South East Water to pay £30.5 million after failures

South East Water has been ordered to pay £30.5 million after supply interruptions affected hundreds of thousands of households.

The package follows three investigations into the supplier and includes a previously proposed £22 million fine for water supply failures between 2020 and 2023, which impacted more than 286,000 people.

Industry watchdog Ofwat launched a second probe at the start of this year after further supply interruptions in Tunbridge Wells and across Kent and Sussex between November and January, which left up to 70,000 homes without water.

The third investigation followed the downgrading of South East Water’s credit rating by Moody’s in May, which meant the firm was in breach of its licence condition.

Thousands of customers were left unable to access tap water, shower or flush their toilets during the outages between November and January.

Ofwat added schools were closed, some customers had to cancel work due to childcare issues and others had difficulty dealing with medical conditions.

The watchdog found the company, headquartered in Snodland, Kent, didn’t communicate “clearly and accurately” with customers quickly enough or provide those affected with adequate bottled water supplies.

An independent monitor will be appointed by Ofwat to review South East Water’s performance improvement plan and wider turnaround efforts.

South East Water will pay for the independent monitor, which is not included in the £30.5 million enforcement package.

The redress package – which must be paid for by the firm’s shareholders and not through customer bills – will include £5 million to provide free water butts for households and £5 million to bring forward smart metering to businesses and other non-household customers.

A further £5 million will go towards on-site storage to help manage supply during peak demand.

The firm must additionally earmark £13 million towards its turnaround plan, as well as £1 million for storage and works at vulnerable sites within the area to boost supply resilience.

Helen Campbell, Ofwat executive director of delivery, said: “South East Water must now focus on what matters most – its customers.

“These failures have caused real disruption and hardship for residents and businesses across many years.

“This package is the first step towards full accountability and to improving overall performance, and we welcome the company’s engagement to bring these cases to a conclusion.”

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