The present invention includes an automatic commodity or services billing
and metering system that when installed does not damage any existing
meters or gauges, will fit virtually all known meters and gauges, and has
incorporated into the system programmable reading ability to allow
reading and accumulation of data by unit, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly
or any other form of counting required by the customer. The meters are
read by various means, one method is by counting and or sensing radiation
increases and decreases of radiation emitting from a meter hand or gauge
passing a sensor to generate a count. The read data is then sent via the
Internet through the telephone line, by satellite, or by cellular phone
connection to an offsite central billing and payment processing center
where the rate payer and the utility or customer will have various forms
of programmable access to its consumption data.