Britain's biggest power supplier Powergen is to cut nearly 1,000 jobs over the next year.

Powergen has moved quickly to provide employees with clarity as soon as possible Nick Horler, Powergen Retail

The posts will go as part of a shake-up of TXU, the rival power firm it bought at the end of last year.

A spokeswoman said the majority of the redundancies would be voluntary and many of those affected would be offered other jobs in the company.

But she could not rule out some compulsory redundancies.

Counselling

Powergen is aiming to reduce staff numbers at its Ipswich site from 936 to 250 over the next year - threatening 686 jobs.

It is also aiming to close three TXU retail operations at Rayleigh in Essex, Bolton and London, affecting 275 employees.

White collar staff in the retail department will bear the brunt of the cuts.

Staff offered jobs elsewhere within Powergen's new retail structure may have to relocate, a spokeswoman told BBC News Online.

She said staff would be offered career counselling and other support.

'Not an easy time'

Nick Horler, managing director of Powergen Retail, said: "Powergen has moved quickly to provide employees with clarity as soon as possible.

"I know this has not been an easy time for everyone and we will, of course, offer them as much support as we can to help employees find suitable positions.

"Powergen is now one of the UK's leading energy companies but we will remain conscious of our commitment to the regions which have helped us achieve this."

Powergen, owned by German firm Eon, announced in October it would pay �1.37bn ($2.2bn) for the Ipswich-based UK business of TXU.

The company said it would also take on TXU's retail arm and three coal-fired power stations.

Powergen has 8.5 million gas, electricity and telecoms customers. Buying TXU gave the group about 5.5 million customers.