Tamil Nadu Electricity Board [TNEB] — Defective meter found - being charged annual average while the house is unoccupied

Address:

613 Gemini Magnolia, 132 Polachery road, Polachery

Hello, My residence is unoccupied from Nov 28, 2022 to April 2023, except 10 days in Jan 2023, (Jan 4th to Jan 14th). Feb month bill was Rs.113

TNEB found the defective meter during Apil 2023 reading and charged the bill amount of Rs.2236, while the whole period the house was unoccupied.

Got shocked to see the EB bill, and asked my Neighbour to take a picture of the meter reading and share it, it shows defective meter with error "tn-1.26"
Raised request with customer care (Minnaham), no response even after one week, so I travelled to Chennai, visited the TNEB Mambakkam office. I was told that rule is to charge annual average bill, in meter defective case.
Rule will hold good, if the house is occupied but for unoccupied house?!
I have submitted a letter requesting review the bill amount and charge previous month, along with proofs that the house was unoccupied.
But I was told it is not possible to do anything for the billed amount.
Also, to replace the new meter, it will take 6 months, it seems and I will be charged for the entire period as annual average while the house is UNOCCUPIED.
Hoping to get some help with this. Thank you very much