Forward Management and Confusion Over Early Rent + New Flat Electricity Fee

We received a letter from Forward Management stating that we owed $75.00, and if the bill is not paid by July 5, 2014 that we would owe an additional $50 late fee. However, since our rent is auto-paid through the bank (every month, 3 weeks before it is due to prevent late fee issues such as this), I knew that this was not actually possible. A phone call to the receptionist revealed that we did indeed owe $25 (a mid-lease rent hike to include a flat electric bill), not $75 for our new electric fee and that the landlord does not (cannot?) charge a $50 late fee for utility bills.

So, the $75 the letter says we owe would be $25 for electric plus a $50 late fee although the receptionist said we only owed $25. Since I've been paying rent about one month in advance, this didn't mesh well with the changeover to a flat rate for the electric bill, which lead to this confusion. But I sent Forward Management a $25 check, and everything was sorted out without any ridiculous late fees for a missing $25.