ENERGY bills are fast becoming the new poll tax – a hugely unpopular burden on households that has created a political battleground.

The Government has woken up to the fact that a failure to address rocketing prices could cost them the next election. After scoffing at Labour’s party conference pledge to freeze price rises, George Osborne agreed to give voters some respite from bills that now average £1,400.

The cost of our energy was brought into sharp relief last week as npower said it was sending more than 400 North-East jobs to India.

The company’s boss claimed the move wasn’t a cost-cutting exercise, despite workers in India being paid roughly half the salary of their UK counterparts.

By the end of the latest restructuring, npower will have shifted 1,600 UK jobs to the subcontinent over the past year.

Great news for admin assistants in Banglaore, not so good for npower’s loyal workers at Rainton Bridge, near Houghton-le-Spring, who will become jobseekers in the new year.

Npower was at pains to remind customers that the job cuts affected only “back-office roles”, which means UK-based call centre workers will handle complaints about incorrect bills or the myraid problems that means the firm props up the customer satisfaction table.

These back office jobs include people who answer written correspondence.

If you write to npower the reply that you receive will still bear the name and address of npower's manager at Rainton, even when it has been written in an office 5,000 miles away.

I spoke to several staff last week who expressed grave concerns that the cuts will further erode customer service.

“If a customer calls about their direct debit we are told not to advise them about cheaper tariffs unless they ask about them specifically because it could mean the call takes too long,” one worker told me. It was a story that several other call centre staff backed up.

Npower said it did not set guidelines on call duration, despite staff telling me that they had targets to make calls last on average no longer than 360 seconds.

“It is not enough time to give people proper service,” said another member of staff. “We are instructed to refer people to our website for more information. But what about people without access to the internet? It's disgusting," they added.  

Research last month by Consumer Futures showed that npower had 202.5 complaints per 100,000 customers for the April to June period. This compared with 38.3 for SSE.

Npower will still employ about 3,000 North-East staff next year, making it one of our most important employers.

It is in all our interests that the German-owned company shows a long-term commitment to safeguard jobs in the region and to improve customer service.

I would hate to think that last week's announcement was just the tip of the iceberg.

TWEET of the week goes to Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson with: “Waiting at the DfT with @JennyChapman and @HelenGoodmanMP to see toad minister about A67 land slip.” Sounds like an ideal story for The Northern Gecko.

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