CCW responds to EFRA Committee’s report on South East Water’s failures

The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) has responded to a report by MPs laying bare South East Water’s failures around the handling of disruption to thousands of customers’ water supply in Tunbridge Wells.

The EFRA Committee concludes that it has lost confidence in the company’s Board and leadership in its report – Failures at South East Water.

The report comes after two hearings were held by the committee into the major water outage in Tunbridge Wells in late 2025, where tens of thousands of customers were left without drinking water.

CCW’s Chief Executive Mike Keil was among those to give evidence to the cross-party committee in April, sharing with its members research on customers’ experiences of the disruption and the company’s poor handling of aspects of its response.

Responding to the EFRA Committee report, Mike Keil, Chief Executive of the Consumer Council for Water, said:

One of the most damaging legacies of South East Water’s poor handling of the disruption is the loss of customers’ confidence in the safety and reliability of drinking water. More than half of those affected have told us they now store bottled water at home in case of future disruption, while one in five say they will only drink bottled water – despite this country boasting world-class tap water.   

South East Water has agreed an action plan with our Water Voice consumer panel to address some of the concerns voiced by customers around poor communication and planning. Delivering on these commitments is just one step on a long road to restoring people’s fractured confidence in the company’s leadership.