Energy giant Npower has confirmed that 1,460 United Kingdom jobs are to go as part of a major corporate restructuring.
The company, owned by Germany’s RWE, plans to outsource much of its customer service and back office functions to Capita and Tata Consultancy Services, it said in a statement.
But call centres would remain in the UK, it added.
The British Broadcasting Corporation reported that Npower, one of the UK’s “big six” gas and electricity suppliers, currently employs 9,600 people in the UK.
Chief executive Paul Massara said: “This restructure is necessary if we are to deliver the levels of service our customers deserve.”
About 540 of Npower’s existing staff will transfer to Capita under TUPE – Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 – which effectively protects their existing terms and conditions, the company said.
The outsourcing would help Npower cope with peak time calls, it argued.
Back office work, such as checking meter readings against customers’ bills, would be outsourced to India using TCS, said Npower.
The 1,460 redundancies would take place over the next eight months, with the following sites affected:
“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,” said Massara.
In October, Npower said it would raise household gas and electricity prices by 10.4 per cent on average, blaming the increase partly on the cost of implementing the government’s carbon-reduction policies.
Owner RWE has already said it will cut 6,750 jobs across Europe between 2014 and 2016.