Hundreds of West Midlands jobs under threat from energy giant’s crisis

ENERGY group Npower is expected to announce 2,500 job cuts tomorrow along with its full-year results.

It employs more than 2,500 of its 11,500-strong UK workforce in the West Midlands, at sites in Worcester, Solihull, Oldbury and Burton-on-Trent.

The Big Six provider has been affected by the falling oil and gas prices, and last month it announced a 5.2% cut in its gas price.

Npower, which is part of German energy giant RWE, was also hit by a £26m payout in December for poor complaint handling and inaccurate bills.

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “These huge job losses will come as a devastating blow to the workforce.

“NPower has been in trouble for some time thanks to poor decision-making at the very top, and workers are now paying the price. The company’s failure to invest properly in new systems has left it with one of the worst customer service records in the business.
 
“Today’s news suggests that Npower’s German owner isn’t terribly committed to its UK operations. Cutting a fifth of the workforce will leave the already struggling business in an even worse state. Now months of uncertainly lie ahead for a workforce whose morale is already at rock bottom.”