Indians can have 24x7 power without paying through nose: Goyal

India's power and coal minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday that India's power utilities had the capability to provide uninterrupted electricity without heavy rate increases; but added that consumers should be prepared to pay a little more for the service.

Goyal, a chartered accountant and former investment banker, said in an interview to a TV channel that every entity involved in the electricity chain - generators, transmission and distribution utilities, and coal producing companies - need to improve their operations instead of covering up inefficiencies by raising a debate over inadequate tariffs or absence of tariff revisions.

"I don't think it's only about tariff. I must tell you Gujarat, which has turned from a Rs2,500 crore loss-making utility into a Rs500 crore profit-making entity under Mr [Narendra] Modi over the last 10-12 years and giving 24X7 power to everybody, has had the lowest increase in tariffs compared to any other state in the country," the minister said.

"We cannot have a system that everything can be passed on to the final consumer in the garb of cost being recovered without being sensitive to their own problems and affordability."

Goyal's statement comes in the backdrop of the power ministry recently telling the Prime Minister's Office that the country loses 27 units in transit out of every 100 units being generated due to inefficiency and theft, euphemistically described by the industry as 'aggregate technical and commercial losses'.