The German energy company E.ON is to cut around 500 jobs across the UK, as it blames the forthcoming price cap for the need to reduce costs.

The firm, which employs 9,400 people, said the UK energy market continued to change at an unprecedented rate and was an increasingly competitive environment.



E.ON, one of the “big six” energy providers in the UK, said it was looking to reduce numbers across non-customer facing departments as part of ongoing efforts to improve efficiency and “continue to innovate”.

E.ON’s chief executive, Michael Lewis, said: “Clearly there are numerous challenges across the energy market and we are dealing with all of them, not least the forthcoming price cap.”

The energy price cap is due to come into effect in December.Bills for more than 11m households will be capped, saving people up to £100 a year, according to government estimates.

“We’re always looking to make sure we’re equipped to respond to the rapid pace and challenges of the UK energy market and we know we can never stand still if we are to continue giving customers a high-quality and cost-effective service,” Lewis said.



“We’ve undertaken a rigorous review of our options to ensure we keep costs as low as possible, become a more agile organisation and remain a sustainable business in the UK.”

He said the company had held talks with unions and identified potential reductions of around 500 roles across the UK. It plans to make the redundancies on a voluntary basis where possible.

“This is one element of our ongoing transformation which, in total, will help us achieve savings of around £100m across our mid-term plan,” Lewis said.



“I’m very aware this will be a difficult time for our colleagues but our aim has always been to keep uncertainty to a minimum and I can assure everyone affected that we’ll be as supportive as we can.”

E.ON said it was not yet possible to say how many workers at individual sites or specific business areas would be affected by the proposals.