{"id":133995,"date":"2023-11-16T17:01:33","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T17:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/?p=133995"},"modified":"2023-11-16T17:01:33","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T17:01:33","slug":"south-east-water-probed-by-watchdog-after-failing-too-many-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/world-news\/south-east-water-probed-by-watchdog-after-failing-too-many-customers\/","title":{"rendered":"South East Water probed by watchdog after &apos;failing too many&apos; customers"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>South East Water being probed by watchdog after &#8216;failing too many&#8217; of its 2.2 million customers &#8216;too often&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The firm is currently the worst performer for supply interruptions, Ofwat said\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>South East Water is being investigated by the watchdog after &#8216;too many customers have been failed too often&#8217; by the supplier.<\/p>\n<p>Ofwat, which regulates water firms in England and Wales, said it is probing possible failures by the utility company to develop and maintain an efficient water supply system.<\/p>\n<p>It comes after the firm imposed a hosepipe ban earlier this year, blaming more people working from home for ramping up demand and &#8216;testing&#8217; its infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>South East Water serves about 2.2million\u00a0households and businesses in Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It is currently the worst performer for water supply interruptions in England and Wales, Ofwat said, with the firm forced to give out bottled drinking water in some areas earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/16\/09\/77870613-12756303-Staff_from_South_East_Water_give_out_bottled_drinking_water_at_H-a-31_1700127183034.jpg\" height=\"427\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Industry watchdog Ofwat has launched an investigation into South East Water over possible supply failures. Pictured: Staff from the firm give out bottled water at Headcorn aerodrome in Kent in June this year<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/16\/09\/77870127-12756303-image-a-25_1700126339813.jpg\" height=\"645\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ofwat announced it was opening the investigation into South East Water on Thursday morning<\/p>\n<p>Over 2022-23 an average of more than three hours of supply was lost per property, compared with the company&#8217;s performance commitment level of about five minutes and 45 seconds, according to the regulator.<\/p>\n<h3>READ MORE HERE:\u00a0 Millions of households set for lower water bills as firms miss targets\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>The firm was summoned to an urgent meeting in June after imposing its hosepipe ban, when it was flagged that its\u00a0supply resilience was below what is expected.<\/p>\n<p>A spell of hot weather led thousands of properties to experience interruptions, low pressure, or have their supply cut off during the summer, with some schools forced to close.<\/p>\n<p>Ofwat chief executive David Black said: &#8216;Providing reliable water supplies is at the heart of a water company&#8217;s responsibilities.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Too many customers have been failed too often by South East Water.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;That&#8217;s why we are now carrying out a thorough investigation into the company and its service to customers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We are clear that water companies must do more to regain public trust and it must start with better service.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Where this does not happen, we will use all of our powers to ensure the sector delivers better value for both customers and the environment.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Ofwat added that the utility firm was categorised as &#8216;lagging behind&#8217; in its latest performance report and had been ordered to publish a plant by the end of November on how it would address its under performance, including in supply interruptions.<\/p>\n<p>The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) said it is supporting Ofwat&#8217;s investigation because customers&#8217; trust in the supplier has been &#8216;undermined by the company&#8217;s repeated poor handling of supply interruptions&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Chief executive Mike Keil said: &#8216;There was considerable anger and frustration among many people who felt unsupported, compounded by the company&#8217;s poor communication.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/16\/09\/77870597-12756303-image-a-27_1700127017730.jpg\" height=\"500\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The utility firm issued a hosepipe ban across large parts of south east England earlier this year<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/16\/09\/77870603-12756303-image-a-40_1700128162981.jpg\" height=\"349\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>A view of Ardingly reservoir in West Sussex in September 2022 when it fell to 30 per cent its normal capacity amid a long heatwave<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Customers have a right to expect better from an essential service provider.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for South East Water said: &#8216;We acknowledge the decision by Ofwat to open this investigation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Resilience forms a major focus for South East Water both now, and as a significant part of our PR24 business plan which has been submitted to Ofwat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We intend to fully cooperate with Ofwat on this matter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;To see the plan go to southeastwater.co.uk\/businessplan.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>In the last 12 months thousands of South East Water customers have been left without running water following a litany of failures.<\/p>\n<h3>READ MORE HERE:\u00a0 South East Water slumps to a \u00a374m loss due to extreme weather as sector struggles under \u00a365bn debt load<\/h3>\n<p>Burst pipes from freeze-thaw hit 286,000 properties in December, while hot weather in June left 6,000 homes with water interruptions, low pressures or having their supply cut off. A number of schools were also affected.<\/p>\n<p>The company said that soaring temperatures are continuing to impact its ability to supply drinking water to all customers, leading it to impose a hosepipe ban across Sussex and Kent that came into force on 26 June.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Following six weeks with almost no rainfall, demand for water consistently exceeded the capacity at which we can supply all our customers,&#8217; it said.<\/p>\n<p>Weeks after the summer chaos the firm, which has paid two of its bosses \u00a31.7million combined in pay and bonuses over two years, announced it had slumped to a \u00a374million loss.\u00a0South East Water blamed the 2022 heatwave and extreme weather for this.<\/p>\n<p>The company admitted that it lost 92million litres of water a day through leaks on a three-year rolling average in 2021\/22.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Following the supply issues in the summer, which saw South East Water issue the first hosepipe ban in the country this year, Ofwat wrote to the firm to demand a meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ofwat boss David Black said June the &#8216;resilience of supplies is well below what would be expected&#8217; and revealed his concern at the hosepipe ban being brought in during the first hot weather of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Black claimed South East Water is one of the sector&#8217;s worst performers and it needs &#8216;transformative change&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12756303\/Watchdog-probe-South-East-Water-failing-customers-supply.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South East Water being probed by watchdog after &#8216;failing too many&#8217; of its 2.2 million customers &#8216;too often&#8217; The firm&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>South East Water probed by watchdog after &amp;apos;failing too many&amp;apos; 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