South East Water CEO admits bill rises could leave 100,000 customers struggling to pay bills

The boss of South East Water has told ITV Meridian expected price increases could leave 100,000 customers struggling to pay bills.

In an exclusive interview with Sangeeta Bhabra, CEO David Hinton, admitted the 22% hike in bills could push customers onto its social tariff.

The price rises are needed to fund improvements to South East Water's network, which Mr Hinton says are needed to get performance back to where it should be.

The supplier was in the top three suppliers ranked by water regulator, Ofwat, until 2020. But in its most recent review it was told it needed to reduce supply interruptions by 96%.

The chief executive denied that its recent poor performance, which saw some customers left without supplies for days, was due to dividend payments.

Watch: Sangeeta Bhabra sits down with South East Water CEO, David Hinton.

Mr Hinton insisted less than £4million was being paid to shareholders each year, with almost all the money being put into infrastructure.

"It hasn't left and gone to shareholders", he said. "It's almost like a mortgage being transferred to a mortgage.

"We've been paying dividends in the low single digits, £2, £3, £4 million each year, which represents less than 1% return for our shareholders.

"So I want it to be really clear to our customers that we're not, that it's not leaving the business, it's still in the business and still funding our infrastructure."

South East Water needs around £1.9billion over the next five years to fund its improvements, which it wants to raise by upping customer bills.

The money would be used to upgrade infrastructure, stop leaks and make the system 'more resilient to climate change.'

Mr Hinton also highlighted the increase in demand for water in the South East since the pandemic, due to a rise in home working.

This is a factor, he says, on why capacity increases are needed, which will cost significant sums of money.

Data from South East Water shows an increase in the amount of water used during weekday daytimes, he said, whilst suppliers like Thames Water have seen a drop in big cities as people stay home.

He denied that the current system was unable to cope due to underinvestment. The bill rises, he said, are needed to get ahead of climate change and react to the change in demand.

"We recognise that for some, that bill increase will be difficult", he told Sangeeta. "And so we've increased our social support in terms of social tariffs and reduced bills for those that really do struggle to pay for it.

"It's a really important part of our plan. We're looking to add at least 100,000 extra customers to that social tariff to try and help those who really do struggle to pay for it."

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