I bought a row house in downtown baltimore.  The basement is finished and the old gas meter and water meters are located in the front basement of the house sandwiched between the original brick and new sheetrock (with a access panel to access the meter).  BGE has been calling, emailing, and sending snailmail in reference to replacing the old gas meter with a new smart meter.  I work two jobs and im rarely home to keep the appointment.  They recently just sent me a letter saying  if I dont put in a smart meter they will shut my gas and electric off.  I have talked to my neighbors who also have old row homes and never installed the smart meter because it can cause a fire and it can be health hazardous.  They said BGE calls them on a regular basis but they ignore the calls and their service was never interrupted for years.  Anyone else here can advise if they have not upgraded to a smart meter here in the city and were threatened by BGE?  Thanks and be safe.

They're not going to cut your gas off.
What they want to do is replace your gas meter with one that calls in your reading every month.
BGE is trying to get away from having to read meters.  Don't confuse the "call-in" gas meter with the electric smart meter, it's nowhere near that sophisticated.
Call them up and make an appointment that's convenient for you.  They should be pretty flexible, seeing that it benefits them.
I have a friend who worked for BGE on the gas side for a long time, and he only mentioned them calling in every month, nothing more than that.

BGE isn't going to cut off your gas unless you stop paying your bill. They just want to save money by laying off all the meter reading employees and automating the whole system. They will say whatever they have to in order to get you to comply with their request as it benefits them. There are thousands of homes in Baltimore that have yet to change over. Do as you wish...

Thanks for your replies guys.  I forgot to mention we spent 4k to waterproof our basement which included re-sheetrocking and sealing the walls.  We called BGE after I started this post.  They stated that we are violating their policy by covering up the meter even though we built a 1'x1' access panel to get it.  The want to tear the entire front wall down to installed the smart meter and keep it accessible.  We got into a dispute over the phone which got intense and I hung up. As long as they dont turn my utilities off, im keeping the old meter and waterproofed front wall.

I believe that according to code, you need to keep 3' clear in front of the meter for access.
BGE used to take the old meter in and rebuild and recalibrate them, but now they are just replacing them with call-in meters.
And some of the older meters get out of calibration and read incorrectly.  That's another reason they like to replace them.
Eventually, you're going to have to replace the meter, but if you can keep stalling them, then more power to you.

You are in violation of code

When they do finally get around to you, they will replace the meter and not be responsible for your "waterproofed wall"

Just my experience as a licensed plumber/gasfitter for 30 yrs in the state of MD.....

If you had pulled the proper permits before doing your work on the house, it would have cost a little extra on the job, but saved a lot of grief later.

As a master electrician that did lots of business in Baltimore City, I have seen several cases where the homeowner ends up screwed when the National Electrical Code violations involve BGE.

Be nice, be cooperative. This will serve you better than getting angry and frustrated with BGE. Generally, I have found BGE to be reasonable to a point, but the clearances are required for safety. Both for the homeowner/tenant, and especially for technicians that may have to work on it in the future.

I have refused to work on things when I did not feel it was safe. An electrician or plumber working on the gas, needs room to access the equipment with tools and must have a means of safe egress in the event of an emergency.
Good luck.