Mid Sussex South East Water customers left frustrated by responses to cold-snap compensation requests: company apologises

Michael Pilgrim, who lives near Sharpthorne, said on February 3 that the company would not compensate him for having no water before Christmas 2022.

Andrew Russell, owner of the Cat Inn in West Hoathly, said on February 8 he had received no written response after enquiring about compensation following the December shortage.

However, after the Middy contacted South East Water, the company confirmed it was offering compensation and apologised for the delay.

Michael, 65, said of last December’s water supply problems: “It felt like we were transported back to the 17th century.”

He said his family had no water from December 19-24 and had to ‘eke out what there was in the pipes’.

Michael cannot drive so he could not get to the water stations in Haywards Heath and East Grinstead. He asked South East Water to deliver water but just received ‘a single pack of around 20 half-litre bottles’.

He first contacted South East Water about compensation on January 17, and they said they were not required to make payments where water supplies were affected by circumstances out of their control.

South East Water told the Middy: “We are very sorry that Mr Pilgrim found it hard to access the public bottled water stations in Haywards Heath and East Grinstead.”

They said they set up collection points near the most-affected areas but water companies across the country were experiencing high burst rates, so bottled water and HGVs were in high demand. They also said their Customer Care Team delivered bottled water to those on the Priority Services Register.

South East Water continued: “An error in Mr Pilgrim’s address on our system meant that we did not initially apply the automatic compensation. We are very sorry for the delay, and have since applied the amount after Mr Pilgrim contacted us.”

Andrew Russell said his Inn lost water on Sunday, December 18, which meant he lost all his business on Wednesday and for Thursday lunch. He said his total insurance claim was £11,800 and said South East Water advised him to claim through his insurer. He said they told him they would write to him in 30 days but he heard nothing.

Andrew said the amount he will get through his insurer is ‘nothing like’ what he lost.

South East Water said: “Although we are not obliged to provide a set level of compensation to business customers, we have chosen to do so because we recognise the significant impact the loss of water supplies had before Christmas. This will be automatically applied to business customers’ accounts by the retailer.”

Tanya Sephton, customer services director, said the company was working hard to compensate business and household customers. She said: “We abide by our Customer Code of Practice which forms part of our Guaranteed Standards of Service for household customers and is based on the requirements of the Water Act. Because the loss of water supplies was caused by extreme weather, we were not required to provide compensation but chose to do so in these exceptional circumstances.

“In total, we refunded £4.7 million to nearly 33,000 customers' bills. A further 301 non-household customers will be refunded £128,000 through their retailer.”