards for Mastercard and Visa and Switch, Solo, Visa Electron, Delta and Maestro Debit cards”
However, for the last five years, I successfully used my bmi Mastercard (RIP) or my Marriott MasterCard to pay my bill. This is very attractive for me as there is no surcharge at all.
It doesn’t work with all cards. I once tried using a Tesco Mastercard and the system recognised, correctly, that it was a credit card and not a debit card. I have no idea why some cards work – presumably there is a database somewhere that tells the payment system which cards are credit cards, and some must have been missed off.
It is all very odd, when you think about it. Because of the cut taken by the card processor, my council presumably receives less money than it is expecting. I am credited with having paid the full amount, however, and the council clearly never bothers to try to reconcile the difference.
If you have any interesting stories about settling utility bills on points-earning plastic, please post them below.
PS. There is an interesting loophole in using PayPoint to pay bills. Most Co-Op stores have a PayPoint terminal which you can use to settle council tax or other bills. For some odd reason, the Co-Op has never clamped down on the use of credit cards with PayPoint. Reportedly (I’ve never tried it myself) you can use this facility with an Amex or other credit card and the staff are unlikely to stop you. Depending on your council or the utility involved, you may need to request a PayPoint payment card first which can be scanned in.
PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Run your own business?
We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.
Capital on Tap Visa
NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review
Capital on Tap Pro Visa
10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review
There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:
British Airways American Express Accelerating Business
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.
American Express Business Platinum
50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
Polly 
Roger 
the real harry1 
Aspirational Flyer 
Mark 
mark2 
filipino_chino 
Genghis 
xcalx 
Boi 
Tilly71 
Comments (149)