Margaret Devlin, managing director of South East Water plc responding to Ofwat’s draft price notification said, “Ofwat’s draft determination to reduce prices for South East Water by 23.9% is harsher than anticipated. Customers have told us what they want are stable prices. We are concerned that the draft profile, if implemented, will result in the opposite.”

Ms Devlin went on to say that the company will be looking closely at the impact of Ofwat’s draft determination over the next few days.