Business challenge
Following two major South East Water supply incidents in November/December 2025 and January 2026, CCW and Ofwat commissioned Impact Research to provide an independent, evidence-based understanding of customers’ experiences.
The research explored not only the practical impact of losing water, but also how South East Water communicated, supported customers, managed bottled water access, responded to vulnerable households, and whether its actions affected trust and confidence. The incidents attracted national media attention and regulatory scrutiny, making robust customer evidence particularly important.
Our approach
Qualitative phase: explored lived experiences, emotional impact, expectations, and perceptions of the response from SEW
- 5x 90-minute focus groups with affected customers across each incident or both.
- 6x in-depth telephone interviews with vulnerable and digitally excluded customers.
Quantitative phase: enabled robust comparison across incidents and customer groups
- Large-scale survey (2,051) via online and telephone methods
- Covered both incidents, with samples of:
n=897 (Nov/Dec 2025)
n=1,291 (Jan 2026)
Target audience: South East Water customers affected by the November/December 2025 and/or January 2026 supply incidents.
Survey content: The research explored customer awareness, communication, impact of the outage, access to bottled water, support for vulnerable customers, contact with South East Water, compensation, trust, satisfaction and behaviour change.
Fieldwork period:
- Qualitative fieldwork: February – March 2026
- Quantitative fieldwork: March – April 2026
Outcome
Customers faced major disruption to daily life, particularly families, older people and medically vulnerable customers. Key concerns included unclear and delayed communication, unreliable restoration times, difficulties accessing bottled water, inconsistent PSR support, and a loss of trust in South East Water’s transparency and response.
The research showed that customers were affected not only by the loss of water, but by how the incidents were communicated and managed. It highlighted the need for clearer, faster communication, realistic restoration updates, better bottled water logistics, clearer safety guidance, and more consistent support for vulnerable customers.
One of the research findings was reported in a BBC News article, “Customers failed over outages, water boss tells MPs”, which covered South East Water’s service failures and the impact of outages on customers. Available at: South East Water failed customers over outages, boss tells MPs – BBC News