AI · Product · 2026
Water Meter Reading
An app to avoid inflated water bills from estimated readings, and to have proof when you complain.
CONTEXT
At home, the water company comes to read the meter every two months. If we’re not there, they leave a paper note. Then we have a few days to write down the reading and send it ourselves.
THE PROBLEM
That’s where the problems started. If we forgot, or if we were on holiday, the company billed us by estimate and only charged us the maintenance fee. After two or three missed notes in a row, we had paid like this for half a year. When a real reading finally arrived, the bill suddenly went up a lot.
When I went to complain, I didn’t even understand what an “estimated reading” was. And I couldn’t prove anything: the note was lost and I had never taken a photo of it.
We needed two things: to stop paying inflated bills because of estimated readings, and to have proof so we could complain.
Beta phase
THE SOLUTION
That’s why I created Water Meter Reading. My wife or I take a photo of the meter, write down the number, and the reading goes out by email from our own Gmail. We both get a copy, and the app records when the company confirms it.
It doesn’t matter who sends it. The email goes out from the account of the person who takes the reading, so the proof stays in their sent folder, with the date, number and photo. Each home can have several people in charge, and anyone can start with a link and create their own.
HOW I BUILT IT
I built it with Claude on Google Apps Script, with Gmail to send the emails. The key decision was to send the email from each person’s Gmail, not from a server. If we ever need to complain, the evidence is ours.
Claude
Google Apps Script
Gmail