What compensation South East Water offers and how to claim

South East Water is assessing what compensation is available to customers impacted by supply problems in Kent.

About 22,000 properties were affected at the peak of issues in May, which the firm attributed to "exceptionally high demand, following the period of hot weather".

This came after supply disruption for tens of thousands in the Tunbridge Wells area starting in November, followed by more problems across Kent and Sussex in January.

South East Water customers are entitled to set amounts of compensation under a scheme mandated by the regulator Ofwat.

The payments are automatically paid to household accounts in the amounts set out by the firm's guidance.

There are different standards for compensating business customers, which see them receive different sums.

The water company said it had "begun the process of reviewing all customers and businesses impacted by the May supply interruptions" to see what they are due.

Payments have already been made relating to the previous incidents, according to the firm.

For each continuous 12-hour period without supply, customers are due £50.

Anybody experiencing low pressure is entitled to £50 compensation if they can prove two incidents within 28 days, up to a maximum of £250 per year.

There is also compensation available for water quality problems for more than 48 hours, such as when residents were told to boil their water before consumption for a nine-day period in December.

This works out at £20 per day.

These rules meant a typical households affected by the problems starting in November were entitled to £680.

Commercial customers buy their water supply via separate companies called water retailers.

These are intermediaries that buy water wholesale from South East Water and sell it to companies. They handle the customer correspondence.

South East Water says it is water retailers' responsibility to apply compensation to the accounts of affected businesses.

South East Water appointed lawyers to manage an extra fund to compensate Tunbridge Wells businesses following the problems before Christmas in 2025.

Companies could apply for the extra help, with evidence of their losses, until 19 June after the deadline was extended.

The value of the fund was also increased to £1.2m.

South East Water has not made any announcement about a similar scheme for the subsequent major incidents.

Some Tunbridge Wells business reported making claims to the scheme while the town's business improvement district encouraged others to do the same before the deadline.

Some customers said they started keeping bottled water at home or installed rainwater butts after losing confidence in their supply.

South East Water came under fire from local MPs, consumer groups and a parliamentary committee, among others.

The firm apologised to customers and said it was changing the way it responded to supply interruptions, as well as accelerating its infrastructure upgrades.

In May, South East Water confirmed the exit of the company's chair and chief executive after earlier supply problems.

Ofwat has been investigating South East Water since January over its response to incidents.

The regulator has proposed fining the water company £22m over separate incidents between 2020 and 2023.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate also launched an investigation into the firm over the winter supply failures.

The rating agency Moody's downgraded South East Water's credit rating in May, citing the fallout from supply failures and "continued resilience risk".

The company confirmed this affected the conditions of its licence and that it was engaging with Ofwat to return to compliance.

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