Ofwat investigation opened into Kent and Sussex water issues

Regulator Ofwat has opened an investigation into South East Water (SEW) after repeated loss of water supplies across Kent and Sussex.

At the height of the problem, 30,000 people had no water and about 10,000 properties remain without a supply.

The Ofwat investigation will consider whether the company has complied with its licence condition to provide high standards of customer service and support.

SEW said: “The company will always fully co-operate with any investigation by our regulators and provide any information required.”

Lynn Parker, Ofwat’s senior director for enforcement, said: “The last six weeks have been miserable for businesses and households across Kent and Sussex with repeated supply problems.

“We know that this has had a huge impact on all parts of daily life and hurt businesses, particularly in the run up to the festive period.

“That is why we need to investigate and to determine whether the company has breached its licence condition.”

The investigation was started after the prime minister said the situation, which affected 30,000 customers at its height, was “clearly totally unacceptable” and asked Ofwat to review the company’s licence.

Mike Keil, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water, said SEW customers were “feeling anxious and uncertain every time they turn on the tap”.

“Launching this investigation sends a signal not only to SEW but to all water companies that how you treat people during disruption matters,” he said.

“We want to see this investigation conducted swiftly as customers of SEW are impatient for change after suffering repeated service failures, compounded by poor communication.”

On Thursday morning, Matthew Dean, SEW’s incident manager, said water had been restored to all of the 16,500 properties in East Grinstead.

Supplies had also been restored to about 2,000 properties in the Loose and Coxheath areas that had been affected, he said.

On Wednesday evening, SEW said it had implemented a new recovery plan for Tunbridge Wells that involved keeping local booster pumps switched off for a further 36 hours.

The 6,500 properties in Tunbridge Wells on the boosted system remain without water after the levels in the area’s drinking water storage tank dropped below the level the boosters could run.

About 8,500 properties in Kent remained without water, Dean said.

SEW said some customers might not see supplies return until Friday after issues first began on Saturday in the wake of Storm Goretti and a power cut at a pumping station.

The company said it would be using 26 tankers to pump water directly into its network while working “around the clock” to fix leaks and bursts.

Ofwat already has an open investigation into SEW’s supply resilience to determine whether it has failed to develop and maintain an efficient water supply system.

The aim was that customers would wake up to a consistent supply by Friday morning.

SEW said its local drinking water storage tanks had not refilled at the speed required, so it had to extend the “outage” to allow it to recover fully.

Bottled water was being delivered to customers on its priority services register who are most in need on top of the more than 25,000 deliveries that had been completed so far.

The company is also due to open four bottled water stations on Thursday at East Grinstead Sports Club, Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club, Odeon Cinema in Tunbridge Wells, and Mote Park Leisure Centre in Maidstone.