Chennai: In yet another major step to curb MRP violations at liquor outlets, the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) will pay electricity bills for all its retail shops from Sept 1 through the Electronic National Automated Clearing House digital payment service (e-Nach) provided by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).Now, shop supervisors and salesmen pay the bills. Although they can claim reimbursement for the electricity bills they pay, shop personnel said they do not receive the money back and use it as an excuse to collect ₹10 above the MRP of liquor bottles from buyers.As part of a series of measures to end the MRP menace, Tasmac will pay electricity bills of shops directly under its expenditure head through e-Nach.Of the 4,015 functional liquor shops across the State, 3,655 shops have an independent electricity service with a dedicated meter. “Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited has integrated all the meter details. From Sept, the electricity bill raised for any of these 3,655 shops will be auto-debited from Tasmac’s account. The remaining shops, which draw power through an extension from attached bars, have been instructed to bifurcate the service. They too will eventually be added to the system,” said Tasmac sources.Of the 4,015 shops, only 43 get electricity bills beyond ₹20,000, and 32 of these are located in malls. “Since they use multiple chiller units, their electricity bills are justified. Another 11 shops also get electricity bills beyond ₹20,000, and the reason is being analysed. If the consumption is justified, they will also be brought under the e-Nach system,” added Tasmac sources.Customers point out that Tasmac has already introduced the option of reserving liquor through online payment to curb MRP violation, but Tasmac personnel continue to discourage buyers from using the website to buy liquor and keep online purchases below 1%.
