Нужно передать показания счётчика сегодня.

This is a very common Russian pattern: нужно + infinitive.

It is an impersonal construction, so Russian does not name the person who has to do the action. Literally, it is something like:

• It is necessary to submit the meter readings today.

So the sentence focuses on the obligation itself, not on who must do it.

If you want to name the person, Russian often adds it in the dative:

• Мне нужно передать показания счётчика сегодня.
  = I need to submit the meter readings today.
• Вам нужно передать показания счётчика сегодня.
  = You need to submit the meter readings today.

Передать is the perfective form, while передавать is imperfective.

Here, передать is used because the sentence is about a single completed action that needs to happen by today:

• Нужно передать... сегодня
  = the readings need to be submitted today, as a completed act.

If you used передавать, it would sound more like an ongoing process, repeated action, or a more general instruction. For example:

• Нужно передавать показания каждый месяц.
  = You need to submit the readings every month.

So in this sentence, perfective передать is the natural choice because the idea is one submission, today.

In this context, передать means something like:

• to submit
• to pass on
• to report
• to send in

With utility meters, Russians often say передать показания счётчика, which is the standard expression for submitting/reporting meter readings to the utility company or service provider.

So this is not necessarily a physical handover. It could mean reporting the readings:

• online
• by phone
• through an app
• on paper

In Russian, meter readings are usually expressed with the plural noun показания.

So:

• показание = an indication / a reading / a piece of testimony, depending on context
• показания = readings, especially in the utility-meter sense

The standard phrase is:

• показания счётчика = meter readings

Even if English might sometimes say the meter reading in the singular, Russian commonly uses the plural here.

Also, in this sentence показания is the direct object of передать.

It is accusative plural, because it is the direct object of передать:

• передать что? → показания

However, for inanimate plural nouns, the accusative often looks the same as the nominative. So the form показания is the same in both cases.

That is why you do not see any visible ending change here.

Because it means of the meter.

The phrase is:

• показания счётчика
  = the readings of the meter / the meter readings

Russian often uses the genitive after one noun to define another noun:

• номер телефона = phone number
• дверь машины = the car door
• показания счётчика = meter readings

So:

• счётчик = meter
• счётчика = of the meter

Here it is genitive singular.

By itself, счётчик means meter or counter.

In everyday life, especially in housing/utility contexts, it often refers to a utility meter, such as:

• electricity meter
• water meter
• gas meter

The exact type is usually clear from context. If Russian wants to be more specific, it can say:

• счётчик воды = water meter
• электросчётчик = electricity meter
• газовый счётчик = gas meter

So показания счётчика often simply means the meter readings, with the exact meter understood from the situation.

Сегодня means today, and here it sets the time by which the action should happen.

The sentence:

• Нужно передать показания счётчика сегодня

is perfectly natural. But Russian word order is flexible, and you can move сегодня for emphasis:

• Сегодня нужно передать показания счётчика.
  Emphasizes today.
• Нужно сегодня передать показания счётчика.
  Also natural; the time word is placed earlier.
• Показания счётчика нужно передать сегодня.
  Emphasizes meter readings as the thing that must be submitted.

The core meaning stays the same, but the focus shifts slightly.

Yes, in this sentence нужно and надо are very close in meaning.

You can say:

• Нужно передать показания счётчика сегодня.
• Надо передать показания счётчика сегодня.

Both mean roughly It’s necessary to submit the meter readings today / You need to submit the meter readings today.

A few general notes:

• надо is often a bit more conversational and common in speech
• нужно can sound slightly more neutral or formal in some contexts

But in everyday use, they are often interchangeable.

Without context, it is deliberately general.

Because the sentence is impersonal, it can be understood as:

• It is necessary to submit the meter readings today
• You need to submit the meter readings today
• We need to submit the meter readings today
• sometimes even I need to submit the meter readings today, if the speaker is clearly talking about their own situation

Russian often leaves the responsible person unstated when it is obvious from context.

If you want to make it explicit, add a dative pronoun:

• Мне нужно передать показания счётчика сегодня.
  = I need to submit the meter readings today.
• Тебе нужно передать показания счётчика сегодня.
  = You need to submit the meter readings today.

Yes, the stressed vowel here is ё:

• счётчик
• счётчика

In normal printed Russian, ё is often replaced by е, so you may see:

• счетчик
• счетчика

But the pronunciation is still with ё, not plain е.

So for learners, it is useful to remember the dictionary form with ё:

• счётчик

A rough pronunciation guide:

• показания ≈ puh-kah-ZA-nee-ya
• счётчика ≈ SHCHYOT-chi-ka

A few points:

• The stress in показания is on за: po-ka-ZA-ni-ya
• The stress in счётчика is on счёт
• The ё is always stressed
• The cluster сч is difficult for many learners; in modern pronunciation it is usually close to щ

So счётчика sounds approximately like shchyotchika.

Sometimes, yes, but передать показания is the standard collocation.

Possible alternatives include:

• сообщить показания = report the readings
• отправить показания = send the readings
• внести показания = enter the readings, often into a form or app

But if you are talking generally about utility-meter readings, передать показания is one of the most common and natural ways to say it.

So for a learner, this is a very useful fixed phrase to memorize:

• передать показания счётчика = to submit/report meter readings