Npower to cut 2,500 UK jobs

GERMAN-controlled Npower is to cull up to 2,500 British jobs after revealing it will make a loss this year.

The job cuts – more than a fifth of its UK workforce – will be formally announced to staff this week.

Its parent company, the German energy giant RWE, is expected to detail the cuts when it reveals its financial results tomorrow.

Last month it warned that it will slump into the red after a £1.6bn hit on the value of its UK and German power stations.

Lower energy prices and writedowns on the value of some of its power stations will lead to a £155m loss.

Npower, which has i ts headquarters in Swindon, has 4.9m customer accounts and employs about 11,500 in the UK. Its major plants include Pembroke and Aberthaw in Wales and Staythorpe in Nottinghamshire.

Last year it said business in the UK had become tough and it lost 200,000 customers. In the latest customer satisfaction survey on energy services by consumer group Which?, Npower came last.

Along with other l arge energy firms, Npower recently agreed a 5.2pc price cut on its standard gas tariff that will affect 1.2m customers.

The energy providers have been under pressure to reduce prices amid the slump in the wholesale price of oil and gas. Oil has fallen 70pc since reaching $115 a barrel in summer 2014 and wholesale gas prices are down nearly 60pc.

The threat of j ob cuts comes as the Competition and Markets Authority is due to report on the latest stage of its investigation into the energy market.

A spokesman for Npower declined to comment on the job cuts last night.