South East Water increasing bills by 7% after repeated outages
Some 30,000 properties across the two counties were affected by disruptions earlier this month
Last updated 29th Jan 2026
The water company responsible for repeated outages across Kent and Sussex over recent months will raise customer bills, it has been confirmed.
South East Water (SEW) is raising bills by an average of 7% to £324 a year for its customers from April, despite currently facing a probe from Ofwat over thousands of homes and businesses being left without water.
Some 30,000 properties across the two counties were affected by disruptions earlier this month, which SEW blamed on Storm Goretti causing burst pipes and power cuts.
This followed a similar incident from December, where 24,000 customers across Tunbridge Wells were left without drinking water for two weeks.
The company's chief executive, Dave Hinton, has been under intense scrutiny, with MPs saying he's "not up to the job" and needs to be "moved on".
He told the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Committee that the Tunbridge Wells incident was due to an "unexpected failure", and cited global warming and more people working from home as key areas of concern for the company.
On the same day, he was contradicted by Marcus Rink, chief inspector at the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), who said SEW was "flying blind" and that the problem had been identified long before the company took action.
Head of the Efra committee, Alistair Carmichael MP, later recalled Mr Hinton to provide more evidence to the committee as MPs remain "deeply sceptical" about the company's version of events.
Mr Carmichael said: "My colleagues and I remain deeply sceptical about the company's version of events to date, and its board's track record of holding the company to account.
"We would be failing in our duty if we now allowed them without challenge to mark their own homework, let alone on a timescale that will add months to the process."
Ofwat, the industry watchdog, has also launched a probe into whether the supplier has breached its licence condition by failing to comply with customer service standards obligations and offered appropriate support to affected customers during supply interruptions.
It is the first investigation launched by Ofwat into a potential breach of the customer-focused licence condition.
If the regulator decides SEW has breached the conditions and should be stripped of the licence, the supplier could fall into a special administration regime until a new buyer is found.
On Thursday, Water UK said that Ofwat has given approval for a new reservoir in Kent, after being "talked about" for 80 years.
SEW is expected to carry out planning and design work on the new reservoir, which could supply 22 million litres of water a day.
The repeated outages meant businesses and schools had to close for days at a time, with bottled water stations needing to be set up across the counties.
Residents criticised the lack of communication from the company, along with the system for delivering water to vulnerable residents.
In an interview with the BBC this week, Mr Hinton was unable to rule out further outages.
The company has said that their latest business proposes £2.1 billion investment in reducing interruptions, strengthening resilience and improving customer service over the next five years.
Household water bills across England and Wales are increasing by 5.4% on average in April.
The Competitions and Market Authority (CMA) will have to approve SEW's 7% increase in bills before it comes into force.
Tanya Sephton, customer services director at SEW, said: "We know that any increase in costs can be difficult, especially right now, and we haven't taken the decision lightly.
"Over the last few years, we've seen climate change accelerate, population growth, and the way in which people use water change.
"We are committed to delivering the infrastructure investment needed to improve our resilience as we face these challenges."