Npower confirms 2,400 job losses as customers fall by 350,000

Npower, one of the ‘big six’ energy suppliers, has confirmed it is cutting 2,400 jobs in the UK after a dismal financial year in 2015.

The energy firm has reported loss of €137m in 2015 (£106m), compared with €227m profit in 2014.

The job cuts represent around a fifth of Npower’s UK workforce of 11,500.

German company RWE, which owns Npower, earlier reported an annual group loss of €637m (£493m) compared with a profit of €2.2bn at the same period last year.

These significant financial losses and job cuts are the result of Npower losing around 351,000, or 7%, of its uk customer base.

As reported by Sky News, a spokesperson for RWE said: “The main reason for this is serious process and system-related problems in customer billing. Substantial earnings shortfalls also stemmed from the fact that residential and commercial customers switched providers or we were only able to retain such customers by offering them contracts with more favourable conditions.

Paul Coffey, Npower’s chief executive, also commented that the recovery period will likely be “a two year process.”

He said: “They show a business that tried to do too much, too soon while not focusing enough on the fundamentals in a constantly changing market. This led to over complicated processes and procedures resulting in unhappy customers, too many complaints and extra costs to put things right.

“Energy should be simple for our customers and we have complicated it. Our plan is to create an npower that delivers better service, is more attractive to customers and better prepared for future opportunities – all at lower costs”.

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