Thousands of homes without water in Kent due to ‘technical issues’ as firm ordered to pay £30.5m in compensation

THOUSANDS of homes are without water after fresh problems struck a troubled supplier just days after being stung with a £30.5million watchdog punishment. Around 7,000 properties across Kent have been hit by low pressure, intermittent supplies or no water at all. South East Water customers collect bottled water at a water station in East Grinstead, after bad weather was blamed for more water outages in January Credit: PA South East Water staff hand out bottled water at a water station in Kent back in January Credit: PA The disruption has affected homes in Tunbridge Wells and nearby Pembury, with higher areas worst hit. South East Water said an instrument failure forced one of its treatment works to shut down. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! That left drinking water storage tanks too low to pump supplies properly to customers. Although the site is running again, the firm warned supplies may not fully return until Sunday evening at the earliest. Emergency bottled water stations opened at Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club and Tesco Superstore on Pembury Road. Bottled water is also being delivered to vulnerable customers on the firm’s priority services register. It comes after earlier this week, watchdog Ofwat ordered the firm to pay £30.5million after three investigations into its performance. The package includes £22million linked to supply failures between 2020 and 2023 that affected more than 286,000 people. Most read in The Sun Incident manager Robert Anthony-Scorse apologised for the latest disruption – which is hoped to be resolved today. He said: “An earlier instrument failure at our water treatment works in the Tunbridge Wells area caused the site to shut down. “Although the site is now running, this has impacted levels in our local drinking water storage tanks and, coupled with the continued high demand, this means we’re unable to pump water to customers, particularly those on higher ground. “As a result, around 7,000 properties may be experiencing supply issues today, including low pressure, intermittent supply or no water.” He added: “The site is in operation again, however to stabilise water levels in our drinking water tanks, water supplies will not return until tomorrow evening at the earliest. “We are using tankers to increase drinking water storage levels to help support the affected areas.” The latest outage follows months of disruption across Kent and Sussex. South East Water has faced fierce criticism over repeated supply failures. A second probe examined fresh outages between November and January, when up to 70,000 homes lost water. Ofwat said the company failed to communicate clearly with customers and did not provide enough bottled water during previous outages. The regulator said the £30.5million package will be paid by shareholders, not customers. Last month, Kent MP Tom Tugendhat branded South East Water the “worst-run company I’ve ever come across”. Comment now