TL;DR
SEG is the UK scheme that pays you for solar electricity you push back to the grid. Rates range 3–15p/kWh in April 2026. You’ll need an MCS-certified system and a SMETS2 smart meter.
Self-consumption is worth 3–5× more than export. Every kWh you use yourself saves 27–28p on your bill; the same kWh exported earns a fraction of that. Size for use, not export.
Short answer: yes, you can sell surplus solar back to the grid, and most UK homeowners do. The scheme is called the Smart Export Guarantee — SEG for short — and it pays you per kWh you export. Rates in April 2026 land anywhere between 3p and 15p depending on supplier, tariff type and whether you’re tied to their import deal.
One caveat worth stating upfront. Export earnings aren’t where solar pays back. The money is in the kWh you use yourself. You buy electricity at roughly 27–28p/kWh under the Ofgem default tariff cap, and every unit of solar you self-consume saves that full amount. Exporting the same unit earns 5–15p. Big difference.
What SEG is (and isn’t FiT)
SEG launched on 1 January 2020. It replaced the old Feed-in Tariff, which closed to new applicants on 31 March 2019. If you missed FiT, you missed it — that scheme isn’t coming back. Existing FiT contracts keep running for their 20-year terms, but the rest of us are on SEG.
The rules are simple. Any energy supplier with more than 150,000 customers must offer an export tariff by law, per Ofgem’s SEG guidance. Smaller suppliers can offer one voluntarily. You pick the tariff that works for your usage, your smart meter records the half-hourly export, and the money flows either as a monthly bank credit or as a bill offset.
Rates must be greater than zero. That’s the entire regulatory floor. Everything else — how much you’re paid, whether it’s fixed or variable, whether the supplier ties it to your import tariff — is up to each company. Hence the three-fold gap between the best and worst rates.
Current best SEG tariffs
Seven tariffs are worth comparing right now. Rates below are snapshot figures from April 2026; we review quarterly because suppliers reprice without much notice. Check directly with each company before signing, and note the “import tie” column — a headline 16p is no good to you if the matching import tariff costs 3p more than your current deal.
Fixed-rate comparison table
| Supplier | Tariff | Rate | Type | Import tie-in? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Octopus Energy | Outgoing Fixed | 15p/kWh | Fixed | No |
| Octopus Energy | Outgoing Agile | Half-hourly variable (avg ~12p) | Variable | No |
| E.ON Next | Export Exclusive | 16.5p/kWh | Fixed | Yes (E.ON Next import) |
| British Gas | Export & Earn Plus | 6.4p/kWh | Fixed | Yes |
| OVO Energy | OVO SEG Tariff | 4p/kWh | Fixed | Yes |
| EDF | Export+Earn | 5.6p/kWh | Fixed | Yes |
| ScottishPower | Smart Export Variable | 12p/kWh | Variable | Yes |
Last reviewed: April 2026. Rates change — always confirm the live figure on the supplier’s site before switching.
Variable and wholesale-linked tariffs
Octopus Outgoing Agile pays a half-hourly rate pegged to the wholesale day-ahead market. Average earnings sit around 12p/kWh, but summer afternoons can spike to 25p+ and winter evenings can drop under 5p. With a battery, you can hold solar through the midday trough and discharge into the 4–7pm peak for a premium. Without one, you’re exposed to the whims of the price curve.
Intelligent Octopus Flux pairs solar, a battery and an Octopus import tariff into a single smart package. The app charges your battery on cheap rates, discharges it when export prices peak, and handles the arbitrage automatically. Useful if you don’t fancy tinkering with schedules yourself. Less useful if you’re not on a compatible battery brand — check the Octopus Flux compatibility list first.
Must you use the same supplier for import and export?
No. Your SEG contract is independent of your import contract — you can have one company buy your exports and another sell you electricity. But some of the best rates bundle the two. E.ON Next’s 16.5p Export Exclusive and British Gas’s 6.4p Export & Earn Plus both require you to take their import tariff. Do the combined maths: a headline export rate that costs you 2p extra per imported kWh will lose you money because you import 3–4× more than you export.
How much can you actually earn?
Honest answer for most UK homes: £75–£350 a year. Not transformative, but it’s a nice offset on top of the bill savings you’re already making from self-consumption.
Typical export fraction by system size
Without a battery, a UK home self-consumes 25–35% of what the panels generate. The rest exports. With a 5–10 kWh battery, self-consumption climbs to 60–80% and the export share drops accordingly. Bigger arrays relative to the home’s usage export more; smaller ones export less. Here are realistic annual export figures at UK-average generation (~900 kWh per kWp per year).
- 3 kWp, no battery: ~2,700 kWh generated, ~1,800 kWh exported
- 4 kWp + 9.5 kWh battery: ~3,600 kWh generated, ~900 kWh exported
- 6 kWp + 13 kWh battery: ~5,400 kWh generated, ~1,400 kWh exported
Earnings with vs without a battery
A battery shrinks your export volume but raises the total value of every generated kWh. The trade is straightforwardly in your favour. For a typical 3-bed semi:
- No battery: 1,800 kWh exported at 5p = £90/year SEG, but self-consumption saves just £250/year in bills. Total benefit £340.
- With battery: 900 kWh exported at 15p (Octopus Outgoing Fixed) = £135/year SEG, plus self-consumption saves £850/year in bills. Total benefit £985.
The battery drops export earnings by a third in pounds, but lifts total annual benefit by roughly £650. That’s the reason we’d install a battery in 9 out of 10 homes even when a customer arrives asking for “just the panels for now”. More detail on our battery storage page.
Worked example: 4 kWp system, Sussex semi
Family of four, 4,200 kWh/year usage, south-facing roof, 4 kWp array on 9 × 470W panels. Numbers below use April 2026 Ofgem-cap import of 27p/kWh and Octopus Outgoing Fixed at 15p/kWh.
- No battery: 3,600 kWh generated. Self-consumes 30% (1,080 kWh saved × 27p = £292). Exports 2,520 kWh × 5p (typical bundled rate) = £126. Total benefit ~£418/year.
- With 10 kWh battery: Self-consumes 75% (2,700 kWh saved × 27p = £729). Exports 900 kWh × 15p = £135. Total benefit ~£864/year.
The battery more than doubles total benefit. Payback on the panels alone stretches to 11–12 years; with the battery it compresses to 7–8 years. Run your own figures on our savings calculator.
How to apply for SEG
Three prerequisites, then a one-form application. If your installer is any good, they handle most of it for you.
MCS certificate requirement
Your install must be signed off by an MCS-certified installer. That’s us — see our MCS installation page for the accreditation detail. MCS is the UK quality standard for renewable installations, and no SEG supplier will onboard a self-install or a non-MCS job. You’ll get an MCS certificate with a unique MCS reference number (MCS-XXXXXXXX-YY). Keep it safe; the SEG application asks for it.
DNO notification (G98 or G99)
Your Distribution Network Operator — the company that owns the wires coming into your home — has to know you’re exporting. Which application you file depends on inverter size.
- G98 (≤ 3.68 kW single-phase): auto-accept route. Your installer notifies the DNO within 28 days of commissioning. No prior approval, no fees, no waiting. This covers most 4–5 kWp arrays once the inverter is export-limited to 3.68 kW.
- G99 (> 3.68 kW): full application submitted before install. Standard turnaround is 45–65 working days. Occasionally the DNO asks for a connection upgrade if the local network is constrained — that’s rare but can add £500–£2,500 to the project. G99 is how bigger systems, three-phase homes and heat-pump-paired installs get approved.
Every DNO uses the Engineering Recommendation G98 and G99 as their baseline. We file these every week; if your installer doesn’t want to handle the DNO paperwork, find a different installer.
SMETS2 smart meter with half-hourly settlement
SEG depends on half-hourly export data, and only SMETS2 smart meters generate that. First-generation SMETS1 meters won’t cut it — they’ll need swapping. Your supplier swaps SMETS1 for SMETS2 free of charge on request; book it before the install completes so there’s no gap in SEG eligibility.
You also need to be on half-hourly settlement, which went fully operational across the market in late 2025 per the MHHS rollout on gov.uk. Your supplier enables it behind the scenes; you’ll know it’s on when the first statement shows half-hourly export totals.
Boosting your export earnings
A smart meter is non-negotiable. Beyond that, three moves tilt the numbers in your favour.
- Strategic battery discharge. On Octopus Agile Outgoing or any TOU export tariff, you want to push stored energy to the grid when the rate peaks. That typically means 4–7pm on weekdays. Most modern hybrid inverters (GivEnergy, Fox ESS, Sigenergy, SolaX) let you set scheduled discharge via the app. Fifteen minutes of setup once, pays off for years.
- TOU tariff stacking. If you run an EV or heat pump, pair an off-peak import tariff (Octopus Intelligent Go at 7p/kWh overnight) with a peak export tariff (Outgoing Agile). Charge the battery cheap, discharge it expensive. This is arbitrage; it’s legal, encouraged by Ofgem, and adds £100–£250 a year for most homes. Don’t chase the top SEG rate at the expense of your import tariff — the combined bill is what matters.
- Pair import and export deliberately. Review both sides every 12 months. If your import provider raises rates without bumping the export side to match, move. SEG contracts end when you ask them to — no exit fees for households in April 2026 across every supplier in our table above.
- Size the array to your use, not the roof. Oversizing pumps out surplus kWh that earn 5–15p when they could have offset imports at 27p. Our sizing guide walks through the kWh maths. The honest reality: a right-sized system with a battery beats a maxed-out roof without one.
If you’re weighing up the full picture, our pillar on whether solar panels are worth it in the UK runs three full payback scenarios. Anyone investigating grants should also check our UK solar grants guide for the 0% VAT and ECO4 routes.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to switch to my import supplier for SEG?
No. Your SEG provider can be completely separate from the company that sells you electricity. That said, a few of the headline rates (E.ON Next Export Exclusive, British Gas Export & Earn Plus) are bundled — you only get the higher rate if you take their import tariff too. Run the numbers on both halves before switching.
What if I haven't got a smart meter?
You can't claim SEG without one. The scheme relies on half-hourly export data, which only SMETS2 smart meters produce. Your energy supplier will install one free of charge — ring them, book the slot, and you're usually on SEG within a fortnight.
How often do SEG payments get paid?
Monthly or quarterly depending on the supplier. Octopus and E.ON Next pay monthly by default, either as a bank credit or an offset against your import bill. British Gas, OVO and EDF tend to pay quarterly. All of them send a statement showing the exported kWh and the rate applied.
Can I have more than one SEG tariff?
No, one export meter means one active SEG contract at a time. You can switch to a better rate any time (we'd recommend reviewing yearly, same as your import deal) but you can't split your export between two tariffs.
What happened to the Feed-in Tariff?
FiT closed to new applicants on 31 March 2019 and won't reopen. If you were already on a FiT contract before that date, your generation and export payments continue for the full 20-year term. Everyone else is on SEG — different scheme, lower rates, but panels and batteries are cheaper now so the overall maths still works.
Does adding a battery affect SEG eligibility?
Not at all. A battery means you export less because you self-consume more. Your SEG payments drop a bit, but total savings rise. Each self-consumed kWh is worth 27–28p; the same kWh exported earns just 5–15p.
How is exported electricity measured?
Your SMETS2 smart meter records import and export separately in half-hourly blocks. The data goes to the DCC (Data Communications Company), which shares it with your chosen SEG supplier. You don't have to do anything — it's all automatic once your meter is commissioned for half-hourly settlement.
Can solar on a listed building still claim SEG?
Yes. SEG eligibility depends on MCS certification and a smart meter, not planning status. If you've got Listed Building Consent for the install and an MCS-certified installer (us, for example) signs it off, you claim SEG exactly like anyone else.
Is there a system size limit for SEG?
The cap sits at 5 MW per installation, which no UK residential system gets anywhere near. Typical homes run 3–10 kWp. The limit exists to keep the scheme focused on small-scale generators rather than commercial solar farms.
Want help setting up SEG?
We’re MCS-certified installers covering Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Essex, Berkshire, London, Bristol and Yorkshire. Every install we do comes with the MCS certificate filed, the DNO G98 or G99 paperwork submitted, and the SEG application prepped on your behalf. You’ve got a solar asset and a tariff within 4–6 weeks of signing, no chasing required. Have a look at our installation process or run your export earnings on the savings calculator.
