Andrew Goodacre, CEO of Bira, the British Independent Retailers Association, has said traders need to be compensated after the recent cold-weather crisis with South East Water forced many independent retailers in the area to either close their doors or operate at reduced capacity.
"This is yet another example of independent retailers bearing the brunt of infrastructure failures through no fault of their own," said Mr Goodacre. "These businesses have already faced significant challenges in recent years, and now they're losing vital trading days because of a completely avoidable situation."
The government described the South East Water situation as "completely unacceptable" as thousands of households were without water supply, suffering from low pressure or intermittent supplies from November 2025 to January 2026.
Mr Goodacre said many retailers were unable to operate safely without adequate water supplies since the crisis began, particularly those in food service, hospitality and retail sectors that rely on proper hygiene and sanitation facilities.
"Independent retailers work on tight margins and cannot absorb these kinds of losses," he added. "South East Water and the relevant authorities must put a compensation package in place urgently to support businesses that have lost income through no fault of their own. These traders need financial support to cover their losses while this crisis is resolved."
During the height of the the crisis in the run-up to Christmas 2025, water supply problems in Kent and Sussex forced schools to close while people queued in the cold weather for bottled water. Kent County Council declared a major incident.
South East Water blamed the recent cold weather and a subsequent breakout of leaks and bursts which are still affecting the area. Meanwhile, David Hinton, CEO of South East Water, was awarded a bonus of £115,000 in 2025 on top of his £400,000 salary despite being called to Parliament to face questions from MPs regarding the company's performance.
Speaking to the BBC, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said "Poorly performing water bosses should not be receiving a bonus and South East Water is the poorest performer".
On January 15, 2026, the water regulator Ofwat opened an investigation, the first of its kind to be raised by Ofwat, to determine whether South East Water complied with its customer-focused licence condition, which is in place to ensure that companies provide appropriate support to their domestic and business customers during supply interruption incidents.
