* Buyers offer an average 45.50 euros per MWh

* Economic crisis has lowered prices for next year

SARAJEVO, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Bosnia's largest power utility EPBiH JPES.SJ has picked seven companies to buy 1,260 gigawat-hours (GWh) of its 2014 power surplus for a total of 57.3 million euros ($77 million), an EPBiH official said on Wednesday.

The price is down nearly 19 percent on last year's sale of 1,500 GWh of surplus power because of the lingering economic crisis, EPBiH's supervisory board president Enver Agic said, but it still represents a 21 percent premium to the price of the German benchmark front-year contract.

The buyers include Bosnian utility EPHZHB JPEM.SJ , local branches of London-based trading and investment group Energy Financing Team (EFT), Swiss-based Repower and Axpo Trading.

Other buyers selected were local branches of Slovenia's GEN-I, HSE and Petrol, Agic said.

"The average price offered for one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity was 45.50 euros," Agic said, adding that there will be monthly and quarterly sales of the remainder of the company's surplus power.

That compared favourably with the German Cal '14, Europe's benchmark power contract, which fell 25 cents to 37.60 euros in afternoon trade on Germany's EEX exchange.

EPBiH, the largest of Bosnia's three power utilities, operates two coal-fired plants and three hydro-power plants with a combined capacity of 1,165 MW and 517 MW respectively.

Bosnia obtains 40 percent of its electricity from hydro power, while the rest comes from its ageing coal-fired plants. Unlike its Balkan neighbours, who rely on imports to cover much of their consumption, it is able to export power, helped by its hydro potential. ($1 = 0.7442 euros)

(Reporting by Maja Zuvela,; Editing by Michael Kahn and David Goodman)

((maja.zuvela@thomsonreuters.com)(+387 33 295 485)(Reuters Messaging: maja.zuvela.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: BOSNIA EPBIH/TENDER