People collect bottled water at a water station in East Grinstead, after South East Water blamed bad weather for more water outages in Kent and parts of Sussex, January 13, 2026.WATER privatisers are treating the system as an ATM, campaigners said today as South East Water (SEW) confirmed bills will rise to an average of £324 a year from April.
The increase comes as the company faces an Ofwat investigation after thousands of homes and businesses were left without water in recent weeks.
About 30,000 properties across Kent and Sussex were affected earlier this month, which SEW blamed on Storm Goretti causing burst pipes and power cuts.
This followed a similar incident in December, when 24,000 customers in Tunbridge Wells were left without drinking water for up to two weeks.
Ofwat is also investigating whether SEW breached customer service obligations, marking its first probe under the regulator’s customer-focused licence condition.
If breaches are confirmed, the company could be placed into special administration.
…
Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/water-privatisers-treating-system-atm-campaigners-say-bills-set-hike
