Abstract: A remote monitoring terminal is disclosed for connection with a utility meter to encode and store the meter readings in digital form. The terminal can be interrogated to obtain the stored reading in serial form suitable for encoding and transmission over a communication line. Means are provided to prevent the stored meter reading from being lost in the event of a line-power interruption. A communication system is disclosed including a central office and a plurality of such remote monitoring terminals for addressing each of such terminals to retrieve the stored information therein to the central office.