Powergen to end customer call-handling in India

LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) Britain's second-biggest energy supplier, Powergen, said on Thursday all customer calls to it are to be answered in Britain rather than India, leading to 980 UK jobs being created by the year-end.

''Offshore call centres may have their place for certain industries. However, we believe that we can best achieve industry-leading customer service by operating solely in the UK,'' Managing Director Nick Horler said in a statement.

Powergen, owned by German utility E.ON , said it was raising the starting salary for new British-based call centre staff. They would not have call targets ''so advisers are focused on fully resolving a query rather than answering a specific number of calls''.

It also said it was launching new, clearer bills for its six million customers.

REUTERS CS DS1610