Water shortage compensation doubles for businesses

South East Water (SEW) has agreed to double to £1.2m its compensation fund for local businesses impacted by the winter water outages, a Kent MP has said.

Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin, who discovered that losses incurred by businesses in his constituency exceeded the initial £600,000 sum proposed, spoke after meeting with SEW's interim chair in Parliament on Tuesday.

Having dubbed that primary figure "completely inadequate" and "insulting", the Lib Dem member described SEW's decision to now expand the size of the fund as "a significant victory".

SEW said it is "fully committed" to ensuring "every single customer and business receives what they are entitled to".

SEW will also be extending the deadline for businesses to submit compensation claims by two weeks, the BBC understands.

That means people will now have until 19 June to submit claims, while SEW intends to distribute successful applications by the end of August.

Martin said he hoped the extension will encourage more businesses to seek redress, while a special parliamentary debate, also held on Tuesday, saw MPs from Kent and Sussex urge action to ensure residents receive a reliable water service.

"It's been an ongoing battle, but this a significant victory for local businesses in Tunbridge Wells still struggling to recover from the financial damage inflicted by SEW's repeated failures," said Martin.

Back in April, he also invited Ofwat's CEO Chris Walters to his constituency to see firsthand the damage caused to local trade.

The regulator has been investigating South East Water since January when around 30,000 homes across Kent and Sussex lost water supplies for several days during severe weather conditions.

Ofwat has also confirmed that water supply failures during last month's heatwave - which left up to 22,000 properties across Kent without water - will be included in its ongoing inquiries.

In addition, it has proposed a £22m fine  for the company due to multiple supply disruptions between 2020 and 2023, which affected nearly 300,000 people.

Apologising, SEW said: "This is not the service our customers expect, nor is it the service we aim to provide.

"We are fully committed to compensating (everyone) fairly for this disruption and have already begun the process to ensure those who are eligible receive what they are entitled to."

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