Powergen ditches offshore Indian call centres

Powergen is bringing its offshore call centre work back to the UK from India in an attempt to improve customer service and reduce the level of complaints.

The energy company, part of the E.ON group, said this week it is withdrawing all inbound call handling from India and that all customer calls will now be answered by Powergen's own advisers in the UK.

Powergen will also be bringing other call centre activity, including outbound calling and back-office work, back to the UK from India over the next six months.

Around 450 new jobs will be created at E.ON managed call centres in Bedford, Bolton, Leicester, Nottingham and Rayleigh as a result of the work being transferred from India back to the UK.

Powergen has used Indian call centres for five years but MD Nick Horler said customers will get better quality service from UK call centres.

He said in a statement: "When customers contact us they need to be confident that their query will be fully resolved quickly. Although the cost of overseas outsourcing can be low, we're simply not prepared to achieve savings at the risk or expense of customer satisfaction."