Energy company Npower is expected to cut 2,500 jobs or about 20 per cent of its workforce, in a bid to address its weak financial performance.
The smallest of the "Big Six" energy suppliers, Npower, which is owned by the German energy giant RWE, employs 11,500 people in Britain and is expected to confirm redundancies on Tuesday when it announces its financial results.
It come days before UK competition regulators unveil plans to make the energy market more transparent for consumers after a two-year investigation in the industry.
The company has so far declined to comment on the speculation
RWE, which owns the Didcot power station in Oxfordshire but also plants in Pembroke and Staythorpe in Nottinghamshire, revealed last month it will slump into the red after a £1.6 billion hit on its UK and German power stations.
The company is expecting to register an annual loss of £155 million when it announces its results on Tuesday, bringing its net profit down to £930 million for 2015.
In February, Npower announced it would cut the price of gas by 5.2 per cent from March 28 - reducing the bill of £32 a year for 1.2 million households on a standard domestic tariff.
Like other energy suppliers, RWE is under pressure to cut energy bills for customers in line with the rapid decline of oil prices.
