South East Water CEO Resigns After Winter Supply Crisis

BBC Business reported Friday that South East Water chief executive David Hinton has resigned following a series of severe supply failures that stripped tens of thousands of households across Kent and Sussex of running water last winter.

The company confirmed Hinton would remain in post through the summer to allow a smooth leadership transition. In a statement, South East Water said Hinton believed his continued presence had become a distraction from the firm’s core obligation of delivering a reliable water supply to its customers.

A Crisis That Left 30,000 Homes Without Water

The outages unfolded in two damaging waves. In late November, a disinfection fault at Pembury Water Treatment Works cut supply or pressure to around 24,000 properties. Residents then faced a nine-day boil-water advisory once flow was restored. Weeks later, a second event linked to Storm Goretti and cold weather affected up to 30,000 properties across East Grinstead, Maidstone, Canterbury and surrounding areas.

Local businesses bore significant financial damage. Tunbridge Wells butcher Richard Hards told the BBC he was forced to close for roughly a week in November and lost thousands of pounds. Murat Askin, who runs a cafe and bar in the town, described leaving customers without basic essentials for days as simply unacceptable.

Governance Failures Preceded the South East Water Resignation

Hinton’s exit follows last week’s departure of company chair Chris Train, who stepped down after a parliamentary select committee published a sharply critical report on 1 May. The committee accused South East Water of poor leadership, weak governance and a culture in which accountability was systematically absent.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds welcomed the resignation and called it the start of necessary change at the firm. Several MPs representing affected constituencies had publicly demanded Hinton’s removal for weeks.

Regulators Still Circling the Firm

The South East Water resignation does not close the regulatory chapter. Water regulator Ofwat is actively investigating the company and is consulting on a separate £22 million fine tied to earlier supply disruptions between 2020 and 2023. The Drinking Water Inspectorate has also launched its own inquiry and previously described the November incident as foreseeable and preventable, citing longstanding weaknesses in management and maintenance.

Alistair Carmichael, chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, said the company had not yet begun the real process of turning things around, despite the leadership change. MP Mike Martin of Tunbridge Wells urged that any incoming chair and chief executive should be external appointments rather than internal promotions.

South East Water serves customers across Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire.

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