On Saturday, 28 January 2017 12:49:24 UTC, wrote:
I don't want to go the expense of having the meters sunk into the wall,
but can I use cabinets that are shallower than the ubiquitous bog-standard
ones?

No, because any slimlime meters now could be replaced by thicker ones later. They're usually not much if any thicker than the service fuse anyway.

For gas they're unlikely to get any slimmer anyway due to physical characteristics the measuring device.

Owain