Wendron Water Treatment Works

Storm Goretti – compensation update 27 February

We’re aware that there are some questions being raised over the amount of compensation customers have received. We’d like to provide you with some information that we hope will help to explain this in more detail.

Regulations and Auditing

• South West Water has to follow strict criteria set down by Ofwat, the water industry regulator, these are designed to ensure customers are treated consistently and fairly
  
  
• The amount of compensation and how this is calculated for unplanned supply interruptions is set by Ofwat and covered as part of the Guaranteed Standards Scheme (GSS)
  
  
• This is included within South West Water’s Customer Promise, further details can be found on South West Water Customer Promise
  
  
• We review all significant events internally with our engineering teams.
  
  
• Our processes and outcomes are also subject to independent external audit to confirm they are applied correctly and in line with regulatory requirements.

How is the qualifying 12‑hour period for compensation defined?

Customers must be without water for a full 12-hour period, if water returns (for at least 1 hour) into the network during this period, it’s classed as the water being back in supply and the 12-hour clock resets.

Does water returning into the network briefly reset the compensation calculation?

Yes, if the water supply returns for an hour or more the 12-hour period resets. It may be that the supply was restored during the night and was then interrupted again, so it may appear to you that the supply had been off for a longer period than had been the case.

How was the compensation for my property worked out?

As part of our process, we review how your property is supplied with water, including the treatment works, reservoirs, pumping stations, and storage assets that serve your area. This helps us understand how water would normally reach your home, including the expected pressure and flow.

Our assessment processes consider a wide range of evidence to ensure the most accurate outcome. This includes:

• Data from monitoring equipment across our network - pressure and flow sensors, to understand how the system performed during the event.
  
  
• If available we’re also able to use fully calibrated computer models of the water network, these are built using real-world data and designed to reflect how water flows through our pipes, allowing us to assess how different properties may have been affected during the event.

Update 14 January 5pm

We’re pleased to let you know that all customers are now back in water. There are a few localised issues, and these are being dealt with by our teams.  

We will be closing the bottled water station at Flambards tonight at 7pm.

Thank you for all the support you’ve shown our teams, it’s been much appreciated.

Just a reminder that you may still notice some discolouration, this is normally short lived and should clear after running your cold kitchen tap for an hour. Sometimes it may take longer to clear but it shouldn’t last beyond 24 hours, and the water is fine to drink.  You can find more information here Discoloured water | Report a problem | South West Water

While Storm Goretti was beyond anyone’s control, our Customer Promise applies:

• £50 for the first 12 hours without water
• £50 for every additional 12-hour period

You don’t need to do anything, credits will be applied automatically and shown on your next bill, and we will be writing to eligible customers over the coming days. 

For more information, please visit www.southwestwater.co.uk/customer-promise

View our previous updates related to this incident.