Image description: A person holding out a glass filled with water. The glass is in sharp focus while the person is blurred in the background. Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash.
Ofwat fines South East Water £22m
Ofwat has announced South East Water is to be fined £22m for repeated supply failures in Kent and Sussex between 2020 and 2023 that affected more than 280,000 people.
In a statement, Ofwat said an investigation found that South East Water “failed to plan sufficiently, 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 added that the company “failed to maintain key infrastructure such as service reservoirs, boreholes and major pipes” which the watchdog said “left the system more likely to fail during prolonged dry periods or freeze thaw events”.
The utility firm is now under a separate investigation for outages that occurred just before Christmas in 2025, which left tens of thousands of residents in Kent and Sussex without water for up to a week, many of them in Tunbridge Wells. This prompted the environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, to call for the regulator to review the company’s operating licence.
South East Water “respects the court’s decision” on injunction
Chris Walters, Ofwat’s interim chief executive has reportedly said the fine would be paid by the company and “won’t show up on customers’ bills”.
A spokesperson for South East Water said: “We recently filed for judicial review of an Ofwat draft decision and sought an injunction. Following a hearing, the court did not grant the interim injunction. We respect the court’s decision on this.
“We are now considering Ofwat’s draft decision and will respond via the appropriate channels, ahead of its final decision.”
Are fines the same as accountability?
The environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, said: “Water supply disruptions … are thoroughly unacceptable. It is entirely right South East Water is held to account.
“Our water reforms will make companies put their customers first.”
However, prominent water campaigner Feargal Sharkey’s disagrees that this is the same as accountability, saying it “has been proven time and time again, fining these companies is nothing but a charade.
“These fines rarely if ever get paid, shareholders rarely if ever take money out of their pockets to pay them and invariably water companies negotiate some sort of deal so that ultimately it doesn’t cost them a penny.”
Instead, Sharkey believes that “Ofwat needs to start revoking operating licences and government needs to order them to start that process today.”
Jonathan Hawker, chair of local community group Dry Wells Action similarly feels the cost of the fines will be unloaded on to customers: “This £22m fine, yet again, highlights the shortcomings of the organisations that are supposed to be representing consumers’ interests.
“Given that South East Water has £1.3bn in debt on a turnover of less than £300m, from which it made a loss of almost £20m last year, it should be obvious to Ofwat that consumers will end up paying this fine either through increases in water bills or through the additional cost of debt at the company.
“We are extremely disappointed that there is no action to impose leadership on this company, or to force upon it a remedial action plan for urgent improvements and expansion of the infrastructure serving Tunbridge Wells.”