Ovo Energy Layoffs: Energy Supplier To Cut 2,600 Workers As It Moves Towards Digital Services

Energy supplier Ovo Energy announced on Tuesday that it plans to cut its workforce by 2,600 over the course of 2020.

The layoffs will come primarily through voluntary reductions and will reduce redundancies found between Ovo Energy and SSE Energy Services, which was acquired in 2019.

Ovo Energy said it has seen an accelerated shift toward online and digital tools between the two businesses, which it said was a direct impact of COVID-19 and the reason it purchased SSE Energy Services.

The company said it saw over 1 million online transactions in April, with home service engineering work dropping 69% and smart meter installations, decreasing 92%. Evo Energy also said that meter reading activities completely stopped in March.

Ovo Energy notified employees of the job cuts Tuesday morning and said it will suspend a round of planned offshoring activity to help minimize job losses in the U.K.

The company is also closing its Selkirk, Reading, and Glasgow Waterloo Street offices in the U.K. Employees that worked in these office locations will work from home or at an alternative office site.

“Today is a very difficult day,” Stephen Fitzpatrick, CEO and founder of Ovo Energy, said in a statement. “We have a brilliant team here and this news isn’t a reflection of anyone’s work. What should have been a much longer process to digitise the SSE business and integrate it with OVO has been accelerated due to the impact of the coronavirus.

“We are seeing a rapid increase in customers using digital channels to engage with us, and in our experience, once customers start to engage differently they do not go back. As a result, we are expecting a permanent reduction in demand for some roles, whilst other field-based roles are also heavily affected.

“There is never an easy time to announce redundancies and this is a particularly difficult decision to take. But like all businesses, we face a new reality and need to adapt quickly to enable us to better serve our customers and invest in a zero carbon future,” he added.