South East Water's self-imposed crisis shows bosses still don't get it

Water bosses in the UK still don't get it, do they? Despite earning vast sums of money that most of us can only dream of, many of them seem unable to demonstrate they truly understand the frustration we feel with rising bills or a failure to reconnect supplies in a timely manner.

There is a good reason why those that run our water companies are on a good whack and that is because it is one of the most thankless jobs going, but they chose it.

Imagine going into bat for Thames Water and attempting to justify payouts to shareholders despite customers enduring rising bills?

Those on the receiving end of those bill increases are simply not interested in the numerous challenges facing this water company or others. They just see bills rocketing and poor service, while shareholders continue to pocket payments.

Spare a thought for the customers of South East Water who last week had to put up with another crisis at the hands of their water supplier.

Tens of thousands of homes were left without water for several days across Kent and Sussex. A major incident was declared by local authorities as schools were closed and local businesses suffered. The water company cited Storm Goretti as the cause of the situation which saw power cuts in the area and burst pipes.

This latest crisis followed an incident in December that was described as a "water quality issue" that saw over 20,000 people go without drinkable water in Kent for almost two weeks.

All this against a backdrop of the company awarding payment dividends to shareholders while continuing to rack up debts.

David Hinton, chief executive of South East Water, has not only faced harsh criticism over the handling of these recent incidents, but also calls for him to resign. When grilled by MPs in the House of Commons earlier this month about the ongoing issues with water supplies in his area, he bizarrely suggested it was down to the increase of people working from home that were part of the problem which put an additional strain on the system.

It is hard to see how he can continue to remain in his position after overseeing a catalogue of failures over the last few years. Part of Mr Hinton's problem is that he seems defensive at times when questioned about the actions of this company. He also appears to have adopted a bunker mentality which is not helpful in the eyes of the public.

Mr Hinton should try and remember that hard as it might be, being seen out and about and personally interacting with the public who are suffering from a lack of water would do him and his company the world of good.

It is the least his customers deserve given his £400,000 a year salary and bonus last year of £115,000.

Industry regulator Ofwat has finally launched an inquiry into the handling of the latest crisis facing South East Water and about time too. Their findings may well determine the future career direction of David Hinton.

It is difficult to see what the long term solution is when it comes to water companies in the UK. Last year, the government introduced The Water (Special Measures) Act which gives regulators new powers to take tougher and faster action to crack down on water companies damaging the environment and failing their customers.

This legislation also increases the ability of the Environment Agency to bring forward criminal charges against water executives who break the law and created new tougher penalties, including possible imprisonment, for water executives who obstruct investigations. It also allows the regulator to ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to meet high standards to protect the environment, their consumers, and their company's finances.

Southern Water, my local water company, is being impressively proactive when it comes to meeting its obligations under the new legislation. They have embraced the introduction of new customer panels and meet with them every three months and use local commercial radio adverts as a way of informing residents of their plans.

But is all this too little, too late? As another crisis hits the headlines regarding a privately owned water company, the calls to return companies to public ownership just get louder.

The water companies will tell you that this will cost customers and taxpayers billions of pounds. As someone who grew up in the 1980s when privatisation of public services was rife, I am a natural supporter of the concept.

But given the current state of play, I find it increasingly impossible to argue that privatisation of our water utilities has benefitted customers. The time has come to seriously reconsider renationalisation.