To adjust (just lower) water pressure it has to be a specially designed pressure reducing valve, and there's often a cut-off valve installed between the reducing valve and the meter. In other words, the pressure reducing valve is likely to be the closest to the meter, as you described, but not always.
It's much easier to identify it by its appearance: a pressure reducing valve is very bulky, much larger than a cut-off valve and it has an arrow on its body indicating the flow direction. Its conical part of the body most likely would have what looks like a hex head of a bolt at the top - by turning it you adjust the pressure.Â
For you reference, here I am attaching an image of a pressure reducing valve by Watts - one of the prominent manufacturers of these valves. See the picture below.