Up to 200 workers in the Black Country face losing their jobs before Christmas after energy giant e.on announced sweeping cuts across the country.

Workers at the former MEB buildings in Kingswinford say they have been told half of the 400-strong workforce will be laid off because of the credit crunch. Engineers who carry out home installations, meter readers and office staff will be among the casualties of the cutbacks.

The news follows this week’s announcement that the company is to slash 400 jobs nationwide to cut costs.

Staff at the company’s High Street base learned of the cuts at a meeting yesterday.

Bosses said workers would have to re-apply for the positions but only half would be taken on. A meter reader who works at the site but did not want to be named, said staff had been told the credit crunch was to blame for the redundancies.

He said: “They had us all in yesterday afternoon and they said they were going to get rid of 50 per cent of the workforce. We’ll mostly be gone by Christmas and we have to reapply for our jobs. They won’t really explain it to us. They said it’s just the economy. We can’t understand it when the place is filled with contractors and IT consultants on £500 a day.”

E.on spokeswoman Emily Highmore today refused to deny 200 jobs will go in Kingswinford, saying as yet “the geography of the cuts is unknown”.

The company confirmed earlier this week it will shed hundreds of jobs making up around 10 per cent of its current UK workforce as part of “streamlining” plans. Bosses hope voluntary redundancies will reduce the number forced out.