Although the company plans to stop using BSEB power in phases, the official said CCL has to pay "wheel charges" to BSEB regularly for drawing power from DVC according to an agreement made in the 90s.The official pointed out that DVC's power tariff is less than that of BSEB and if the "wheel charges" are taken into account, CCL stands to lose the benefit of buying cheap electricity from DVC.

The official said the dispute over "wheel charges" has long been pending. However, senior officials of BSEB are discussing it with Coal India chairman PK Sengupta in order to arrive at a solution.

DVC has recently set up a 15x2 132K/33KV sub-station to feed thepower requirement of CCL's north Karanpura coalfields spread over an area of 1,230 sq km. CCL chairman and managing director B Akala has switched on the sub-station, a CCL press release states.

The release also states that until now power had been supplied to north Karanpura coalfields through a 33KV transmission line of DVC from Patratu which often broke down affecting operation of the mines and heavy duty equipment.

The release further said that with the installation of the new 132KV/33KV sub-station, availability of power is ensured for development of the north Karanpura coalfields which have a reserve of 13,654.36 million tonnes. The present production of the coalfields is around 16 million tonnes per annum.