ScottishPower2 Chairman Ignacio Galan has outlined details of 340 new roles in Scotland to support the company’s retail business. Speaking at the Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference, where Mr Galan announced the new Scottish jobs, he said that the energy industry has an important role to play as an engine of economic growth.
The company has created an additional 300 customer service jobs in Glasgow as part of their ongoing commitment to offer the highest levels of service for all of its retail customers. Following a retendering process and to strengthen their existing team, ScottishPower has agreed a 3 year contract with Glasgow-based RESPONSE to provide inbound call handling customer service for the company’s gas and electricity account holders. The 300 jobs include customer service agents, team managers and operational managers.
At the same time, a further 40 new jobs have also been created to support the company’s Home Comfort products, which includes boiler maintenance. The contract to support the Home Comfort service has been awarded to Sierra Support Services, and will create around 40 roles from boiler engineers to back office support staff.
Mr Galan also discussed ScottishPower’s wider plans to invest billions of pounds over the next decade, which will create at least 1,500 jobs in upgrading the electricity network alone. As part of this recruitment drive, 300 engineers, apprentices and trainee positions were announced back in February and last month, the company welcomed over 100 graduates, apprentices and students who have started out on a new career in energy with ScottishPower.
Speaking at the Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference Mr Galan said: “Despite global financial uncertainty, the energy sector has the potential to become an engine of economic growth and recovery. Indeed, more than ever, the industry´s role as driver of investment and job creation will be crucial for future prosperity.”
Outlining the new customer service roles, Neil Clitheroe, ScottishPower’s CEO of Retail and Generation, said: “Providing high levels of customer service is one ScottishPower’s key priorities. Over the last 12 months we have taken major strides forward in improving our customer service. These improvements have been recognised by a number of consumer groups, including Consumer Focus and Which? magazine. The new roles will help to support our continued focus on customer service improvements. The Glasgow area has a strong talent pool that is attractive for recruiters and we are delighted to be able to continue to offer employment opportunities in the City.“
Media information: Simon McMillan 0141 614 4582/ 07753 622 257
Recent ScottishPower employment announcements include:
300 new engineering and technical jobs as part of a £6bn investment the Group is making to upgrade the electricity network in central and southern Scotland which in total, will create up to 1,500 jobs in the next 8 years;
A new office complex, which will be located on the corner of St Vincent Street and India Street, in Glasgow and will start construction in 2013 with completion by late 2015. The new building is set to accommodate approximately 1500 ScottishPower people and the project will be the largest single occupier office development in Glasgow for approximately 25 years.