The monthly meter walk is the heart of the caretaker role: you key what each meter says and snap its face, and the landlord reviews and bills from your readings. Here is the whole routine.

Opening the sheet

1. Open Bills & meters in your menu. It has two tabs: Meter readings, which is this sheet, and Tenant bills, where you send on a bill you've been handed (see Adding a tenant's bill).
2. If you serve several buildings, pick the property. Every building you're assigned to is listed, whether or not the landlord has set a price for its water or electricity yet.
3. Choose the utility: 💧 Water (read in m³) or ⚡ Electricity (read in kWh).
4. Pick the month. You can enter the current month or catch up a past one, never a future month.

You get one row per occupied unit. Empty units need no readings; there is nobody to bill.

Entering a reading

Each row shows the unit and its last recorded reading, so you can sanity-check as you walk.

1. In Meter reads, type the number exactly as the meter shows it.
2. First time for this meter? The row says "First reading for this meter — enter the opening value too": fill in Opening reading with where the meter started, so the first month's usage is fair.
3. Tap 📷 Photo of the meter and take a clear photo of the meter face. The photo is required: it is the tenant's proof the number is real, and the landlord cannot bill a reading without one. A reading saved with no photo just sits there as a draft nobody can use, so treat the photo as part of the reading.
4. Tap Save reading.

If the landlord hasn't set a price yet

The sheet tells you so: the landlord sets the price. Record the reading anyway. It is saved like any other and gets its price the moment the landlord saves one, so your walk never has to wait for them. You never see the price either way.

If the meter was replaced or rolled over

Tick "Meter was replaced / rolled over" and write a short note about what happened. This tells the system the new number is a fresh start, not an error; otherwise a reading lower than last month's is refused.

Saved vs Sent to landlord

Every reading carries a badge:

• Saved: a draft. You can still tap Update reading to correct it, replace the photo, or Discard it entirely.
• Sent to landlord: the landlord has billed it. From this point it is a financial record: you cannot change or discard it. You can still open the meter photo from the row.

You can only discard your own drafts, never anything already billed.

What happens next

The landlord (or agency) opens their own Bills & meters page, sees each reading with your name against it, entered by you, checks the photo, and adds the charges to the rent bills at their price. A reading still waiting for a price stays out of the bills until they save one. You never see the prices or the amounts; that is the landlord's side of the fence, by design. Tenants see the meter photo too, so everyone trusts the number.

On the phone app: the Readings tab is the same sheet, built for walking the building: pick the property, utility and month, key each unit, snap the photo with your camera, save. Most caretakers do the whole walk on the phone.

A good habit: read every meter on the same day each month, and take the photo straight-on so the digits are sharp. Blurry photos mean the landlord cannot bill your reading.