What the SEG is and how it works
The Smart Export Guarantee is a government-backed scheme requiring all UK energy suppliers with 150,000 or more customers to offer at least one SEG tariff — a rate at which they will pay you for each kilowatt-hour of electricity your solar panels export to the national grid.
Unlike the old Feed-in Tariff (which closed to new applicants in March 2019), the SEG does not pay a fixed generation tariff for all the electricity your panels produce. It pays only for the electricity that leaves your home — the surplus after your own consumption. A smart export meter is required; your energy supplier can install or arrange this.
To qualify, your installation must be certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). Installations carried out by non-MCS-certified installers are not eligible, regardless of system size or quality.
What SEG rates are available in 2025–26
SEG tariffs vary significantly between suppliers. The legal minimum is above zero — suppliers must pay more than nothing — but there is no floor rate. In practice, competitive rates in 2025–26 range from around 4p/kWh (lower fixed rates from larger suppliers) to 15p/kWh and above from suppliers actively competing for solar customers.
Octopus Energy's Flux tariff and intelligent export products offer among the highest export rates in the market, particularly for customers who can export during peak demand periods. E.ON Next and EDF also offer competitive fixed SEG rates. It is worth comparing current offers at the point of application, as tariffs change with the wholesale electricity market.
You do not have to take your SEG tariff from your import supplier. You can receive SEG payments from a different company to the one you buy electricity from.
How much can you realistically earn?
A typical 4 kWp domestic installation in the UK generates approximately 3,400 kWh per year. Of this, a household consuming 3,800 kWh annually will self-consume roughly 40–50% of generation (around 1,400–1,700 kWh) and export the remainder — approximately 1,700–2,000 kWh.
At a mid-range SEG rate of 12p/kWh, this generates £204–£240 per year in export income. The self-consumed electricity, which displaces grid imports at the prevailing unit rate (currently 24–30p/kWh), saves a further £336–£510 per year. Combined, a well-specified 4 kWp system currently delivers around £540–£750 per year in value.
Adding a battery typically reduces export volume (more generation is stored rather than exported) but increases self-consumption, often increasing the overall financial benefit — particularly given that self-consumed electricity offsets import costs at a higher rate than most SEG tariffs pay.
The difference between SEG and net metering
Net metering — common in the United States and some European countries — works differently from the SEG. Under net metering, surplus electricity exported to the grid is credited against your import bill at the same unit rate you pay to buy electricity, effectively using the grid as a free battery.
The UK does not have net metering. The SEG pays a separate, typically lower, export rate. This is why the financial case for battery storage is stronger in the UK than in net-metering countries: storing surplus generation allows you to use it at the full import rate rather than exporting it at the lower SEG rate.
When comparing UK solar economics to US or European cases you may have read about, this distinction matters significantly. UK projections should always be modelled on SEG export rates, not net metering assumptions.
Keeping panels clean to maximise SEG earnings
SEG payments are based on actual metered export — which means anything that reduces your generation (soiling, shading, inverter faults) directly reduces your export income as well as your self-consumption savings. A 20% reduction in output from dirty panels is a 20% reduction in both halves of the financial return.
An annual professional clean costing £80–£120 that recovers 20% lost output from a 4 kWp system generating 3,400 kWh/year restores roughly 680 kWh — worth around £162–£204 in combined self-consumption and SEG value. The clean typically pays for itself several times over.