£22 million fine for South East Water over repeated supply failures

South East Water will be fined £22m for repeated supply failures, watchdog Ofwat has said.

This fine is related to the interruption of water company supply in Kent and Sussex between 2020 and 2023, affecting more than 286,000 people. The outage is also being investigated in the last four months.

Ofwat said the fine “reflected the seriousness of the issues.” The consultation is open to the public and shareholders until April 13, before the watchdog confirms its final decision.

Chris Walters, interim CEO of Ofwat, said, “South East Water’s significant failings have caused major disruption and had a huge impact on thousands of its customers.

“The company not only failed in its duty to provide a water supply to meet the demands of its customers, but it also failed when it came to providing assistance to customers who lost supply. They should do better.

We want South East Water to take greater responsibility

This investigation aims to address the underlying issues with the company’s supply resilience. We want South East Water to take greater responsibility and get things right for its customers.”

A spokesperson for South East Water said the company had sought an injunction and that it was “now considering Ofwat’s draft decision and will respond through the appropriate channels before making its final decision”.

SEW ‘failed’ to learn from the Beast from the East

In a statement, Ofwat said an investigation found that South East Water “failed to adequately plan, learn from incidents and conduct root cause analysis to maintain resilience within its water supply system, and was therefore unable to cope during periods of high demand or extreme weather.”.

It said the company “failed to maintain key infrastructure such as service reservoirs, boreholes and major pipes,” which the watchdog said “makes the system more likely to fail during prolonged dry periods or freeze-thaw events.”

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Ofwat said, “As a result of the disruption, customers were without tap water, were unable to shower, and were unable to flush their toilets, causing extreme stress and anxiety.”

“The Ofwat investigation found that the company’s response was slow and disorganised, there was a shortage of bottled water and there were not enough tankers or support for vulnerable customers.

“It also failed to learn lessons from past events, including the Beast from the East in 2018.”

An Ofwat report at the time of the blizzard found that homes and businesses were affected. Some water companies disappointed badly.

More than 200,000 customers in England and Wales were without water for more than four hours, while more than 60,000 customers were without water for more than 12 hours.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said the disruption in water supplies was “completely unacceptable.”

“It is absolutely right that Ofwat is holding South East Water to account… a reliable water supply is not optional. Water companies must put their customers first and provide people with the services they deserve.”

Mike Keil, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), said, “The people of Kent and Sussex will rightly want to know whether this fine will make a difference to the reliability of the service they receive from the company.

“Customers are fed up with the worry and uncertainty of whether their taps will run dry every time the weather changes.”

From 2018: Blizzard conditions at Kent resort

Investigation into 2025 outage continues

It comes amid an ongoing Ofwat investigation into the water company after thousands of homes and businesses in Kent and Sussex were left without drinking water following repeated power outages between November and January.

Sky News City editor Mark Kleinman also reported last month that a community action group in Tunbridge Wells had called for the South East Water chief executive to be “immediately” sacked after weeks of interruption.

Read more:
Group fighting amid Kent’s ‘water crisis’

Since January: No water in 25,000 houses

In May last year, Thames Water was fined a record £122.7m for violating its rules on sewage discharge and dividend payments.