grow something in front to hide it. Maybe a vine. Clematis?

Wouldn't that look weird to have two together? That will solve the problem nicely.

Does the gas company need to be able to get near enough to the meter to read it?

I think they have a reader they use. They don't have to be right next to it to read.

Check with your gas company they have rules. They do need to be able to access the meter.

They already told to plant in front when they installed the meter. They know it doesn't look pretty. The question is what to plant.

I also thought you could just plant another box. Or a contrasting conical shaped dwarf conifer. I'd remove the standard rose. It's clearly not at all healthy and doesn't contribute to the bed with its ugly bare twigs, string and stakes. Not to mention being prickly for anyone accessing the meter.

Depending on where you are located there might be other evergreen shrub options than box.

I am in zone 6. I like the idea of clinical shaped conifer. It could be a columnar boxwood? Or dwarf weepy blue juniper?

Consider nandina or pieris:

Nandina would be very iffy in a zone 6 and unlikely to be evergreen.

I like the idea of something that would offer a foliage contrast to the box so I'd be inclined to go with a dwarf conifer as well.......Dwarf Aberta spruce or a false cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa.