South East Water

South East Water (SEW) is a water company operating in Kent and Sussex, England. It is currently newsworthy due to significant and repeated failures in its water supply services. Recently, Ofwat fined SEW £22.5 million for supply failures between 2020 and 2023 that affected over 280,000 people. These failures, exacerbated by extreme weather, were attributed to SEW's inadequate infrastructure development and maintenance. More recently, a major incident left 30,000 homes without water for up to a week due to burst pipes and power cuts following Storm Goretti, and another incident occurred due to the wrong chemicals being added to the water supply. The Environment Secretary has called for a review of SEW's operating license, potentially leading to its revocation and special administration. These events highlight serious concerns about SEW's operational competence and its ability to provide reliable water services to its customers.