A meter monitoring system (200) includes: a wireless gateway (202), a monitoring device (201), and at least one meter recognition apparatus (100). The meter recognition apparatus (100) includes: an image acquirer (1), a processor (2), and a wireless transceiver (3). The image acquirer (1) is configured to acquire images of a display side of a monitoring meter (4) at set time intervals. The processor (2) is coupled to the image acquirer (1) and configured to determine, according to an image of the images acquired by the image acquirer (1) and based on an image processing algorithm, monitoring data displayed by the monitoring meter (4). The wireless transceiver (3) is coupled to the processor (2) and configured to send the monitoring data determined by the processor (2) to the wireless gateway (202). The wireless gateway (202) is configured to transmit the received monitoring data to the monitoring device (201).