Large parts of the landmark Fiddlers Ferry power station are due to be shut down by April - raising the risk of compulsory redundancies.
Energy giant SSE announced it wants to cease commercial operations in all but one of the Widnes plants four units, blaming challenging economic and environmental conditions for coal.
The company broke the shock news to its 213-strong workforce today, and announced it was starting a consultation with them. It said the three units were likely to close by April 1.
SSE said it hoped to avoid compulsory redundancies, but couldnt rule them out if no ongoing role could be found for the units earmarked for closure.
SSE said the ageing coal-fired station has been incurring unsustainable losses in recent years and this was expected to continue through to 2020.
The Government has also said it wants to close all coal-fired facilities within a decade, as the UK moves towards a cleaner mix of electricity generation.
The fourth unit at Fiddlers Ferry will be unaffected as it has a contract to provide services to the electricity system for the winter of 2016/17.
SSE said it would be discussing options for future employment within the company with its staff, including any potential decommissioning work at the site. If redundancies were unavoidable, enhanced terms would be be discussed during the consultation process.
Paul Smith, SSE managing director, said Fiddlers Ferry power station had made a big contribution to the UKs energy supplies for over 45 years but that the economic realities of running the ageing plant at a loss could no longer be ignored.
He said: We are fully aware of the impact this will have on our colleagues, their families, and the community and our priority is to support staff during the consultation process.
The reality is the station is ageing, its method of generating electricity is being rendered out of date and it has been and is expected to continue to be loss-making in the years ahead.
Sustaining for too long loss-making power stations would undermine SSEs ability to invest in modern generation plant in the UK.
The UK has committed to ending coal-fired electricity generation by 2025 at the latest as it moves to cleaner forms of generation to meet climate change targets.
