Jobs to go as npower moves out of Dudley area
A major energy supplier's decision to move its workforce out of the Dudley area will result in redundancies, it has been revealed.
Npower announced last month it was to close its IT contact centre in Kingswinford as part of a review being carried out by parent company RWE.
Last week, npower company secretary Guy Johnson met with Dudley South MP Chris Kelly after the MP voiced concerns over the firm's High Street base, which employs 284 people.
Today, Mr Kelly revealed he was told workers would be relocated and there would be some redundancies – but he was told it was too early to say how many jobs will be lost.
Mr Kelly said: "I had a very good meeting with Mr Johnson, it was full and frank. I put to him my concerns and was told the plan was to relocate workers to the company's offices in Oldbury, that was the good news. The bad news was there will be some redundancies, he couldn't say how many.
"I asked about why the company was closing the office, and I was told it was down to the competitive nature of the energy supply market in this country."
Npower will be closing its offices by the end of 2013 and putting them up for sale.
Mr Kelly said: "I still believe Kingswinford is an attractive site for any business and I hope to see the offices brought up quickly." Alex Madden, npower spokesman, said: "We are working closely with the local MPs and informing them of any developments that may affect the local area.
"However, we are still in very early stages of a consultation process and our people will be the first to hear of any changes as they are our number one priority."
The Kingswinford office is the firm's only IT call centre in the Black Country. The firm has three offices in Oldbury and one in Solihull – residential and business call centres. The retail HQ, including IT services, is in Worcester.
