Npower ‘to cut 4,500 UK jobs’ as part of restructuring plan just weeks before Christmas
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ENERGY giant Npower has revealed restructuring plans, which union sources fear will lead to the loss of up to 4,500 jobs and the closure of a number of call centres.
Back in January the supplier announced plans to axe 900 of its then 6,300 strong workforce.
And it's though further job losses will now be made in a move blasted by unions as being a "cruel blow" for employees.
Eon told The Sun that it couldn't confirm the number of roles affected until staff has been spoken to.
Workers will be given details at briefings later today.
The restructuring announcement from the Big Six energy supplier comes as part of Npower's financial results for the third quarter of the year, which have been published today.
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Npower's owner Eon says it is 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."
Eon took over a majority stake in Innogy - Npower's parent company - in September this year following a failed merger between Npower and SSE back in 2018.
Under today's proposals, Eon also wants to move all of Npower's household and small and medium-sized business customers to its IT platform.
Back in 2015, Npower was fined £26million after a bungled IT upgrade saw billing problems hit 500,000 customers.
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: "This is a cruel blow for Npower employees. They’ve been worried about their jobs for months. Now their worst fears have been realised, less than a month before Christmas.
“The UK energy market is in real danger of collapse. If nothing is done, there could soon be other casualties."
A GMB trade union spokesman added: "Clearly this announcement will be a body blow to Npower workers across the UK."
Johannes Teyssen, chief executive of Eon, explained that the UK market is currently "particularly challenging" and says the company needs to take "all necessary action to return our business to consistent profitability".
He added: "For this purpose, we've put together proposals and already begun discussing them with British unions."
An Eon spokesman said: “A series of proposals is being outlined to colleagues across the two companies this morning.
"It is only fair that our colleagues are the first to hear of any proposed changes in how we operate and we will provide more detail once that has been completed.”
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That's not the only movement in the energy market though, as SSE sold its 3.5million customers to Ovo Energy earlier this year.
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