Essential Energy employees in the Southern Tablelands will be among those impacted by job cuts the company is making across regional NSW.
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More than 165 jobs are expected to go in NSW, but it is staff at Essential Energy offices in Bathurst, Port Macquarie, Taree, Grafton and Lismore that will be the hardest hit.
A spokesperson for Essential Energy confirmed jobs in the Southern Tablelands would also be among those to go, but said it was unclear at this stage how many or in which areas.
More than 2000 jobs have been cut at Essential Energy since 2015, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) said, which has nearly halved the workforce and drastically reduced the skilled front-line workers.
The ETU said the company blamed the Australian Energy Regulator for the cuts, saying the money spent on building, upgrading and replacing infrastructure will be cut by 11.5 per cent during the next five years, while general operating expenses need to be reduced by 3.9 per cent.
ETU secretary Justin Page slammed the announcement and said the use of forced redundancies along with a "hunger games" style competition between workers to hold onto their jobs was causing unnecessary hardship.
Workers have been given until July 10 to respond before forced redundancies are implemented, Mr Page said.
"We are examining every legal and industrial avenue available to stop them," he said.
"Since 2015, when the National Party claimed they'd 'saved' Essential Energy from privatisation, we've seen the workforce absolutely gutted, with nearly half the skilled workers responsible for keeping the lights on across regional NSW shown the door.
"Deputy Premier John Barilaro was big on talk at the Nationals conference last week about being willing to stand up to his Liberal colleagues on issues that matter to regional NSW, well here's his chance to stick up for the bush, demand these jobs be protected, and stop the ongoing gutting of the regional electricity network."
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