South East Water fined £22.5m for ‘repeated supply failures’ in Kent and Sussex | Water industry
South East Water has been fined £22.5 million by Ofwat over repeated supply failures in Kent and Sussex between 2020 and 2023, affecting more than 280,000 people.
While the main cause of water shortages was extreme weather conditions, the water regulator in England and Wales found that the situation was “partly attributable to and/or exacerbated by South East Water’s failures to develop and maintain an effective water supply system”.
This has affected 286,645 customers since 2020, with some customers affected repeatedly. In its proposed enforcement order, Ofwat said:.
In January, Ofwat launched a separate investigation into a series of outages in Kent and Sussex in the run-up to Christmas that left tens of thousands of residents, mostly in Tunbridge Wells, without water for up to a week. This led environment minister Emma Reynolds to ask the regulator to review the company’s operating licence.
Chris Walters, Ofwat’s interim chief executive, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The investigation reveals that South East Water did not take adequate steps to plan and learn from previous events. For example, the big freeze we had in 2018.”
“We all remember the ‘beast from the east’ and it didn’t proactively protect its network. Everything it had to do to avoid lack of supply flexibility, i.e. tanking, storage tanks and storage reservoirs.””
Walters said the penalty would be paid by the company and “will not appear on customers’ bills.”
A spokesman for South East Water said: “We recently sought judicial review of Ofwat’s draft decision and sought an injunction. Following the hearing, the court did not grant an interim injunction. We respect the court’s decision on this matter.
“We are currently assessing Ofwat’s draft decision and will respond through appropriate channels ahead of a final decision.”
Asked why the process had taken three years, Walters said investigations took time, supply disruptions to customers were a “totemic problem” and it was important to get things right.
He added that South East Water “needs to step up and take more ownership of the issue””.
The latest penalty comes a day after another supplier, South West Water, admitted supplying water unfit for human consumption after a parasite outbreak in Devon sickened almost 150 people.
Last May, Britain’s largest water company, Thames Water, received a record fine of £104 million from Ofwat for environmental breaches, including sewer leaks, after failing to effectively operate and manage its treatment works and wastewater networks.
