General question on accounting practices: Bills due within 48 hours?

[politicat]

Our water company is getting on my nerves. It's an affiliate provider, meaning that the community receives a single bill for the community, and requires payment (based on individual meters) with our HOA fees, and the bills are presented about 48 hours before they're due. Since I pay my dues via e-check, this means that I rarely have time to change the amount (usually the check is already in the mail) and try as I might, sometimes the payment amount is short, especially in summer when we're using a great deal of water.

The HOA also considers bills past due 15 days later, not the standard 31 that is business practice everywhere else in the world. They also have a nasty tendency to fail to record payments, so that I end up having to send them copies of the cancelled checks and then they still tend to try to bill me over and over again.

(Oh, lord if I could just move my house....)

Is this standard, or legal, or is there any redress other than notifying the City (the parent water corporation) and the Public Utilities Commission, that they're in violation?

[FILAM23]

1. Believe it is fairly standard, assuredly legal

and ours is considered past due 3 business days after the due date.
31 days is not the standard everywhere else in the business world, most
CC companies, mortgage companies and utilities are 15 days or less.