ENERGY firm United Utilities has announced plans to axe 500 jobs.

The firm, which supplies water, gas and electricity, will make 350 redundancies in the North West and another 150 elsewhere in the UK and abroad.

The business, which has its headquarters in Warrington, said it hoped to avoid compulsory redundancies.

A spokesman said: “Like other UK water companies, United Utilities is having to make efficiency savings in order to keep bills affordable for our customers, while delivering the investment that the region’s water and wastewater network requires.

“As part of this process, by March, we will have reduced our headcount by 500 across the whole group.

“We are confident that the vast majority, if not all, of these reductions will be achieved by voluntary means.”