The invention discloses an RS-485 communication technology based meter reading system for rural customers. The RS-485 communication technology based meter reading system comprises a host, a network concentrator and a collector, wherein the host, the network concentrator and the collector are connected with a transformer, a main meter and energy meters in series through power lines, a communication channel between the host and the main meter adopts an RS-485 bus, and a communication channel between the collector and each energy meter also adopts the RS-485 bus. The RS-485 communication technology based meter reading system adopts the low-voltage power lines as transmission media and has the technical advantages of rich line resources, high transmission rate, low network construction cost and the like, the conventional distribution network lines are used sufficiently, wiring is not needed, network construction investment can be saved to a greater extent, and broadband networking of user terminals can be realized at a low cost.