Overview
- South East Water told about 24,000 homes and businesses they no longer need to boil tap water after changing treatment at Pembury and flushing the network.
- Ofwat launched a new investigation into the loss of supply, alongside a Drinking Water Inspectorate probe and a separate, ongoing Ofwat inquiry into past outages.
- MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee summoned chief executive Dave Hinton to a January evidence session, and the water minister called the disruption unacceptable.
- Kent County Council stood down its major incident response, and affected customers will receive compensation as local leaders push for higher payouts to reflect business losses.
- An internal message urged staff attending a company Christmas event to avoid public areas, and the firm said any contribution to the party would not come from customer bills.