Yeah, in Buffalo water pipes have to be at least 4 feet deep so they don't freeze, and meters can freeze and crack too inside a house with no heat. In houses with a crawlspace instead of a basement they put the water meter inside the house, and you have to use heat tape on the pipe below the floor to keep it from freezing if the crawlspace is drafty. Our gas meters used to be in the basement but a few years ago they moved them outside because I guess people don't answer the door any more for meter readers. Gas pipes don't freeze, so they are near the surface. They installed my gas meter sticking out into the driveway where my wife would run over it for sure, so after they left I dug it up and moved it over about 18 inches, under the edge of the porch (they use flexible plastic gas pipe now so I didn't have to disconnect it).No they never have pretty sure they want to install smart meter so they can check it outside. Not exactly sure they sent us a letter saying they want to schedule to come and install new meter and they asked where it's located inside or out. Our gas meter is inside too they came in last year installed smart meter but that's on the opposite side of basement i just setup divider so you couldn't see anything. I assumed that stuff is inside here cause of our winters and the frost line
