Npower 'to cut up to 4,500 jobs' in major restructure

The energy firm announced it would be closing a number of call centres across the UK
PA/Andy Hepburn

Up to 4,500 jobs are at risk after energy giant Npower announced plans to restructure its UK business.

The gas and electricity supplier, which is majority owned by E.ON, announced plans to close a number of call centres across the country, owing to “particularly challenging” conditions in the UK market.

One union official described the news as a "body blow” to Npower workers, especially coming just weeks before Christmas.

It emerged yesterday that Npower's parent company Innogy suffered a major hit to its outlook for the financial year, as Britain's price cap continues to weigh on the sector.

The spokesman for general trade union GMB said: "The Government has to urgently wake up to the impact that the price cap is having on good and reasonably well-paid jobs in UK energy companies.

"Npower is a poorly managed company with significant losses in the UK but it's always the workers that face the brunt of poor management coupled with regulation that sends work overseas whilst sacking energy workers in the UK."

E.ON chief executive Johannes Teyssen said: "The UK market is currently particularly challenging. We've emphasised repeatedly that we'll take all necessary action to return our business there to consistent profitability.

"For this purpose, we've put together proposals and already begun discussing them with British unions."

E.ON said it was stepping up its "ambitious cost-cutting efforts" without losing sight of its customers, adding: "This is based on leaner, increasingly digital processes that also improve the customer experience."

Workers will be given details at briefings later on Friday.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT