Loss of gas supply affects homes in Southwater, West Sussex

SGN, the gas distribution network, said supplies to homes in the Southwater area of West Sussex were affected by a loss of gas supply, with engineers on site investigating from the evening of 2 November 2025¹. The following morning the company said it had identified water in the gas network in the College Road area and was removing it while working to find the source¹.

By 5.45pm on 3 November, SGN said work was under way to reconnect the 153 properties affected by water entering its network, and that it had extracted 600 litres of water from its pipes in the College Road area¹. About 100 homes remained off gas at that point, with engineers continuing to visit homes late into the evening¹. In its update at 10am on 4 November, SGN said the water had been removed and gas was available to all affected properties in Southwater, that teams had visited the remaining 100 or so properties the previous evening to restore supplies and carry out safety checks, and that engineers had returned that morning to 20 properties they had been unable to access¹. The company said this would be its final update¹.

The streets listed by SGN as affected on 2 November were:

SGN said each affected property needed to have its gas supply turned off at the meter for safety reasons, and that householders should not attempt to turn the supply back on themselves¹. It opened a customer centre at Southwater Country Park Cafe, 12 Cripplegate Lane, Southwater RH13 9UN, which was open until 9pm on 3 November¹. The company said it was prioritising visits to priority customers who need extra support, and that portable electric heating and cooking appliances were available at the customer centre for people who are elderly, disabled, chronically ill or have young children¹. Anyone out when an engineer called was asked to ring SGN's 24-hour customer team on 0800 912 1717 to rearrange¹.

SGN said eligible households would receive £75 compensation for each complete 24-hour period without gas, paid automatically through their supplier as a credit on their next bill, with no need to apply¹. It said processing usually takes four to five weeks but can sometimes take up to three months to appear, depending on the supplier's billing cycle¹.

Why it matters for households

The incident affected homes in the streets listed above from the evening of 2 November 2025. SGN reported on 4 November that gas was available to all affected properties, with a small number of homes still to be revisited because engineers could not gain access¹. The company said its engineers would remain visible in the area replacing sections of pipework to keep the network safe and reliable in future¹. SGN's published safety position is that each affected property must have its gas supply turned off at the meter and that householders should not turn it back on themselves¹. Households whose supply was off for more than 24 hours after contacting SGN, or after an engineer isolated it, fall within the compensation arrangement SGN describes as agreed with Ofgem¹. The site's gas and heating failures guide covers what happens when a mains supply stops, and getting your supply back on after an outage covers reconnection and safety checks.

What happens next

SGN said its 4 November update would be its final one, and that engineers would stay in the area replacing sections of pipework¹. Compensation payments are made through suppliers and are expected to appear as a bill credit, usually within four to five weeks and sometimes up to three months¹. No further dates for the Southwater work have been reported.