South East Water has faced renewed criticism after a report revealed the company failed to adequately communicate with customers during widespread outages last winter. The water supply crisis left tens of thousands of households across Kent and Sussex without water, and fewer than one in 10 customers expressed satisfaction with the company's handling of the situation, according to the consumer council for water.
Report Highlights Communication Failures
The report concluded that South East Water's greatest failing was its lack of communication with affected customers. Mike Keil, chief executive of the consumer council for water, stated: "Our research lays bare the scale of disruption inflicted on the lives of tens of thousands of South East Water customers last winter. People understand that things can sometimes go wrong with their water and sewerage services, but they expect their water company to minimise the impact – not make it worse."
He added that the loss of confidence among customers in the safety and reliability of their drinking water may be the most damaging legacy of the crisis.
Winter Disruption Details
The winter outages began in November and December when around 24,000 customers in the Tunbridge Wells area lost water supply or pressure due to a water quality failure at the Pembury Water Treatment Works. A precautionary boil water notice was issued on 3 December 2025 and lifted on 12 December 2025. Then, in January, approximately 69,000 properties were hit with water shortages and low pressure.
One customer surveyed for the report remarked: "You suddenly realise how much you rely on water for everything." Another customer criticised the confusing messaging: "I think the messaging from the very beginning was very confusing and then coupled with the constant 'it'll be back later today, back tomorrow morning, back tomorrow evening.' We weren't fed accurate information."
Vulnerable Customers Affected
People with health vulnerabilities expressed concerns about maintaining hygiene during the outages. The report found that about half of customers in vulnerable circumstances who were registered for priority services said they did not receive the expected support.
Recent Outages Add to Criticism
The report was published as South East Water faced further criticism for water outages during the hottest days of the year last week, leaving hundreds of households across Kent and Sussex without water. The company stated on Tuesday that all affected households should have their taps running consistently again. Hundreds of customers experienced intermittent supply or no running water from 23 May.
This follows accusations of incompetence from a committee of MPs this month, who stated that the company had comprehensively failed to deliver for its customers. South East Water also faces a £22 million fine from industry regulator Ofwat over serious disruptions to water supply over many years.
