Patna, Dec. 29: Three power firms have responded to the tender floated by the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB), inviting 450MW electricity from the open market.

A BSEB official told The Telegraph on condition of anonymity that Lanco, JP Power and Adani Power have submitted their bids. The BSEB, however, has not received a single bid for its total requirement of 450MW. While Lanco and Adani have sub-mitted bids to sell 200MW power each, JP Power’s proposal is to sell 100MW.

Once the bids are opened on January 4, the lowest bidder among the three will be awarded the deal to supply power for 45 months from March 2012. The board can purchase the entire 450MW, provided the rate quoted by the companies is justifiable and affordable, sources said. This means if the other two firms agree to match the board’s price, an agreement will be signed with them also.

On October 3, BSEB had invited bids to procure 450MW on medium-term basis for a period of 45 months — from March 2012 to December 2015. The last date for submission was December 20. As part of the medium-term plan, a power purchase agreement is signed for a period of one year to seven years.

The BSEB had decided to purchase power from the open market to meet the state’s energy requirements in a short span of time, as the commissioning of new power plants would take time.

The BSEB official, however, rued financial crunch coming in way of purchasing power. He said the board would have to pay the company every month, for which BSEB required the state government’s assurance on funding.

The state cabinet yesterday sanctioned Rs 1,100 crore, of which Rs 380 crore has been earmarked for purchasing power from the open market.

To strengthen the power situation, BSEB has been purchasing power under short-, medium- and long-term plans for quite some time.

As part of its short-term measure, BSEB has signed a three-month agreement with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd for 300MW power, which it has been receiving since September this year. The agreement would end in February 2012.

In the long-term agreement of 25 years, the board has signed three agreements with Essar Power and GMR Kamalanga Energy for supply of 1,010MW. Essar Power has signed two deals to supply 450MW and 300MW from July 2014 and October 2015 respectively. GMR Kamalanga Energy would supply 260MW from October 2015.

The state’s own power generation is less than 150MW, making it heavily depen- dent on the central sector allocation.