UK Guide
The Smart Export Guarantee, explained
The SEG is how you get paid for the solar power you send back to the grid. It's simple in principle, but the rate you get, and the strings attached, vary enormously.
What the SEG is
The Smart Export Guarantee, introduced in 2020 and overseen by Ofgem, requires larger energy suppliers to pay you for the electricity your solar system exports to the grid. It replaced the old, much more generous Feed-in Tariff, which closed to new applicants in 2019. To claim it you need a solar system (up to 5MW), an MCS certificate, and a smart meter that records your export half-hourly.
How it's different from net metering
In many countries, exported and imported units are netted 1:1, export a unit, cancel out a unit you import.The UK does not do this. Your import and export are priced completely separately: you buy grid power at your import rate (~27p/kWh) and you're paid your SEG rate (often ~13p) for exports. That gap is the single most important fact about UK solar economics, it's why self-consumption matters so much.
Why rates range from 6p to 25p
Suppliers set their own SEG rates, and they vary wildly. As of 2026:
- Top flat rates (20-25p), from suppliers like Good Energy and OVO, but you usually have to take their import tariff too.
- Best "open" rate (~16p), Ecotricity, available without switching your import supplier.
- The old default (Octopus Outgoing Fixed), cut from 15p to 12p on 1 March 2026.
- Agile / half-hourly (up to 25-30p at peak), brilliant if you have a battery to export at the right time, less useful without one.
- Low flat rates (~6p), some incumbents; worth avoiding if a better option is available to you.
The import-bundling catch
The headline-grabbing 25p rates almost always require you to also buy your electricity from that supplier. So the right way to compare isn't export rate alone, it's import price and export rate together. A 25p export rate attached to a pricey import tariff can leave you worse off than a 16p rate with cheap import. Add up the whole bill.
How to get the most from it
- Self-consume first. Every unit you use as it's generated saves your full import rate, more than any SEG rate pays.
- Match the tariff to your setup. No battery and don't want to switch? Take the best open flat rate. Have a battery? An agile tariff usually wins.
- Re-check annually. SEG rates change often; you can switch export supplier independently of your panels.
See your own numbers
Enter your bill for a payback estimate tuned to your region's sun, with 0% VAT and SEG earnings counted.