Ofwat launches probe into South East Water over supply outages

South East Water is under investigation by the industry watchdog after repeated outages since November have left tens of thousands of households and businesses without supply across Kent and Sussex.

Ofwat said it had launched a probe into whether the supplier had complied with its customer service standards obligations and offered appropriate support to affected customers during supply failures.

The latest incident has seen thousands of properties in Kent and Sussex left without drinking water for the sixth day running, with South East Water (SEW) blaming the outage on Storm Goretti causing burst pipes and power cuts.

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

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 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.”

Published: 15/01/2026 by Radio NewsHub