Update from David Hinton following EFRA select committee - Tuesday, 14 April, 2026

Statement from David Hinton, South East Water CEO, following his appearance before the EFRA Select Committee on Tuesday, 14 April, 2026:

David Hinton, South East Water CEO, said: “We apologise unreservedly to all our customers for the unacceptable water outages experienced in December and January. We recognise the serious impact this has had on our customers and know that we fell short of what is expected of us.

“In recognition of this, I have made the decision not to accept any bonus for the 2025/2026 year.

“We are taking direct action to change the way supply interruptions are managed through a programme of engineering works and accelerated operational changes. We started a six-month programme of works that will reduce the risk of network outages, and the operational changes we are implementing will improve customer experience in the event that future outages occur.

“Our work to date includes improvements to water treatment works, upgrades to pipelines and increased spare stock levels and will deliver additional capacity and water quality protection to over 24,000 households across Pembury and Tunbridge Wells.

“We are focused on delivering our long-term business plan, the most ambitious we have ever produced, designed to improve operational resilience while keeping customer bills affordable.

“Customers can be assured that we are working at pace to complete our full programme of works and will be keeping them updated on our progress.”