HUNDREDS of jobs at power giant TXU are expected to go over the next few months, The Evening Star reveals today.Staff at the fallen energy giant are expecting more than half of them to lose their jobs within a year.

By Paul Geater

HUNDREDS of jobs at power giant TXU are expected to go over the next few months, The Evening Star can reveal today.

Staff at the fallen energy giant are expecting more than half of them to lose their jobs

within a year.

Employees say that morale at the company has slumped to an all-time low.

"We're just waiting for the next

announcement – it's not a question of whether there will be job losses but when the axe will fall," one insider told the Star.

TXU's retail arm was taken over by German-owned Powergen last week after the company got into serious financial difficulties.

Powergen bought TXU's Wherstead Park headquarters in the deal, but not the new

building currently being put up in Russell Road.

At present about 500 people are employed at Wherstead. A further 700 are employed in leased buildings around Ipswich, notably Constantine House and Suffolk House in Civic Drive.

Powergen took over the leases on these buildings, but the leases are due to expire soon after the planned completion date for the Russell Road building next summer.

Staff and outside observers believe that eventually Powergen will employ just 500 people in the Ipswich area – at the Wherstead Park site.

That would mean 700 current employees could eventually lose their jobs.

Job losses on such a scale could have a devastating effect on the local economy.

Many TXU employees are very well paid and pump a substantial amount of money back into the local economy, in shops, restaurants and other businesses.

Many staff there earn more than £40,000 a year, and senior managers earn as much as £100,000.

If this kind of money leaves the area, it could have a knock-on effect.

Powergen has said it intends to retain a "substantial" presence in the Ipswich area – but no-one from the company will say exactly what this means.

"The deal was concluded last week very quickly and details like this have still not been worked out," said a spokeswoman today.

"No major restructuring can be carried out until the results of the European Union investigation into the merger have been

published.

"That will take a minimum of four to five weeks, it could be longer – there will be no announcements about restructuring or job losses by Powergen until then," she added.

Powergen has a licence to use the TXU Energi brand name for a time, but eventually the name will be replaced.

"We cannot say how long we will use the TXU name – it is too premature to say

anything about that," the spokeswoman added.

The company has bought the sponsorship deal with Ipswich Town as part of the TXU deal – but again it said any suggestion that Town players could be playing with "Powergen" on their shirts next season was "pure speculation".