Energy giant npower is today expected to announce plans to move 1,400 jobs to India and transfer hundreds of others to another company.

The announcement is expected to affect a number of call centres across the UK.

Speculation has been rife for weeks that around 2,000 jobs were under threat because of outsourcing plans and moving work abroad.

It is understood that frontline call centre operations will be outsourced to a third party in the UK, with back-office work moved to India.

The expected news follows a number of cost-saving announcements from npower since its German owner RWE said earlier this month that 6,750 jobs would be cut across Europe.

Neither npower nor unions would comment on the speculation, b ut an industry source told the Press Association that 1,400 jobs will be offshored to India and around 570 transferred to another company.

The move is likely to spark renewed anger from politicians over the state of the energy market, and soaring energy bills faced by consumers.

An npower spokesman said: "As we announced a couple of months ago, npower has been undertaking a major review of sites, operations and people across the UK.

"We've been doing this to improve our customer service and keep our costs down, at a time of external pressures on customers' bills. As we've always said, we'll tell our people first and then inform the media."

The Unison union attacked the expected decision as a "Christmas nightmare for staff and customers", and warned the company it will backfire badly by damaging its reputation further among UK customers.

National officer Matthew Lay said: "n power have consistently let their customers and staff down by not investing enough in the workforce, technology or in the latest customer service techniques.

"This has led to a huge number of complaints which the company seems to think they can deal with by shifting the responsibility to somewhere else, including to India.

"If the company goes ahead with this disastrous plan, it will backfire badly, damaging their already tarnished reputation for customer service.

"At a time when unemployment is high, what commitment does it show to the UK by shipping these much-needed jobs abroad? And what does this say about their commitment to staff when npower have kept them on tenterhooks, waiting for the axe to fall, for weeks?"

The GMB union said sites at Peterlee, Thornaby, near Middlesbrough and Stoke will close.

Colin Smith, the GMB's Northern Region senior organiser, said: "This is about cost of living, bad management and naked greed.

"At this time of the year when the Christmas lights are being turned on for most people, npower workers, their families and communities have no yuletide greetings.

"They have only fear from a company only interested in their fat cat salaries and what they can get out of consumers who are paying ever higher energy prices so corporate bureaucrats can get fatter as their reward for failure.

"Our lay representatives and members have been working hard for years with npower to make the North East sites return consistent profitability.

"It is an absolute scandal that a company like npower can operate as a cartel player in a captive market, while jobs are placed offshore, we import energy and the npower chief executive cocks a snook at the regulators and taxpayer by taking his annual bonus.

"GMB will vigorously campaign against the offshoring of jobs to India because it has absolutely nothing to do with customer service and everything to do with cost.

"GMB want elected politicians and the regulators to act quickly to an unsustainable situation. Only a co- ordinated response by elected politicians and regulators with a proper inquiry to look into power company practices, the operation of the market and the supply of energy, will save the day."