AFNB
A couple of points. Single position meter bases have no provision for terminating a ground wire so that is wrong. Ground wire may only terminate on a ground lug located on the neutral buss in the main service entry section of your combo panel. It is #6 (10-812) for any service capacity under 750 volts.
The neutral lug in the meter base is allowed to be used to BOND the meter base and service equipment ahead of the main switch, not ground the service. See 10-204 and 10-624. The neutral is providing BONDING ahead of the service disconnect not grounding. This allow you to use the service neutral between the meter and the main service box to have PVC between the meter and panel without also requirming a green wire to be in the PVC raceway.
There is only 1 ground wire and it terminates in dirt at 1 end and the neutral (grounded service conductor) at the other end. So if you were to make a rule you might say grounding is done in the service box and no where else except that multi position meter bases are provided with a ground lug. Single meter bases are not.
Multi position meter bases usually do have a terminal on the neutral bus for the ground wire so it is legal to ground the service in a multi position meter base. In these cases the bonding jumper is to be installed in the service box (note this is a change in the wording of 10-624)
You are permitted to use the copper water pipe as a ground electrode but in BC we mostly install plastic water mains and frequently water service upgrades remove the grounding by replacing the copper water mains with Plastic. Use an electrode it is more reliable. New Brunswick may have copper water services as a Rule but in BC I never see copper water pipes very often except inside the buildings.
