Regulator investigating South East Water after supply cut to thousands of homes

South East Water (SEW) is being investigated by regulator Ofwat after repeated outages since November have left tens of thousands of households and businesses across Kent and Sussex without drinking water.

The news came after the government asked the watchdog to review the company's licence.

With some properties entering a sixth day without water, the watchdog said it was investigating whether SEW had breached its licence conditions by failing to meet customer service standards obligations or by offering appropriate support to those affected.

In November and December, Tunbridge Wells suffered a sustained outage, with 24,000 properties in and around the Kent town left without drinkable water for almost two weeks.

Ofwat is already looking into SEW's supply resilience to assess whether it has failed to develop and maintain an efficient water supply systems, which is ongoing.

Lynn Parker, Ofwat senior director for enforcement, said the last six weeks had been "miserable for businesses and households across Kent and Sussex with repeated supply problems.

"We know that this has had a huge impact on all parts of daily life and hurt businesses, particularly in the run-up to the festive period.

"That is why we need to investigate and to determine whether the company has breached its licence condition."

It is the regulator's first investigation into a potential breach of the customer-focused licence condition.

On Tuesday, Ofwat said it was concerned that 23,000 properties were still affected by outages across the counties after Kent County Council declared a major incident the previous day.

SEW blamed power cuts and burst pipes caused by Storm Goretti overnight between Friday and Saturday last week for the disruption to services.

SEW's incident manager, Matthew Dean, said around 8,500 properties across Kent are currently without water but supplies have been restored "to the 16,500 properties in East Grinstead", the majority on Wednesday.

Those still without water include 6,500 properties in Tunbridge Wells using a boosted system after storage tank levels "dropped below" the required mark.

Mr Dean said a new recovery plan for the town was launched at 5.30pm and the firm's aim is that on Friday morning, for customers will "wake up to a consistent water supply".

SEW was extending the outage as "local drinking water storage tanks have not refilled at the speed required".

He said "around 2,000 properties will be experiencing intermittent supply, low pressure or no water this morning [Thursday] in the south Tonbridge and Bidborough area of Kent.

A similar number of properties in the Loose and Coxheath areas have had supplies restored.

Mr Dean said "we are very sorry to all our customers who have been and continue to be affected. We know and understand how difficult going without water for such a long period of time is and how difficult it makes everyday life".

Mike Keil, the chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water, said many customers will conclude that SEW "has lost its ability to provide a reliable water supply. Customers are feeling anxious and uncertain every time they turn on the tap".

He said SEW customers "are impatient for change after suffering repeated service failures, compounded by poor communication".

In a statement, SEW incident manager Matthew Dean supplies "have now been returned to 15,000 properties in East Grinstead and supplies should be returned to the remaining 1,500 properties tonight [Wednesday].

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On its website, the firm said it was "extremely sorry to all customers who currently have no water or low pressure," along with details of affected areas and locations of six bottled water stations, three in each county.

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