to wonder WTF is going on at South East Water.

[JenniferBooth]

Im not in their area but have seen yet again on the news that their customers are yet again without water. Priority customers arent getting deliveries of bottled water. Ppl are being expected to drive miles to collect it. Schools are closed Absolute shit show.

They are thoroughly incompetent.

Has been some talk of a class action by Tunbridge Wells residents, given the issues before Xmas and the new issues right now.

Local MP has been very active, to be fair, but little other than shareholders or the government can do about it. Water regulator a waste of space.

We and others have bought a small number of shares in order to be able to raise issues when their AGM comes around.

A friend lives there and has a newborn baby. No water at any shops and all the water stations from the water company have zero supplies left

Oh really! Maybe he’ll be passing on the details then!

My SIL and BIL are in the affected area and I took them a fan heater and a convector heater yesterday so they can at least get warm. They're taking their laundry to MIL's and showering there, but it's a 40 mile round trip.

They've put a load of plastic crates out in the garden to catch rain water, so they can use it to flush the bog, which I thought was pretty enterprising.

And Mims Davies, East Grinstead MP, delivered a blistering attack on Emma Hardy yesterday

The other water companies will be watching, and if SE Water get away with this...

Just seen on the news that they STILL havent resolved this WTF is the matter with them.

What if you havent got relatives you can visit.

I remember once when we had no water due to boiler packing up we used the shower at the local leisure centre. Has anyone thought of that although they might not have any water themselves?

Not being able to flush the loo has to be the grimmest thing.

Where are they suggesting people shower?!

Horrendous situation for everyone in the area. You mention priority customers but isn't water a necessity for everyone???

I would stop paying if you’re going without water for days.
How has this got to this stage!

Lots and lots of lovely profits for the owners. Fuck the consumers, it's not like they can go elsewhere. And fuck ofwat too, they are toothless.

Yay profits

Years ago it was known that there were risks of water shortages in South east England due to overhousing. That plus water companies being notorious at skimping on infrastructure.

I suspect it’s an issue which won’t be solved overnight. The problem with the urgent housing shortage is that people are steaming ahead without considering the resources impacts. I believe there should be more houses, but there should be more thought given to where they should go, not just adding more and more to existing settlements.

Which is a long way of saying this crisis was years in the making, and will take years to sort. What government should be doing is demanding to see an urgent plan, and getting another one from their own experts to ensure they are happy with it.

IMO the gov need to see where the profits from the last 12 years have gone, round up the benefactors and legally enforce that they return public funds for infrastructure to enable right to life. There should be no huge profits on basic necessities - the Tories selling water companies off for profit was always going to end this way.

It’s almost certainly cheaper and easier to supply hikes near existing settlements with water and electricity than building somewhere new - less ducting to deploy so it should just be things like pumping station uplift ( not a water expert )

The boss of SE Water also claimed part of the issue was an increase in people working from home. Which is insane because how many toilet flushes and cups of tea are people to make such an impact. The issue is that the infrastructure is falling apart because since privatisation the companies have pursued profit and failed to do the maintenance and upgrades needed so that pipes etc are literally crumbling. It also means the cost of renationalised utilities are completely prohibitive as so much has to be invested to just maintain services

I don't believe that Utility companies should ever have been privatised. The water companies were debt-free when privatised but have since paid billions in dividends and bonuses but now have signifant debt...

'South East Water's CEO, David Hinton, received total compensation of approximately £456,000 in the 2024/2025 financial year, according to a July 2025 report by The Guardian.4 Dec 2025'

Of course it is but if these fuckers cant even cope with their priority customers let alone other customers it shows that its time for an enforcement order. Why arent the Government doing this And they should be doing it because its dragged on for far too long

Are you still without water ?

If its me you are asking im not in the area which are the very first words in my OP

That's not quite the full story though, because it ignores investment made by the water companies. That is around quarter of a trillion pounds since they were privatised.

That certainly looks as if it hasn't been enough investment, but it is an investment in infrastructure at twice the rate that the Treasury was allowing the then state owned water companies to invest before privatisation. So while they do now have around £60 billion of debt, the other £200odd billion of investment has been funded by shareholders, who have received 'only' £80 billion in dividends.

The question is whether under public ownership (a) would the water companies have made £200odd billion pounds of profit and (b) whether the Treasury would have allowed £250 billion pounds to be invested in infrastructure, or whether, as for all nationalized companies, it would have been syphoned off to fund political gimmicks and pet projects for short term gain.

If you recall, every industry that was privatised had been starved of investment for decades - water, power, communications, transport. Privatisation was the only way out, because there was no more money, and British (and may other) governments can't run businesses. The problem is much more deep seated than private / public ownership unfortunately.

So which water company do you work for?

😂😂

I’m interested to hear what has lead you to that conclusion? Is anything I’ve posted incorrect?

FWIW,I’m early 50s, retired, and with a primary residence outside the U.K. The nearest I have got to work for a utility company is having worked for BA around 10 years after it was privatised 🤣🤣

https://x.com/Feargal_Sharkey/status/2011345868134510940?s=20

South East Water is the canary in the coalmine. All the water companies in the South East have been saying for years that the region is running out of the water required to sustain the size of the population in the area, but successive governments have not only failed to produce and action plans to ensure the rapidly approaching emergency is dealt with, they have actively exacerbated the issue by pushing the housing agenda over and above all else. The vast majority of the new housing that has been built is not properly adapted to the climate we already have, let alone the even worse that is yet to come. Humans need more than the shell of a house, they need resilient, effective infrastructure, and plentiful fresh food and water to sustain healthy, productive lives. What we are instead heading towards is uninsurable homes that fill with untreated sewage-water during regular flooding events, regularly lose access to mains water supplies when it is too cold, too wet, or too dry, and which are uninsurable. And that’s before factoring in the inadequate, overloaded roads, hospitals, and transport services. South East Water may currently be the worst, but it’s not the one and only. Events like this will become quite normal. And certain arseholes expect our creaking infrastructure to sustain water and power hungry data centres (so that more of us humans can become unemployed and water-starved).