Romanian thermal electricity producer Complexul Energetic Oltenia laid off nearly 2,000 employees in June, paying them up to six gross average salaries as compensation. The company has externalized another 1,070 people, so the number of employees now reaches 15,400.

The producer’s representatives said that the company didn’t plan to lay off more employees this year, reports local Mediafax.

“The workforce restructuring will lead to an increase in work productivity from 657 MWh per employee in 2014 to 771 MWh per employee in 2015.”

The renewable energy producers have influenced the decrease in selling prices on the domestic energy market, so that the thermal producer was forced to adopt measures to increase productivity, said the company’s representatives.

In February, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Commission asked the Government to massively and radically restructure Romania’s two largest thermal electricity producers, Complexul Energetic Oltenia and Complexul Energetic Hunedoara. The Government initially declined the proposal, but in the end agreed.

editor@romania-insider.com