Sussex customers to see reduced water bills after Southern Water hit by £28 million fine

The water supplier, along with 10 other companies, was ordered to return £150 million to their customers in the next financial year because of missed targets on areas such as water supply interruptions, pollution incidents and internal sewer flooding.

Southern Water was one of the worst performing suppliers in the country, alongside Thames Water, with both companies having to return a combined total of £80 million.

David Black, Ofwat CEO, said: “When it comes to delivering for their customers, too many water companies are falling short, and we are requiring them to return around £150m to their customers.

“We expect companies to improve their performance every year; where they fail to do so, we will hold them to account.

"The poorest performers, Southern Water and Thames Water, will have to return almost £80m to their customers. All water companies need to earn back the trust of customers and the public and we will continue to challenge the sector to improve.”

Southern Water is responsible for the water supply and wastewater treatment across the whole of West Sussex, Brighton, Lewes and Hastings. Whilst solely being responsible for waste water treatment across the rest of East Sussex.

The company has been under scrutiny all summer, following issues of sewage discharges at local beaches across the Sussex coastline.

The water supplier said Ofwat’s publication of Outcome Delivery Incentives (ODIs) is an annual process for the water industry and its performance is always measured against these targets in our annual report.

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A Southern Water spokesperson said: “As laid out in our annual report, we recognise that Southern Water has not always met expectations in recent years but are now in a position to deliver significant change for our customers and the environment.

“This includes investing £2 billion (c.£1,000 per household) between 2020-25, more than our regulatory allowance, to significantly improve our performance.

"We are on-track to reduce pollutions by 40% compared to 2021 with much still to be done to maintain this to the end of the year, and we are also industry leading in self-reporting.”