South East Water customers left without supply in Sussex told to expect compensation
Households and businesses across Sussex and Kent were left without water for days in the run up to Christmas
South East Water has apologised to customers in Sussex and Kent who were left with little or no water in the run up to Christmas.
A number of water outages and leaks were reported in parts of the county due to the cold weather.
Water stations were set up in East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells as teams worked to get the network back up and running last week.
Households are now being told to expect some compensation by the end of January, and business owners who had to close as a result of the disruption are being advised to claim on their insurance before any costs can be settled.
The company’s Operations Director, Douglas Whitfield, said: “We are passionate about providing the best possible service to the communities we supply.
“This event has proved to be incredibly difficult for all our customers and South East Water staff who worked hard to resolve things as quickly as possible.
“Now the water network is stable, we will analyse what happened to understand exactly which customers were impacted and for how long.
“We understand the impact the loss of water supplies has on local businesses and we are so sorry for any disruption caused.
“Businesses owners who had to close due to issues with water supply should claim on their own business insurance. Our insurers will then work with their insurance companies to settle any costs.
“Our household customers do not need to do anything, as soon as our analysis of what happened is complete we will then assess what compensation levels may be applicable in accordance with our Guaranteed Standards of Service.
“Compensation payments to eligible customers will then be paid in the New Year. Customers do not need to contact us to be eligible.
“We would expect to apply the compensation due to household customer accounts by the end of January.”