Ofwat imposes £30.5m penalty on South East Water

Water regulator Ofwat has imposed a 30.5 million pound enforcement package on South East Water following years of supply failures that left hundreds of thousands of customers in Kent and Sussex without running water. The action, announced on July 14, 2026, concludes three separate investigations into the company's operational and financial performance.

The largest component is a previously proposed 22 million pound penalty for water supply failures between 2020 and 2023, which affected more than 286,000 households. A second investigation was launched after further major disruptions between November 2025 and January 2026, when up to 70,000 homes, including in Tunbridge Wells, were left without water for prolonged periods, an event exacerbated by Storm Goretti. The regulator found the company failed to plan sufficiently, leaving its infrastructure vulnerable to extreme weather and periods of high demand.

During these outages, thousands of households were left without access to drinking water, showers, or functioning toilets. Schools were forced to close, some parents missed work, and customers struggled to manage medical conditions. Ofwat also criticized the company for failing to...