Kogeneracja blames redundancies on energy tax

In order to lower costs and increase efficiency Wroclaw-based group of heat and power generating plants, Kogeneracja has announced plans to cut its work force by 20%, which means around 200 employees will lose their jobs by the end of May. As a sweetener to this bitter news, the largest utility traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange is offering its employees severance pay equal to one year's average wages plus bonuses. The move comes almost one year after the introduction of new excise taxes on energy, which pushed Kogeneracja's margins further into negative territory. Kogeneracja is controlled by Electricite de France, which has an approximate 50% stake in the company through several other Polish subsidiaries. After three quarters of 2002 Kogeneracja recorded consolidated losses of over zl. 30 million on revenues of zl. 293 million. (Parkiet, p. 4) A.K.