Regulator Ofwat has launched an investigation into South East Water after outages have left thousands without drinking water supply across Kent and Sussex.
The news came after the government asked the watchdog to review the company’s licence.
Some properties have been left without water for six days, leading to the watchdog investigating whether the supplier had met its customer service standards obligations and offered appropriate support to affected customers during supply failures.
Issues began on Saturday in the wake of Storm Goretti and a power cut at a pumping station.
On Wednesday evening, the latest outage, around 10,000 were left without water supply throughout the night.
South East Water have said that some customers may not see supplies return until Friday.
Lynn Parker, Ofwat senior director for enforcement, said: “The last six weeks have been miserable for businesses and households across Kent and Sussex with repeated supply problem.
“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.”
Ministers are set to hold an emergency meeting, with over 17,000 homes still remaining without water across Kent and Sussex.
Regulator Ofwat has launched an investigation into South East Water after outages have left thousands without drinking water supply
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Residents were forced to visit designated ‘water collection points’ pick up bottled water amid the shortage
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Ofwat said it was concerned on Tuesday that around 23,000 properties were affected, and it had been declared a major incident earlier in the week.
But while it was confirmed that water had been returned to 8,000 homes, thousands remained without meaning they have endured almost one week without running water.
South East Water’s incident manager Matthew Dean said: “Once again, we are very sorry to all our customers who have been 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.”
Thousands of bottles of water have been handed out
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A similar incident occurred just last month, when 24,000 properties in and around Tunbridge Wells were left without drinking water for nearly two weeks. November also saw water outages for thousands.
On Wednesday, GB News spoke to residents who had been left seething by the outage. One resident told the People’s Channel that the utility provider is “rotten from top to bottom” and “not fit for purpose”.
“We had two weeks with no water at all couldn’t even flush the toilet or drink anything,” they said.
Another said: “The whole organisation is rotten from top to bottom. It’s not fit for purpose. I’d suggest the Government steps in and does something quickly.”
Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells, Mike Martin, has been calling for South East Water chief executive David Hinton to resign for weeks.
And the party’s leader, Ed Davey, questioned Keir Starmer in Prime Minister’s Questions on the crisis on Wednesday.
He saidthe water firm “keeps failing its customers over and over again” and asks if the government would “strip them of their licence”.
The Prime Minister condemned the situation as “clearly totally unacceptable”, adding that ministers have chaired daily emergency meetings during the crisis to “hold the company to account”.
“‘We’ve also doubled the compensation rates for individuals and businesses and we’re absolutely clear the company must urgently invest in infrastructure and we’ll publish the water White Paper in due course,” he added.
South East Water chief executive David Hinton was grilled by MPs for his company’s handling of that crisis last week.
Then, on Tuesday, the Parliamentary Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said they were “deeply sceptical” of South East Water’s versions of events, adding that they plan to recall Mr Hinton to provide further evidence
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