Here mostly you pay at Banks (electricity), at Gas or Phone company, or at admin office.  I only have to pay at home (and I do not do) if I am behind.  There is no such thing as paying on line.
I even tried to set with Bank of China to pay smae amount recurrent bills directly to supplier every month, and they do not do it.

In some of the larger cities, utility bills can be automatically deducted from one's bank account as is the case at home.  Many Chinese wrankle, however, at giving unfettered access to their bank account and as a result, still pay their bills over-the-counter so to speak.

Your gas and water usage will be checked.  It's the same at home or it was the last time that I was there.  You can purchase many, many things online, even to a higher level than at home, but I am not aware that utility charges can be paid online.  Not yet, anyway.

Actually, to the poster above, I also do business with the Bank of China and my utility are directly debited to my account every month by the utility company.  The debit goes through on the 28th day of each month so in my case, I am sorry, but yes, they do direct debit bills.  And then I can check my account online.

The above posters are INcorrect! It may depend on which city you're in, or which company you've gone through (not sure if it makes a difference, TBH), but Alipay has an option for online payments for gas, mobile phone, and other bills.

It's all in Chinese, which I can't read, so I can't help you there... all I remember (as my admin assistant showed me) is that it's down on the bottom right of the page.

So, get a local to go there, and they can show you (and tell you to remember to do it yourself, so then you can forget, and ask them again later... )

i pay almost everything online,anything i want to buy i pay online, and anything i need to pay---like the gas bill, electric bill,internet( telephone) bill,mobil phone bill , i pay all online or just insert some bank card and pay in ATM.
if pay by hands, probably when i am in supermarket and when i am enjoying to wait in the queue,but mostly i pay online, and ask worker to deliver to my home.
i guess it all depends. if you have some online bank services and you are familiar with taobao，ebay,chinese alibaba and english alibaba , amazon... ，and if you know how to use zhifubao or paypal or other paying tools ，then everything is easy.
but i am chinese and living in china,so maybe it is easlier for local to pay online, and harder for foreigners to pay online.

Great post, Emily and really very helpful and politely written.  Thank you.