Abstract: A device for allowing the remote-reading of a utility meter having circular dials. The device includes an array of phototransistors for each circular dial of the utility meter. The face of the dial is illuminated selectively, when the reading of the dial is desired, by a light-emitting-diode at the center of the array of phototransistors. The phototransistor which is shaded by the pointer of the dial, which transistor indicates the highest value of the reading for thoses transistors shaded by the pointer, developes a signal indicative of that reading, which is outputted to a logic circuit for the development of the signal into a usable form for generating the value at a remote display device mounted on the outside of the building. Alternatively, the output from the logic circuit may be sent over a telephone transmission line to a remote computer-center for storage and retrieval, for billing customers.