South East Water CEO Forgoes Bonus After Outages

The chief executive of South East Water, David Hinton, announced on Tuesday that he would forgo his performance bonus for the current financial year following widespread outrage over multiple water supply outages that left thousands of households in Kent and Sussex without running water late last year and earlier this year.

Hinton, who earned approximately 460,000 pounds in the previous financial year including a 115,000-pound bonus, made the decision during testimony before the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. The outages began in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, where around 25,000 households lost supply for nearly two weeks in the lead-up to Christmas 2024. Disruptions persisted into January 2025, affecting another 25,000 properties across Kent and Sussex. Residents faced severe inconveniences, including inability to shower, bathe, flush toilets or access drinking water, while several schools closed temporarily.

In a statement released after the hearing, Hinton apologized to customers, stating, "We recognise the serious impact this has had on our customers and know that we fell short of what is expected of us." He attributed the failures in part to...