South East Water Ordered To Spend £30.5m After Supply Failures

South East Water has been ordered to spend £30.5 million on improvements after repeated water supply failures affected thousands of customers across Kent and Sussex.

Water regulator Ofwat said the money will come from the company's shareholders rather than through customer bills, following three investigations into the firm's performance.

The package will include funding for free water butts for households, faster rollout of smart meters for businesses and additional on-site water storage to help manage demand.

South East Water has apologised for the disruption, saying it accepts the failures identified by Ofwat.

The regulator previously proposed a £22 million fine over supply problems between 2020 and 2023, which affected more than 286,000 people.

A further investigation was launched after interruptions between November and January left up to 70,000 homes without water across Kent and Sussex.

Some customers were unable to use taps, shower or flush toilets, while schools were forced to close.

Ofwat said South East Water failed to communicate clearly and quickly enough with customers and did not provide enough bottled water supplies during the disruption.

The company will also fund an independent monitor to oversee its improvement plan.

Ofwat executive director Helen Campbell said:

"These failures have caused real disruption and hardship for residents and businesses across many years, and supply interruptions of this scale have happened far too often."