Tip #8 : Implement metered billing with Google Sheet

Tip #8 : Implement metered billing with Google Sheet

Hello everyone,

We've been sharing a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which can be implemented for your subscription business. Last week, we shared a tip about integrating online form builders with Zoho Subscriptions. This week, we will be looking at how you can implement metered billing in Zoho Subscriptions with Google Sheet.

Business Scenario:
Metered Billing  is the concept of charging your customers based on their usage of a product of service. With Zoho Subscriptions, you can charge your customers for a base plan initially and then charge an additional fee based on their usage using metered billing.

Generally, when a business wants to automate the metered billing process, they should have a back-end server that handles the metered billing readings. Once the reading is recorded, the back-end server has to process the difference between the last recorded reading and the current closing reading. If the customer has exceeded the base limit, the back-end server makes an API request to Zoho Subscriptions to update the invoice and charge an additional fee.

Let's consider the following scenario to understand this better. Zylker Electro provides electricity services to residential areas. They have a meter installed in all the houses of the residential area to record the power consumption. Every month, a Zylker personnel visits the houses in the residential area to note down the meter reading. Then, the difference between last month's meter reading and the current month is calculated. If the customer has consumed more than 500 units of power, they will charge the customer an additional 12 cents per unit.

To automate the above process, Zylker has to build a back-end server that will:
  • store the meter readings;
  • calculate the power consumed for every month; and
  • charge the customers accordingly.
Instead of building a back-end server, you can automate the process using the Custom Functions in Zoho Subscriptions and Google Sheets. With the help of Google Sheets, you can note down all the metered readings every month. Later, you can use Google App Scripts to fetch the readings and update the pending invoice using the Custom Functions.

How can you do it?

You can use Google Sheets to note down the readings every month (similar to the image shown below).




Field
Description
Last Recorded Reading
The meter reading at the end of the previous month.
Closing Reading
The meter reading at the end of the current month.
Status
The field is used to specify whether the invoice for a customer has been updated in Zoho Subscriptions or not.
ID
Unique Ids that are used to map the customers between Google Sheets and Zoho Subscriptions.

Google allows us to access and edit the data in spreadsheet with the help of Google Scripts. Coming back to the scenario, every month a Zylker personnel will record the readings in the Google Sheet. With Zoho Subscriptions, you can configure a custom function to run for the invoices in the Pending status. You must configure the Custom Function in such a way that:
  1. it fetches the meter readings from Google Sheets using Google script;
  2. processes the data and adds an additional charge to the invoice, if needed (based on the consumption);
  3. updates the Status in Google Sheets as Updated; and
  4. updates the Last Recorded Reading with current month's closing reading.
Once the custom function executes successfully, the invoice will be updated with the additional charge. The value in the Status field of the Google sheet will also be updated.

Getting started with Google Apps Scripts:

 Google Apps Scripts provides you with feature-rich APIs that allow you to build you own web applications. For our scenario, we will be using the Spreadsheet APIs to fetch and edit the spreadsheet document. We will create two scripts:
  1. The first script will be used to fetch the last recorded reading and the closing reading of a customer.
  2. The second script for changing the Status field of the customer once the invoice is updated.
To create a script in Google App Scripts:
  1. Go to and click the New Script option on the top-left corner.
  2. Copy the scripts provided above and modify it to suit your needs.
  3. Once you are done, click the Publish option on the top and select the Deploy as web app option.
  4. Provide the project name.
  5. Choose Anyone, even anonymous in the Who has access to the app dropdown.
  6. Click the Deploy button.
  7. Save the Web app URL which will be displayed on the screen for future reference.
Once the Google app scripts are successfully deployed:
  1. Create a new Custom Function in Zoho Subscriptions.
  2. Choose the Module as Invoice and Predefined event as Invoice created.
  3. Copy the Custom function from this GitHub link and modify it as per your requirements.
  4. Save the Custom Function and you are good to go.
Found this useful? Try it out for your subscription business and let us know. If you have any queries, feel free to comment below. We are here to answer them.

Cheers,
Sasidaran K,
The Zoho Subscriptions Team.

    • Sticky Posts

    • Tip #4 : Refer and Earn Workflow system for your Subscription Business

      Hello everyone, We've been coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which can be implemented for your business. In continuation to the previous post, this week we will be seeing about how you can implement the Refer and Earn Workflow system to acquire more customers. Why are Referrals important? Customer Acquisition is crucial for any business to sustain itself in a constantly evolving market. It involves persuading new consumers to purchase your products. Customers

    • Tip #2 - Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date

      Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a custom function workflow every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation of this previous blog, this week we will be seeing about Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date. Business Scenario: In general, for any business, the customers make payments via online as well as offline. In case of subscription where the automatic collection of charge is enabled (aka online subscription), the customer's

    • Tip #3 : Send SMS Reminders for your Subscription Business

      Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation to the previous blog, this week we will be seeing how you can use SMS reminders for your Subscription Business. Using SMS messages for your Subscription Business: While managing your subscription business, more often than not, you need to keep your customers informed about upcoming renewals, payment reminders and cancellations. By keeping them informed in advance, you can

    • Tips And Tricks - Announcement

      Hello everyone, Every business is unique and each of them follows a specific workflow. While managing your customers' subscriptions with Zoho, you might have some needs unique to your business. Custom Functions helps you address such needs. This is a start to a series of posts, where we will be coming up with a custom function workflow every week that addresses specific business scenarios. Watch this space for further updates! Also, if you have any specific business scenario which needs to be addressed,

    • Tip #6 : Accessing external URLs from Zoho Subscriptions

      Hello everyone, We have been sharing a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which you can implement for your subscription business. Last week, we shared a tip about implementing the Approval Workflow system. This week, let's look at how you can access external URLs with the help of Custom Link. Business Scenario: Every business functions differently and has its unique requirements. At times, businesses might want to access other websites or applications by appending specific information

    • Recent Topics

    • Backorder quantity change

      New Purchase Order × Almost there, but... Quantity of items in this purchase order is greater than the quantity that can be backordered from that sales order. Why can't I change the quantity of a backorder purchase? It looks like a normal order form and I would like to use it as one because I increased the amount and added some items. 

    • How to Associate multiple contacts with deal in Sales Inbox

      Hello, I have many deals that have multiple potential customers associated with a single deal, for example an engineer and a manager. The manager is the Deal's primary contact in CRM and the Engineer is added to the deal in the "Contact Roles" Associated

    • WorkDrive and CRM not in sync

      1/ There is a CRM file upload field with WorkDrive file set as the source: 2/ Then the file is renamed in WorkDrive (outside CRM): 3/ The File in CRM is not synced after the change in WorkDrive; the file name (reference) in CRM record is not updated (here

    • "code": "500","description": "Account not exists", mail api

      I have been through all the steps and have a functioning Oath access_token etc etc... I then GET https://mail.zoho.com/api/organization And get my zoid then GET http://mail.zoho.com/api/organization/<hidden>/accounts and get the account details, which

    • RTL Support for Webforms in Zoho CRM

      Dear Zoho CRM Support Team, We are writing to request an enhancement to the webform builder functionality within Zoho CRM. Currently, to create a webform in a right-to-left (RTL) language, the entire CRM instance must be set to RTL, which can be inconvenient

    • Imported contacts succesful but contacts do not show up in Contacts

      I imported +300 contacts. I can see them in import history. When clicking on a contact in import history I see all the imported contact details for any given contact. So import seems to be successful.   However the imported contacts do not show up in the contacts tab. Not in All contacts, and not in a filtered view where they absolutely should show up. The search function also does not find any imported contact.   Help?

    • Rich Text For Notes in Zoho CRM

      Hello everyone, As you know, notes are essential for recording information and ensuring smooth communication across your records. With our latest update, you can now use Rich Text formatting to organize and structure your notes more efficiently. By using

    • Saving sent email campaign as PDF

      I'm looking to add all campaigns sent to an archive folder in sharepoint. Is there anyway to accomplish this in Zoho Flow ? I'm falling at the first hurdle ... can I automatically save a sent campaign as a PDF to a folder location ?

    • Zoho Voice lance BYOC (Bring Your Own Carrier) : intégrez votre opérateur

      Pour accompagner sa croissance, une entreprise a besoin d’une infrastructure téléphonique flexible et évolutive. Les solutions de téléphonie s’adaptent aux exigences du centre de contact, tout en intégrant aisément les opérateurs locaux de votre choix.

    • Zoho Social API for generating draft posts from a third-party app ?

      Hello everyone, I hope you are all well. I have a question regarding Zoho Social. I am developing an application that generates social media posts, and I would like to be able to incorporate a feature that allows saving these posts as drafts in Zoho Social.

    • Digest Novembre - Un résumé de ce qui s'est passé le mois dernier sur Community

      Bonjour chers utilisateurs, Avec l'arrivée du dernier mois de l'année, il est temps de résumer les activités de novembre dans la communauté Zoho France. Ce mois-ci, Zoho Webinar se dote de deux nouvelles intégrations ! La première est avec Zapier : connectez

    • How do I create an update to the Cost Price from landed costs?

      Hi fellow Zoho Inventory battlers, I am new to Zoho inventory and was completely baffled to find that the cost price of products does not update when a new purchase order is received. The cost price is just made up numbers I start with when the product

    • E-Invoicing in Belgium with Zoho Books

      Starting January 1, 2026, Belgium is introducing mandatory electronic invoices (e-invoicing) for all B2B transactions between VAT-registered businesses. This means that invoices and credits notes must be exchanged in a prescribed digital format. How E-Invoicing

    • Lead Blueprint transition in custom list view

      Hi, Is It possible to insert the Blueprint transition label in a custom Canvas list view? I am using Lead module. I see the status, but it would be great if our users could execute the Blueprint right from the list view without having to enter the detailed

    • Announcing new features in Trident for Mac (1.30.0)

      Hello everyone! We’re excited to introduce the latest updates to Trident, bringing you a more seamless, intuitive, and secure communication experience. Let’s take a quick look at what’s new. Work with PST/EML files more efficiently. You can now do more

    • Open Form in Same window as Page from embedded Report

      I have a page that has an embedded report, as shown below. When I click the + sign to add a new record, the form shows up inside the page where the report was embedded. I know that I can add a custom action to the report grid or report detail view and

    • Weekly Sales Summary

      Is it possible to generate a weekly report in Zoho Books to show -$$ amount of estimates generated -# of estimates generated by Salesperson -$$ amount of Sales Orders created -$$ amount of Invoices generated

    • Pricing Strategies: #4 Counting on Discounts

      "Is there any chance I can get a little discount on this month's service?" Maya hears this almost every time at her fitness studio. She offers monthly subscription plans for various services, including yoga, strength training, wellness sessions, and personal

    • Introducing Query Workbench in Zoho CRM

      Hello everyone! We’re excited to announce the Query Workbench, a brand-new interface designed to improve developer experience of building Queries in Zoho CRM faster, simpler, and more intuitive. In the past, constructing queries required navigating across

    • Limitation with Dynamic Email Attachment Capture

      I've discovered a flaw in how Zoho Creator handles email attachments when using the Email-to-Form feature, and I'm hoping the Zoho team can address this in a future update. The Issue According to the official documentation, capturing email attachments

    • Add Customer in Books on Creator Form Submit Params

      Hi guys, Were integrating a creator app with books however what were doing is adding a books customer on submit of creator form.  We have some parameters but some fields aren't coping, All were seeing is the contact name in books,.  Any help of the params for this would be great. below is a sample of the script... response = zoho.books.createRecord("contacts", "XXXXXXXXX", { "contact_name" : input.Name, "address" : input.Email }); 

    • Admin asked me for Backend Details when I wanted to verify my ZeptoMail Account

      Please provide the backend details where you will be adding the SMTP/API information of ZeptoMail Who knows what this means?

    • Weekly Tips: Protect Confidential Information with PGP in Zoho Mail

      We deal with confidential information almost every day, whether it is being sent out or received. Though emails sent using Zoho Mail are encrypted both during transit and at rest, attempts to access and steal your sensitive data are always a threat that

    • Suggestion : link KB with Accounts

      Hi Zoho teams.  I think it could be good to link KB articles with  : accounts in order to easily  find articles dedicated to some account specificities. I tried to use tags , but tags are free text with not easy way  to retrieve it directly from ticket or list article for one tag. Tickets : It would be a good way to measure usage of KB directly from ticket when we don't need to copy/paste KB in solution. And : Great Tool , keep going ! 

    • Drag and Drop in Creator Application

      Hi, I am in the planning phase of a new application and I would like to use 'Drag and Drop' in the user interface of my new Creator application that I am sketching out, but I don't seem to be able to find any reference that this is available to developers. In my instance I have table of entries and I would like to be able to allow users to move an entry to another table (much like you do in your own interface when creating a Pivot Table report. In addition, I would like the user to be able to re-order

    • Is there any way to integrate Zoho with Zapier?

      Is there any way to integrate Zoho with Zapier? I'd like to use it to create a workflow, sharing posts from our Wordpress website to all our channels.

    • Popular Articles Report

      From data to decisions: A deep dive into ticketing system reports Content management teams can use various metrics to assess the effectiveness of knowledge base articles, improve content quality, and ensure articles are regularly updated. Predefined article

    • Invoice Ref. Field

      Hello Team, Currently, the Invoice Ref. field is set to a Number type with a maximum limit of 9 digits. However, we often receive customer invoices that contain up to 12 digits. In some cases, the invoice reference includes not only numbers but also letters

    • 60 Days Into Zoho - Tiktok Branding Startup -7 Questions?!

      Wsp Everybody I co-own a TikTok Branding / Consulting Startup & have been using Zoho for the past 60 days - Am now looking to make our overall operations & processes more Efficient & Effective! Curious to know how others are using the platform & what's

    • Turning off the new UI

      Tried the new 'enhanced' UI and actively dislike it. Anyone know how to revert back?

    • XML format to import knowledgebase into Zoho Desk

      Hi, We just started to use Zoho Desk and want to import our knowledgebase from our old support system (Freshdesk) to Zoho Desk. Can anyone give us information about the format of xml file to import? There is no explanation on the related page.

    • Pushing Zoho People leave into Microsoft calendar: how to chose how "event" is shown (busy, free etc)

      Hi, how can I select how a "leave" event is pushed into Microsoft calendar? I want for leave "working elsewhere" to show as working elsewhere and NOT as busy.

    • Duplicate Accounts

      Hi There, I am looking for a solution, script, workflow or anything to solve an issue we have - in our customers section we have a rule that doesn't allow duplicates, however Zoho will allow customers with xxxxx and xxxxx PLC or LTD so effectivley we

    • Error with If formula

      I've got this super simple If formula, what is the reason for the error? If ( LEN(${Leads.Trial Slot Option}) == 3,'y','n') Syntax Error. Check the examples for any functions you're using to see if you formatted them correctly. Make sure your fields are

    • Announcing Multi-language Support in Zoho FSM

      Zoho FSM now speaks your language. The much-awaited multi-language support is now available in Zoho FSM. The following languages are supported in Zoho FSM: Dutch (Nederlands) English - United Kingdom English - United States French (français) French -

    • Creating multiple CRM leads from a Zoho Forms subform

      Hi all, We have a heavily used intake form that is used for new leads as a part of our intake. There is a subform that allows the lead to add additional team members, their titles and other basic info. That form submission creates a new Lead and the subform

    • Free webinar! Build smarter apps with Zoho Sign and Zoho Creator

      Hello, Bring the power of digital signatures to the apps you build in Zoho Creator! Connect Zoho Sign as a microservice and enable seamless e-signature workflows in your applications. This integration allows you to automate signing tasks using Deluge.

    • Restrict Addresses in Zoho Forms?

      In the address field, is there a way to restrict the addresses that auto populate (via Zoho Maps or Google Maps) to a specific state (I know it's possible with the country). Additionally, how often does the address in Zoho Maps get updated? Certain addresses

    • Unable to send message;Reason:553 Relaying disallowed. Invalid Domain

      i have facing the issue "Unable to send message;Reason:553 Relaying disallowed. Invalid Domain" if i verify domain evertthing i did but still face the same error.

    • ZohoMail is so close to being Perfect BUT

      Why don’t you have HILIGHTING???!! I've been trying to find a substitute for Edison Mail but I want & need hilighting (preferably in more than just yellow)! Is this even on your To Do list? I’m so disappointed. 🙄

    • Next Page