Meter cabinet == utility closet? Here in southern Ontario, Canada, we don't have them. The electricity comes in at one corner of the basement, the cable TV comes in at another spot, the telephone in a third, and the water comes up from a pipe through the basement floor somewhere else again. Construction techniques vary, depending on soil conditions (some water soaked areas or rocky areas have no basements), and building codes are different from province to province too. Even apartments don't have a single utility closet; different services enter the apartment in different locations.