South East Water to pay £30.5m after repeated supply failures

South East Water will pay £30.5 million after investigations by Ofwat into repeated supply failures that affected households across Kent and Sussex. Ofwat says the redress package ends three investigations into the supplier and includes a previously proposed £22 million fine for supply failures between 2020 and 2023 impacting more than 286,000 people. A second probe launched at the start of the year followed further interruptions from November to January, when up to 70,000 homes in Tunbridge Wells and across Kent and Sussex lost water. The third investigation came after Moody’s downgraded the company’s credit rating in May, putting South East Water in breach of a licence condition. Ofwat will appoint an independent monitor at the firm’s cost to review its improvement plan. The £30.5 million enforcement package will not be paid through customer bills and includes £5 million for free water butts, £5 million to accelerate smart metering for businesses, and £5 million for on-site storage during peak demand, plus £13 million earmarked for turnaround work and £1 million for storage and works at vulnerable sites.