Hi ddnn,
We would be happy to help you with this kind of project. The best place to start is by looking at the meter RS485 protocol documentation at the bottom of this page:
http://www.ekmmetering.com/developer-portal/
I would get your meter setup to be read with your computer and the EKM Dash software, then using this and the EKM Dash Hex Inspector, you can learn how we read and parse the data from the RS485.
There are quite a few projects and some shared code here in the forum, mostly here:
http://forum.ekmmetering.com/viewforum.php?f=4
I would say that the trickiest part of the whole thing will be to sort out how we calculate the CRC16. Make sure you have your project setup to use the proper serial settings: 9600 baud, 7 data bits, even parity, 1 stop bit, no flow control.
Let me know if you would like a hand with anything. Good luck!