E.ON UK has announced today that it is to streamline its Energy Services operations by cutting 400 jobs.

The company hopes that the reductions will be made by voluntary redundancies wherever possible and will be offering counselling and support to all affected staff. E.ON is also looking into the possibility of re-deploying staff within the business.

Dr Paul Golby, Chief Executive of E.ON UK, said: "This was not an easy decision for us to take, but this is the first step as we take a long hard look at our costs, so keeping them as low as possible to ensure we offer customers the best possible service at the lowest cost.

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"Going forward we can't rule out further announcements as we look to make our business leaner and more efficient so that we can make energy as affordable as possible for our customers."

The Energy Services arm of E.ON's business, which connects homes and businesses to power and gas, lights streets, installs energy efficiency measures and boilers and provides a range of metering services, has been particularly hit by the recent downturn in the UK property market.

The cuts will be made across the Energy Services business over the next six months, with the planned reductions being 150 in home installations, 100 in metering, 75 in new connections and 75 in back office staff.

There are currently 4,400 people working in E.ON's Energy Services arm.

(CD/JM)