Trivia: This movie was originally supposed to be part of the TV series "Amazing Stories" but Steven Spielberg like the story so much that he decided to make it a full length film.
Trivia: At the end of the movie, we see the large buildings built around the cafe. At the part where Carlos is looking at the building models, if you look closely, you can see a tiny model of the cafe built between the big buildings just as it is at the end.
Answer: It's been years since I watched this one, but here's an engineer's opinion. Yes on the electrical meters, no on the water. If you strike an electrical meter with sufficient force to dislodge it from the main electrical service contacts, the flow of electricity will stop. Striking a water meter with an axe might destroy the metering mechanism and cause a leak, but water will still flow. Only severing the metal water service pipes would stop the water, but that would also cause a major flood.