𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Troubled South East Water must pay £30.5 million after investigations by the industry watchdog following supply interruptions affecting hundreds of thousands of households across Kent and Sussex.

Ofwat said the redress package concludes 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.

The regulator 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.

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.

Helen Campbell, executive director of delivery at Ofwat, 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, and supply interruptions of this scale have happened far too often.

“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.”

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

Schools were closed and some customers had to cancel work due to childcare issues as a result while others had difficulty dealing with medical conditions, according to Ofwat.

The watchdog found the company did not communicate “clearly and accurately” with customers quickly enough and did not provide those affected with adequate bottled water supplies.

“The final £30.5 million package reflects the full extent of failings identified across the supply resilience and customer care investigations and commits the company to fixing the problems identified,” Ofwat said.

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, £5 million to bring forward smart metering to businesses and other non-household customers, as well as a further £5 million for on-site storage to help manage their supply during peak demand.

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