Ofwat has opened an investigation into South East Water following a series of supply interruptions which have left thousands of households and businesses in Kent and Sussex without their water supply.

The water regulator said it would investigate how the company has complied with its customer-focused licence condition.

This is in place to ensure that water companies provide appropriate support to their customers in the vent something goes wrong, including during supply interruption incidents.

Tunbridge Wells suffered a sustained outage in November and December, and there have been further supply problems at the start of January caused by freeze-thaw events following the cold snap, as well as further issues with Storm Goretti causing outages which has led to more than 30,000 homes losing supply intermittently.

Ofwat senior director for enforcement, Lynn Parker, 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.”

Ofwat already has an ongoing investigation into South East Water’s supply resilience to determine whether it has failed to develop and maintain an efficient water supply system.

---