Npower jobs cut as company close all UK call centres The move was announced today and comes ahead of Christmas Npower is already at the centre of anger over poor complaints record Britain's worst and most expensive energy company - Npower - its closing its UK call centres and exporting jobs to India resulting in thousands of UK redundancies. The move, which is due to be announced today, comes ahead of Christmas and will infuriate both staff and customers. The firm is already at the centre of public anger over its poor record on complaints, punishing increases in prices and a failure to pay tax. Npower are to close all of their UK call centres (stock photo) At the same time the firm's controversial millionaire chief executive, Paul Massara, has rejected calls to give up his annual bonus. Npower is owned by RWE of Germany, which earlier this week dumped a project to build a vast new windfarm in the Bristol channel. RWE has a long history of failing British consumers. Its record on customer service was shocking during the time it owned Britain's biggest water company, Thames. Npower is expected to announce today (thrs) that it is closing its own UK call centres and shifting admin jobs to India, which will particularly hit the North East. Npower are to move their call centres to India (stock photo) The customer services function will be passed on to separate third party companies in this country. Separately, 1,400 back office jobs will be exported overseas. The move was condemned by both the GMB and Unison unions, who called for a public inquiry into the way Npower is being run. It is understood that sites at Peterlee, Thornaby and Stoke will be closed with the transfer of 1,400 jobs to India. Another 570 customer service jobs are expected to be transferred out to a third party company. Colin Smith, of the GMB, said: "This is about cost of living, bad management and naked greed. At this time of the year when the Christmas lights are being turned on for most people, Npower workers their families and communities have no yuletide greetings. They have only fear from a company only interested in their fat cat salaries and what they can get out of consumers who are paying ever higher energy prices so corporate bureaucrats can get fatter as their reward for failure. It is an absolute scandal that a company like Npower can operate as a cartel player in a captive market, while jobs are placed offshore. Unison national officer, Matthew Lay, said: "Npower have consistently let their customers and staff down by not investing enough in the workforce, technology or in the latest customer service techniques. This has led to a huge number of complaints which the company seems to think they can deal with by shifting the responsibility to somewhere else, including to India. If the company goes ahead with this disastrous plan, it will backfire badly, damaging their already tarnished reputation for customer service. At a time when unemployment is high, what commitment does it show to the UK by shipping these much-needed jobs abroad? Just last week , Npower, was named and shamed as the nation's worst performer for customer service. The company is generating some 202.5 complaints per 100,000 customers, which is five times higher than the best energy supplier. The firm is also about to hit customers with a 10.2per cent rise in the cost of heat and light, which will take average bills up by £139 to just under £1,500 a year. It is now the most expensive of all the major energy suppliers for a standard tariff, causing real hardship to loyal customers struggling to heat their homes this winter. In April, the chief executive Paul Massara infuriated MPs when he defended the firm's failure to pay a fair amount of Corporation Tax in the UK. Giving evidence to a Select Committee, he admitted the firm paid no Corporation Tax in the three years - 2009, 2010 and 2011 - despite making a profit of £750million over this period. He suggested the failure to pay tax was a good thing, because the company needed its money to invest in building new power supplies to keep the lights on. Earlier this month, dismissed suggestions that he should give up his annual bonus as no more than a gimmick. The Npower boss, who has a salary of around £600,000 a year, said he would only get his estimated bonus of some £150,000 if he hit targets for employee and customer satisfaction. The company's shocking failures on complaints and the decision to put thousands of people out of work ahead of Christmas suggests he will struggle to clear this hurdle. Last night, Npower said: "As we announced a couple of months ago, Npower has been undertaking a major review of sites, operations and people across the UK. We've been doing this to improve our customer service and keep our costs down, at a time of external pressures on customers' bills. As we've always said, we'll tell our people first and then inform the media.