South East Water appoints new chief executive

South East Water (SEW) has appointed a new chief executive after its previous boss resigned.

The heavily criticised water company said that John Halsall will take over from David Hinton with immediate effect.

Halsall has previously worked for Thames Water, South West Water and Network Rail.

The announcement comes as SEW remains under fire for repeated water supply failures in Kent and Sussex and grapples with major infrastructure issues.

Halsall said that his priorities were "responding to customers' immediate concerns" and delivering on short term improvements.

In the longer term, Halsall said that he would deliver the company's largest ever investment programme of £2.1bn to "improve reliability and resilience".

He added: "I look forward to working with our customers, community partners, regulators and colleagues to rebuild trust in South East Water, drive the improvements the business needs to deliver and make the changes people want to see."

His appointment is subject to regulatory approval, SEW said.

Tens of thousands of SEW customers lost water supply or had low pressure in incidents in November, December, January and May.

Regulator Ofwat recently proposed fining the firm £22m over issues affecting 286,000 people in Kent and Sussex between 2020 and 2023.

Halsall's predecessor Hinton – who earned £400,000 and was awarded a £115,000 bonus last year – will leave SEW after a handover period.

A SEW annual report shows it has £1.3bn worth of debt.

SEW raised its prices by an average of 7% from April, bringing the average yearly bill to £324.