Team to oversee South East Water improvement plans

A team has been appointed to oversee turnaround plans at South East Water after three investigations found repeated failures at the company.

Consultants Grant Thornton will track South East Water's enforced investment after Ofwat found issues with the water company's governance, operations and financial resilience in July.

South East Water was ordered to spend £30.5m on a range of improvements after supply issues hit thousands of homes in Kent and Sussex.

A spokesperson for South East Water said it would "work closely with the appointed independent monitor" and looked forward to "proactively evidencing the work we are doing, collaboratively".

Helen Campbell, Ofwat's delivery director, said: "We have been encouraged by the change in tone of the company's new chief executive and their willingness to accept responsibility to put things right.

"This appointment is the next step forward towards a more secure and resilient future for South East Water."

The water company would foot the bill for the £6m independent monitor contract and the cost would not affect customer bills, Ofwat said.

The independent monitor will initially report to Ofwat on South East Water's progress with its investments, as well as other steps it is taking, for two years.

If needed, the arrangement can also be extended for a further two years, until October 2030.

Water supply failures hit customers in Kent and Sussex between 2020 and 2023, impacting more than 286,000 people and prompting an investigation by the regulator.

Ofwat launched a second probe at the start of this year after further problems in Tunbridge Wells and across Kent and Sussex between November 2025 and January 2026, which left up to 70,000 homes without water.

A third investigation followed the downgrading of South East Water's credit rating in May, which left the firm in breach of its licence condition.

Included in the £30.5m improvement package is £5m to provide free water butts for households, £5m to bring forward smart metering to businesses and other non-household customers, and a further £5m for on-site storage to help manage the supply during peak demand.

South East Water's new chief executive John Halsall took over in July, replacing David Hinton who resigned in May.

Customers were put under a hosepipe ban in Kent at the beginning of July, and the restrictions were also rolled out to parts of Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire later in the month.

Further restrictions, including removing exemptions for some hosepipe use, came into force on 9 October.

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