16 Jul 2026
Photo credit: Luis Tosta South East Water will pay £30.5 million and submit to independent oversight following years of supply disruption across Kent and Sussex. The package concludes three Ofwat investigations into repeated supply interruptions, customer service failings and the company’s recent credit rating downgrade. It will be funded entirely by shareholders rather than through customer bills. […]
04 Jun 2026
Photo by Jonathan Cooper on Unsplash Communication, not supply, was the breakdown A new report jointly commissioned by Ofwat and the Consumer Council for Water has concluded that communication, rather than supply failure itself, was the clearest and most consistent breakdown in South East Water’s response to two major disruptions last winter. Fewer than one in […]
28 May 2026
Image description: An outdoor water tap in sharp focus, with a blurred green background. Photo by Luis Tosta on Unsplash Record heat, record demand Across the UK’s hottest May bank holiday on record, temperatures hit 35°C at Heathrow and South East Water in Kent and Sussex found its system pushed beyond capacity. Demand peaked at 670 […]
14 May 2026
Image description: Close-up of wastewater treatment. Image credit: Pixabay. A significant local commitment Southern Water has announced a £42m programme of infrastructure works targeting sewage spills, storm overflows and pollution incidents across Folkestone and Hythe in Kent. The investment, unveiled at a public event in Folkestone this past week, will focus on wastewater treatment […]
06 May 2026
Image description: Rows of bottled water. Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash Chair steps down following parliamentary report highlighting poor leadership The chair of South East Water (SEW), Chris Train, has resigned following the publication of a highly critical report by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee, which accused the company of […]
19 Mar 2026
Image description: A housebuilder working on the frame of a house-building project. Photo by Josh Olalde on Unsplash House-building plans in Kent are in jeopardy after South East Water has warned that it has the capacity to supply water to only one third of all the new homes being planned. The blueprint for 23,000 […]
22 Jan 2026
The water industry regulator, Ofwat, has formally launched an investigation into South East Water after thousands of households across Kent and Sussex were left without supply for the second time in two months. The probe will examine whether the company failed in its legal duty to provide high standards of customer service and adequate support […]
08 Jan 2026
Image description: Water streaming out of a silver tap. Image by Imani on Unsplash. The Chief Executive of South East Water (SEW), David Hinton, appeared before Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee in Westminster to face questioning over the utility’s handling of the Tunbridge Wells water outage, which left thousands of homes […]
