Southern Water faces cost of errors

The company also faces a "substantial" fine from regulating body Ofwat for its failure to achieve guaranteed customer service performance standards.

The Herald is revealing these facts just days after it was announced the Serious Fraud Office had dropped its investigation into Southern Water's response levels to customer enquiries and complaints.

A statement from Southern Water this week said: "The investigation identified customers who had not received compensation when promises made by the company were not met under the guaranteed standards scheme."

A total of 436,030 had been paid to customers so far.

The statement continued that Southern Water held disciplinary hearings last year involving 14 members of staff whose conduct "caused concern in varying degrees".

The results of the hearings were confidential.

Ofwat said Southern Water undertook that it would pay any customers who had "lost out", and agreed to improve its customer service performance.

For more on this story, see the Worthing Herald