South East Water: Who owns the supplier that’s landed in hot water?
Like many UK utilities firms, South East Water has a complicated ownership structure with multiple streams of largely foreign investment.
South East Water has come under significant pressure after repeated outages have left tens of thousands of households without supply across Kent and Sussex.
The water company, which supplies around 2.3 million customers in the south-east of England, is being investigated by regulator Ofwat over whether it has breached the conditions of its licence in relation to the incident.
The saga means the company is facing added scrutiny over its ownership and its financial position, having struggled in recent years.
Here, the Press Association looks at who owns South East Water and how its finances have been squeezed.
Who owns South East Water?
Like many UK utilities firms, South East Water (SEW) has a complicated ownership structure with multiple streams of largely foreign investment.
It is owned by a group of investors and funds under the parent company HDF Holdings.
This incorporates Utilities Trust of Australia, a Quebec-based Canadian financial group, as well as the NatWest pension fund.
How is it doing financially?
The company has struggled to get on solid financial footing and has required bouts of fresh investment to help keep it afloat.
In May last year, it received £200 million in new equity from its shareholders, saying it was “reinforcing the financial stability of the company”.
This followed a £75 million cash injection in December 2024.
The latest annual report shows SEW made a pre-tax loss of £19.9 million for the year to the end of March 2025, which was less than the £36.7 million loss it made the prior year.
It also showed loans and borrowings worth £1.3 billion on its balance sheet.
What has the regulator said about its finances?
SEW is one of the firms on Ofwat’s watch-list for financially at-risk companies, alongside Thames Water and Southern Water.
Ofwat said in its latest report, published in November, that SEW needs to take action and deliver improvements to its performance to ensure it is financially resilient for the long term, and may need more funding in the short term.
SEW was among water suppliers to last year appeal Ofwat’s decision over how much it was allowed to raise customer bills.
It had already been allowed an 18% increase to average bills over the next five years but asked for a further 18%. It was granted an additional 4% by the UK’s competition watchdog.
Has South East Water been in any trouble before?
In June 2023, SEW failed to deliver water to thousands of customers for more than a week following an outage, also effecting customers across Kent and Sussex.
Several schools were closed as a result and the company set up bottled water stations across affected areas.
It also experienced supply issues in December 2022 after freezing temperatures caused pipes to burst.
