Npower to cut 1,500 UK staff

‘Big Six’ Energy Company, RWE Npower who scrapped the £4 billion Devon wind farm, has announced today plans to cut  1,500 jobs in the UK.

The cuts are the latest development in a series of re-structuring moves which have lead to speculation that RWE Npower may be preparing for a departure from the UK energy market.

On Tuesday (26 Novemeber), RWE Npower scrapped plans to build the “Atlantic Array”, a wind farm off Devon’s Coast.

The plans to build 240 wind turbines in the Bristol Channel had been expected to cost nearly £4 billion.

Last week the company sold off half a million customers, worth over £218 million to Telecom Plus, owner of independent energy provider, Utility Warehouse.

The company has also sold its £350m stake in the Horizon Nuclear power station and is looking to sell its oil operations in the North Sea.

The losses of UK jobs are part of a larger restructuring project which will see nearly 7,000 jobs go across Npower’s German parent company RWE.

While a reduced staff of around 500 call centre work will remain in the UK the majority of jobs will transferred overseas to call centres in India.

Unison, the union has criticised the job losses stating that the move would be a “Christmas nightmare for staff and customers.”

Matthew Lay, Unison’s National Officer for Business and Environment, said: “If the company goes ahead with this disastrous plan it will backfire badly, damaging their already tarnished reputation for customer service. “At a time when unemployment is high, what commitment does it show to the UK by shipping these much needed jobs abroad?  And what does this say about their commitment to staff when npower have kept them on tenterhooks waiting for the axe to fall for weeks?”

Paul Massara, CEO of npower commented on the job losses, he said: “Today we have set out our proposed vision of how we would improve customer service, calling on the support of leading retail outsourcing partners.

“I understand that these changes would be incredibly hard for some of our employees and we’ll be doing everything we can to support them over the next few months. This restructure is necessary if we are to deliver the levels of service our customers deserve.

“All calls would still be answered in the UK. We would have the flexibility to keep call waiting times down during busy periods, and continue to keep costs down so we can keep bills down.”

Industry experts have raised concerns that re-structuring could be an indication that RWE are preparing to withdraw from the UK energy market.

Concerns were raised over the current uncertainty surrounding the UK energy market.

RWE have faced significant losses in its German home markets, closing many of its power stations in the wake of the Fukishima Nuclear disaster.