Water Boss Forgoes Bonus Amid Outage Fallout

South East Water Chief Executive David Hinton told a UK parliamentary committee on Tuesday that he will not take a bonus for the 2025-2026 year after major supply disruptions left thousands of customers without tap water in parts of Kent and Sussex.

Hinton made the announcement while giving evidence to the UK Parliament’s environment, food and rural affairs select committee. He said the company’s performance had included “unacceptable outages” that affected residents during November, December, and January.

Under the decision, Hinton will receive only his £400,000 salary. The issue drew pointed questions from MPs about how the company’s board approached pay and incentives while customers experienced repeated service failures.

Committee chair Alistair Carmichael challenged the board’s decision-making, asking why bonuses were awarded and executive salaries increased despite what he described as a history of service problems. The exchanges placed South East Water’s governance and accountability under scrutiny alongside the operational causes of the outages.

Chris Train, Chairman of South East Water, told the committee the company had failed. He also said the company accepted the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s (DWI) report, including the finding that the outages in December were foreseeable.

Marcus Rink, the DWI’s chief inspector, gave a stark assessment of the company’s handling of the supply loss. He described South East Water’s response as “probably one of the worst” he had encountered.

Evidence presented to MPs also pointed to a sharp deterioration in customer confidence in the affected area. A survey shared with the committee found that 54% of impacted customers in Tunbridge Wells are now stockpiling bottled water, and nearly a fifth are drinking only bottled water.

The hearing brought together operational performance, regulatory oversight, and executive accountability in a single public forum. While the committee session focused on events in Kent and Sussex, the issues raised—service resilience, consumer trust, and how boards link pay to performance—are closely watched across regulated utilities.

Several points remain unresolved in the public record from the session as described, including what specific steps South East Water will take next and how quickly confidence can be rebuilt among customers who changed their water consumption habits after the outages.