South East Water facing £30.5m penalty for multiple failures

Troubled South East Water (SEW) is facing a £30.5m redress package for multiple customer service failures, the industry watchdog has announced.

Ofwat said on Tuesday that the company, which has suffered a series of supply interruptions, would have to foot the bill for its shortcomings along with shareholders, rather than place the burden on long-suffering household bills.

The penalty includes the proposed £22m slap on the wrist it received in March for water supply failures in Kent and Sussex between 2020 and 2023, which affected more than 286,000 people.

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The watchdog said its enforcement action also covered further such incidents between November 2025 and January 2026 - when 70,000 homes were left without water during Storm Goretti - and a probe into compliance with the financial conditions of its licence.

Ofwat added that an independent monitor - to be paid for by South East Water - was to be appointed to review the company's performance improvement plan and wider turnaround efforts.

It said that decision, along with the redress package, concluded its investigations.

Customers, however, have endured further disruption, with homes and businesses in Kent suffering supply failures in late May.

Just weeks earlier, amid stinging criticism from community groups and MPs over the running of SEW, its chief executive and chairman left the business.

The watchdog found the company did not communicate "clearly and accurately" with customers quickly enough during disruptions and did not provide those affected with adequate bottled water supplies.

"The final £30.5m package reflects the full extent of failings identified across the supply resilience and customer care investigations and commits the company to fixing the problems identified via a Remediation Plan, including requiring the company to identify the root causes of its operational failures, supported by an independent technical assessment", Ofwat said in its statement.

The package included £13m towards the Remediation Plan, £5m to provide free water butts for households and £1.5m for a community fund to support areas affected by supply failures.

Helen Campbell, Ofwat's executive director for delivery, said: "South East Water must now focus on what matters most - its customers.

"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."

The company responded: "We are incredibly sorry for the historical supply disruptions that affected our ⁠customers across Kent and Sussex... ​we accept the failures identified by Ofwat".

(c) Sky News 2026: South East Water facing £30.5m penalty for multiple failures