The Smart Export Guarantee explained: how solar export payments work
Once solar panels are generating more electricity than a household is using at that moment, the surplus doesn't just disappear — it flows out to the grid, and the Smart Export Guarantee, commonly shortened to SEG, is the mechanism that pays households for it. Understanding how it actually works helps in choosing between the many available tariffs, since rates and terms vary a lot more than most people expect.
SEG launched on 1 January 2020 under the Smart Export Guarantee Order 2019, replacing the earlier Feed-in Tariff scheme for new installations. The obligation on suppliers is set out clearly by Ofgem: any electricity supplier with 150,000 or more domestic customers on 31 December of a given year becomes a Mandatory SEG Licensee for the following SEG year and must offer at least one SEG tariff, notifying Ofgem of its status by 14 February each year. Smaller suppliers can choose to participate voluntarily. Beyond that basic obligation, though, government sets very little: SEG tariff rates must always be above zero, but there is no government-mandated minimum or maximum rate, which means suppliers are free to set their own rates and terms, and those rates differ enormously between providers and between tariff types.
To register for SEG, a household generally needs three things in place: an MCS certificate, or equivalent scheme certification, confirming the installation meets recognised standards; a smart meter capable of providing half-hourly export readings, since payments are calculated from actual exported electricity rather than an estimate; and registration with a chosen SEG licensee, which importantly does not have to be the same company that supplies your electricity import. This last point is often missed — it's entirely possible to import from one supplier and export to another if a different SEG tariff suits you better.
Rates vary along a fairly consistent pattern. Suppliers generally reserve their best rates for their own existing customers, on tariffs that require an import contract with them as well, sometimes called tied tariffs. Untied tariffs, open to anyone regardless of who supplies their electricity, tend to sit lower. As an illustration of the kind of rates seen in 2026 rather than a current quote, comparison sites have cited fixed, supplier-agnostic tariffs such as Good Energy's Solar Savings Export at around 15p/kWh, and Octopus's Outgoing Fixed tariff, which was reduced from around 15p to around 12p/kWh from 1 March 2026, alongside a small number of tied or conditional tariffs advertising rates in the low-20s pence per kWh under specific conditions. These figures move regularly and suppliers can change rates with as little as 30 days' notice, so treat any figure quoted in an article, including this one, as illustrative rather than current — Ofgem's own SEG pages and independent comparison sites are the places to check today's actual rates before choosing.
It's worth being clear about what SEG does and doesn't cover. It only pays for electricity that's actually exported to the grid at the moment it's exported — it says nothing about how much you save on your import bill by using solar power directly, which is generally worth more per unit than the export rate, or about how a battery or time-of-use tariff might change how much surplus you have to export in the first place. Those are separate, related decisions covered elsewhere, and a household with a well-sized battery may end up exporting relatively little surplus regardless of which SEG tariff it's registered on, simply because most of its generation is used or stored rather than exported.
Because rates, contract lengths and any conditions attached to a tariff vary so much, it's worth treating SEG registration the same way as choosing an energy import tariff: compare more than one option, check whether a "headline" rate has conditions attached such as requiring a specific smart meter type or a minimum contract length, and revisit the choice periodically, since a good rate today isn't guaranteed to stay competitive as the market moves.
Actually switching or registering for the first time is generally a straightforward administrative process rather than anything requiring further building work. Once your installer has provided the MCS certificate and confirmed your smart meter is exporting readings correctly, you contact your chosen SEG licensee directly, provide the certificate along with your meter point details, and agree the tariff and contract length on offer. There's no need to wait for a fixed date to switch export tariff providers in the way some import tariffs are structured, though it's worth checking whether your current export arrangement has a notice period or exit terms before assuming you can move immediately. Keeping a note of your MCS certificate details somewhere accessible makes this process considerably quicker if you decide to shop around again in future.
Frequently asked questions
It is the UK scheme, launched 1 January 2020, that pays households for electricity generated by solar PV or other small-scale low-carbon generation and exported to the grid, with rates and terms set by individual licensed suppliers rather than government.
No — you can register for a Smart Export Guarantee tariff with a different supplier to the one that supplies your electricity import, so it's worth comparing export tariffs separately from your import deal.
The only government rule is that SEG rates must always be above zero — there is no mandated minimum or maximum, so rates are set entirely by each supplier and vary a lot, making it worth comparing tariffs rather than assuming your current supplier offers the best deal.
Generally yes — registering for SEG commonly requires an MCS certificate, or equivalent scheme certification, for the installation, along with a smart meter capable of half-hourly export readings and registration with a chosen SEG licensee.