Monitoring Daily Gas Consumption

TonyS:

Thanks for your comment, but I guess I didn't get what I want to do across.

I would like to go to work in the morning and read the gas meter, just as the gas company does from the street or wherever they do read it.

Of course, reading the dials is always possible, but that requires a site visit which is time consuming.

The gas company has a wireless connection now, it used to be over the phone lines.

I would think there is a monitor available on the market. I want to log gas consumption.

Using monthly gas bill usage is not sufficient nor timely.

I have no desire to tamper with the reading, just know what it is. They have histories and know what previous consumption has been so I would think any significant changes would cause a flag - at least they have called me when I have suddenly started heating a property when it was previously unheated.

I may have to resort to calling them, but getting anybody other than someone to take a payment means a half-day, a full-day, or is sometimes impossible.

Our local electric utility (PPL), and, iiuc, many other local electric utilities now give their customers the means to check their daily electric usage over the Internet.

I suspect some gas companies are or are considering doing the same thing. Does your local gas utility have a web site? Try looking there, see what you can find. Or even an email address so you can contact them without spending half a day on the phone.

(I assume "Where no man should ever live" is in the US ;-) Even, if not, utilities may be doing the same thing wherever you live.

If you'd looked at the links you will find they all include data transfer of some kind.

Didn't John Galt get killed in the recent GFC?

I know a little about John Galt, and it fits Minneapolis attitude toward its citizens well I think, but what does GFC mean?

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I had the idea of a mobile app that would snap and parse a picture of a meter then text or email it to someone periodically or on demand. It's still half-done - I got hung up on the OCR.

You could "just" set up a web cam and read the meter yourself online. Got an old laptop laying around?

Using a web cam is a good thought, and I should learn how to set up a laptop/web cam to do this.

Easier would be the gas company publishing use, but looking at some meters I cannot see anything that looks electronic - like something that would transfer data electronically. Some meters on some properties are different than others.

While they really do provide service very well, it is hard to tell what utilities are up to sometimes.