In Australia, earth and neutral are bonded together and current is shared between the earth and neutral connections.
The earth stake is often connected to copper water pipes, and where the connection to the meter is copper, this effectively joins the earth of all the houses in a street.
If a water meter is replaced, a link is placed across the meter before it is removed and left on until the new meter is fitted. If the house has a neutral fault and poor earthing, all current is flowing via the earth, and removing the meter can cause the house side of the pipe to lift to mains potential.
Even with a good earth and no neutral fault, current is shared between the earth and neutral circuits.
note that the bonding between earth and neutral occurs after any rcd style breakers, and any current at this point is not a fault current.