I think it depends, banks can have an established relationship with a utility or service that will accept bill pay as an ACH. At least with my bank, I can setu

I think it depends, banks can have an established relationship with a utility or service that will accept bill pay as an ACH. At least with my bank, I can setup a bill pay for anybody. I just need to provide a name, address and account number. If I do this for someone the bank isn't familiar with, they send a check in the mail.