South East Water licence to be reviewed after supply chaos | UK News

South East Water (SEW) is set to have its licence reviewed after thousands of people in Kent and Sussex have faced days of supply chaos.

Issues began on Saturday, with SEW blaming Storm Goretti and a power supply failure at its pumping station.

About 17,000 properties still had no water or were experiencing intermittent supplies on Wednesday afternoon, according to the company.

SEW has apologised repeatedly and said it was working hard to “restore supplies as quickly as possible”.

The government announced on Wednesday it would ask the regulator Ofwat to review South East Water’s licence.

Ofwat can take its licence away, however the threshold is incredibly high.

The government is obliged to give water companies at least 25 years’ notice before it can terminate a licence.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the situation was “clearly totally unacceptable”.

He added ministers had chaired daily emergency meetings during the crisis to “hold the company to account”.

“We’re absolutely clear: the company must urgently invest in infrastructure,” he continued.

Just after 13:30 GMT on Wednesday, South East Water was reporting 17 ongoing interruptions across its network.

Affected areas included Willesborough, Lenham, Peacehaven, Penhurst, Tunbridge Wells, Underling Green, Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead, Loose, Sevenoaks, Coxheath and Haywards Heath.

Several schools have been forced to close since Monday due to the ongoing water supply problems.

One headteacher in Kingwood previously told Radio Kent she was having to spend the school’s budget on supermarket water.

SEW had said supplies would return to affected customers in East Grinstead by Wednesday morning.

However, it warned about 6,500 customers in Tunbridge Wells who had their supplies restored on Wednesday might lose water again.

Nicola Higgins, SEW’s head of commercial development, told Radio Kent she was not sure when water would fully return for customers in the Tunbridge Wells area.

“I cannot confidently say at this moment when our services will be restored completely,” she explained.

The Abergavenny Arms pub in Frant told the it feared it would “go bust” if the water issues continue.

“It’s killing us small businesses,” a spokesperson added.

Ekrem Agveve, manager of restaurant Twenty Nine in East Grinstead, told Radio Sussex how water issues were affecting his business.

“It will take minimum three months to recover from this,” he said.

“We’re down £6,000 or £7,000. Saturday and Sunday are our busiest days and we were closed.”

Isha Chadha, from Tunbridge Wells, said her daughter’s nursery closed early on Wednesday, and her son’s after-school activities had been cancelled because of the water issues.

“It is so stressful and so frustrating because you just can’t plan your day,” she said.

The mother-of-two said she was only getting water at her home between about 07:30 GMT and 10:30 every morning.

“We are just struggling to get everything done within those few hours,” she said.

“It’s just not fair. Families are struggling,” she said.

SEW previously said some of the issues were connected to the recent cold weather and a subsequent breakout of leaks and bursts across the area that left drinking water storage tanks running low.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate has launched an investigation into SEW over the crisis.

SEW is already under two separate investigations.

Several MPs and officials have called for SEW boss David Hinton to step down or to be removed from his role.

Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaren has criticised SEW for “systematic and repeated” failures under his leadership.

“I am afraid that heads must roll,” she said.

Hinton earns a base salary of £400,000 and was paid a £115,000 bonus for his work in 2025.

A South East Water spokesperson said Hinton remained “committed to resolving the immediate issues facing customers…. whilst continuing to seek to obtain investment to deliver much needed improvements”.

Six bottled stations are open on Wednesday across East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells.

In the last eight days, SEW said it had made 24,000 deliveries to customers on our Priority Services Register.

However, one man – who was recovering from a spine injury – told the he had not received any water, despite being on the list.