Fighting for accountability from South East Water
South East Water’s response to the recent water outages was abysmal. Thousands of people were without water for days, forced to buy water from supermarkets or drive a two hour round trip all the way to Headcorn. Many elderly or vulnerable people - who should get bottled water deliveries to their doors - were forgotten or ignored by South East Water. Others were given the wrong information about supplies. Businesses were left in the lurch, schools had to close and the emergency water supply for livestock was grossly negligent, yet again.
Last July, South East Water left people in the Dargate area in East Kent without water for up to 8 days and I went through the long list of failures in the company’s emergency response then. The Chief Executive committed to my face that he would fix their failures. What a lie. If anything, it was worse this time.
So, I got together with local MPs and wrote to the Chairman of South East Water to tell him the Chief Executive has to go. And then I went and met him to tell him so in person. I didn’t do that lightly. But the fact is, he is in charge of South East Water’s crisis response. It failed in the summer and his promises to fix the problems amounted to nothing. Now there is no public confidence in him or South East Water. To add insult to injury, he gets paid around £500,000 a year including a £100,000 long service bonus.
His time should be up, but instead the Chair and the rest of the board are just sitting on their hands and making excuses for the shambolic handling of the recent water outage. They are not going to remove their Chief Executive - despite that fact he was the person in charge throughout this water outage and many previous ones.
The board has put their fingers in their ears, to block out the calls of multiple MPs - along with hundreds of South East Water Customers - for the Chief Executive to go.
It's a kick in the teeth all those people who had days without water, not least all those vulnerable householders who were left without emergency supplies, along with livestock, businesses and schools. I have no confidence in the current leadership to turn South East Water around and there's clearly no accountability either. The Chief Executive will keep on enjoying his six figure salary into the foreseeable future. It’s a disgrace.
But I am not leaving it there. I am going to keep fighting to ensure improvements are made to prevent further outages, that any future emergency responses are boosted and that we get accountability at the top of South East Water.
What next
There are two investigations going on into the recent outages and South East Water’s emergency response. One by the Drinking Water Inspectorate and one by Ofwat. Both have powers to take enforcement action against South East Water. I have written to them both outlining our recent experiences and calling on them to make sure the necessary lessons are learned this time, and improvements are made. I will keep you up to date with progress.
If you want to share your recent experience with Ofwat you can email: [email protected] before 6 March. Ofwat may contact you for more information, but whether they contact you or not your email will be reviewed and considered as part of their investigation.
I know this problem is bigger than South East Water. We need a secure water supply. So, I have started the ball rolling by writing to the Cabinet Minister responsible for water with other MPs calling to meet her to discuss the steps the Government is taking to prevent future water outages, and how they are going to ensure a better emergency response if an outage does occur.
You can read my letters below. Sign up to my newsletter here: Sign up to my Newsletter here | Helen Whately for more updates
Attached:
Letter from MPs to Chairman of the Board calling for the CEO to go
Second letter from Helen to Chairman of the Board
Email from the Chairman of the Board to Helen
Letter to the Drinking Water Inspectorate
Letter to Ofwat
Letter to DEFRA from 6 MPs
