Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, has pledged to exert greater public control of Britain's utilities - James Speakman/PAAndy Burnham has been urged to put South East Water into special administration after residents were left without running water. South East Water, which provides water to 2.3 million customers across Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent, is under pressure after it warned last week that it was facing a cash crunch. Jonathan Hawker, the chairman of Dry Wells, has urged Mr Burnham to temporarily bring South East Water under government control after claiming it was failing "operationally, financially and institutionally". "None of this is bad luck or down to extraordinary weather conditions as South East Water would have the country believe: none of our neighbouring water companies have failed to deliver during exactly the same weather conditions. "This is all attributable to systemic operation and strategic failures by South East Water and its leadership," Mr Hawker said in his letter.