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EON Cuts 500 U.K. Jobs Before Government Energy Price Cap

EON Cuts 500 U.K. Jobs Before Government Energy Price Cap

(Bloomberg) -- EON SE will cut 500 jobs from its workforce in Britain as part of the energy supplier’s a 100 million-pound ($131 million) cost cutting program.

“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 U.K.,” said Michael Lewis, EON’s U.K. chief executive officer. It employs 9,400 in Britain.

The company said in March that it was working on a plan to maintain profitability under a government price cap on default household tariffs, which is due to be in place by the end of the year. While it was designed to protect customers it will potentially reduce profits for suppliers.

“There are numerous challenges across the energy market and we’re dealing with all of them, not least the forthcoming price cap,” Lewis said.

Last year SSE Plc had the most customers on so-called Standard Variable Tariffs, followed by Centrica Plc and EON, according to Ofgem data.

The cuts will be in non-customer facing departments.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rachel Morison in London at rmorison@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Andrew Reierson

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