Employees at Pennant Power's Swansea customer-service operation are waiting to learn what the supplier's failure means for their work. Ofgem has appointed Brightmere to take on about 72,000 customer accounts after Pennant failed on Monday, 6 December. The appointment does not, by itself, tell staff what will happen to their jobs.
Brightmere already has a Swansea contact centre at SA1 Waterfront. That proximity has led employees to ask whether their experience could be used by the receiving supplier, but no staff transfer has been announced. Customer service, employment and the future of the former operation remain different questions.
A Pennant employee, who asked not to be named because they did not want uncertainty about the business to become a conversation about them personally, said colleagues were still trying to obtain clear information. 'We know these accounts and we know the questions people are likely to ask,' the employee said. 'What we do not know is whether there will be somewhere for us to do that work.'
The employee said people were discussing practical matters such as travel and childcare alongside the larger concern about losing a job. Some were looking at vacancies while hoping for a clearer account of what might happen locally. 'You cannot tell somebody at home that you will explain it when you know,' they said. 'They need to plan as well.'
Maxine Doyle, regional officer for the Energy and Customer Services Union, said employees needed direct information about the future of the operation. She said speculation about a customer transfer could easily be mistaken for an employment announcement. 'People should not have to read between the lines of a message written for households to work out what happens to their own livelihood,' she said.
A Brightmere spokesperson said the immediate customer priority was continuity of supply and setting up accounts. The company would contact Pennant households with information about the transfer. Asked about Swansea employment, the spokesperson did not announce an agreement concerning the former supplier's staff or premises.
Brightmere opened its Swansea centre in April 2016 as the hub of its Welsh-language service. The company also has a contact centre at Filton in Bristol. In October it was appointed to receive Clearwell Energy customers, so the Pennant appointment brings another group of households into a service already handling transfer work.
Doyle said staff knowledge should be considered in any discussions about the local operation. She wanted employees to receive information in a form that allowed them to ask questions, rather than hear about developments through customers. The union was not presenting a particular employment outcome as agreed, she said.
The Pennant employee said the ability to keep answering questions could matter to colleagues as well as customers. 'You have spoken to some people about the same problem more than once, and you would like to finish helping them,' they said. 'But wanting that to happen and knowing what is going to happen are quite different things.'