Energy consultancy Utilitywise is to cut around 50 jobs as part of its changes to operations.

Employees at its Tyneside, Portsmouth and Redditch offices are to be affected.

They have entered a redundancy consultation in an effort to help them with the process.

The company said in a statement: “We expect less than 50 people to actually leave the business as a result of these changes, while at the same time we expect our total overall headcount to grow over the course of the financial year.

“Utilitywise is in the process of creating new roles across the Group as it implements its strategy to focus on activities where it sees opportunities for the highest growth as well as improving the operational efficiency of the business. That means adding more customer facing roles, particularly as Utilitywise focuses on growing its SME business.

“However, as part of the process, a number of current roles will no longer be needed and Utilitywise has today entered into formal consultation with affected employees.”