20 January 2010 10:01
E.ON consolidates call centres to improve customer service with 800 jobs affected, creates new jobs elsewhere in the UK

Energy company E.ON has today announced that it will be further streamlining its customer service operations by creating centres of excellence.

As part of that process, it intends to close the Rayleigh site in Essex with the expected loss of 600 jobs.

At the same time, in order to ensure that the new centres of excellence can offer the best possible assistance, the company is to create a substantial number of additional roles in customer service elsewhere in the business.

Further changes will see 75 people going from the company's in-house IT support teams and a further 125 people will be affected in its Energy Services business.

Graham Bartlett, Managing Director of E.ON's Retail business, said: "We believe that our customers deserve the best possible service and these changes will enable us to make further progress to supplement improvements we've already made.

"That said, the decision to close the Rayleigh site was not a move that we've taken lightly and we absolutely understand the effect that this decision will have on our colleagues who have been affected.

"But the fact of the matter is that our Retail business has only just returned to profit after years of loss-making and, to ensure we can continue to do that, we have to make these tough choices.

"I can assure everyone affected that we'll be as supportive as we can during this difficult time and I also want to take the opportunity to thank them for their hard work."

Wherever possible, the company will look for voluntary redundancies in the first instance, and relocation packages will be offered where applicable. An extensive range of support services, including individual counselling, will be made available to all affected employees.

The company currently employs more than 16,000 people across its UK operations.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• E.ON is one of the UK's leading power and gas companies - generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the E.ON group, one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies. We employ around 16,000 people in the UK and more than 90,000 worldwide;
• E.ON's retail business is a leading energy supplier in the UK with around 5.5 million electricity and gas customers, covering domestic, SME and industrial. E.ON also offers central heating and boiler care;
• Our distribution business, branded Central Networks, provides a reliable supply to 9.5m people in central England through 133,000km of underground and overhead cables - enough to go round the Earth more than three times - and via almost 94,000 substations. The company covers an area from the Peak District in the north to parts of Bristol in the south, and from the Welsh Borders to the Lincolnshire Coast;
• We are sponsoring The FA Cup, which is known as The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON;
• The generation business produces enough electricity to cater for the needs of around eight million homes from a portfolio of world-class gas-, coal- and oil-fired power stations;
• We are a market leader in combined heat and power, providing our customers with around 600MW of electricity and more than 1,000MW of heat at 13 sites across the country;
• We're one of the leading green generators in the UK, with 20 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland. We own and operate one of the UK's largest dedicated biomass power stations at Lockerbie. Combined, our renewable portfolio generates enough green energy to power the homes in a city the size of Manchester;
• Our green development portfolio could power over a million homes and displace the emission of almost two million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by building new onshore and offshore wind farms, biomass power stations, and tidal stream and wave power schemes;
• Our target is to cut the carbon released by each kW of electricity we generate by 10% between 2005-2012, having already reduced it by 20% since 1990;
• We have 1,500MW of renewable capacity under development;
• We have installed over 350,000 cavity wall and loft installation measures since 2006, as well as energy efficient boilers and smart meters to help customers manage their energy more efficiently;
• We are investing £50 million in new technologies and approaches over 10 years, through the Energy Technologies Institute;
• We have Biodiversity Action Plans at many of our sites which align us with the UK target of significantly reducing biodiversity loss;
• E.ON Group has announced it intends to reduced the carbon intensity of its generation by 50% by 2030 (on 1990 levels);
• E.ON Group aims to spend €8bn between 2007 and 2011 on renewable generation and climate protection activities.

For more information contact:

Jonathan Smith on 024 7618 3676 or jonathan.smith@eon-uk.com

Victoria Blake on 024 7618 1304 or victoria.blake@eonenergy.com

Scott Somerville on 024 7618 3438 or scott.somerville@eon-uk.com