The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) in 2026: How Export Tariffs Really Work

If you have solar panels on a UK roof, the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) is how you get paid for the electricity you send back to the grid rather than use yourself. It replaced the old Feed-in Tariff (which closed to new applicants in 2019), and unlike that scheme it isn't a fixed government rate — each electricity supplier sets its own export price. That freedom is both the opportunity and the trap, because the gap between a poor SEG rate and a good one is large, and nobody is obliged to tell you you're on a bad one.

How SEG actually works

Under the SEG, licensed suppliers above a certain size must offer an export tariff. You get paid per kWh (p/kWh) for electricity your system exports. To qualify you need an MCS-certified installation and a smart meter (SMETS2) that can record your export readings — without that, the supplier can't measure what you send back.

There are broadly two shapes of SEG tariff:

• Flat-rate — a single p/kWh price for every unit you export, whatever the time of day.
• Time-of-use (TOU) — the price varies by period, typically paying most during the late-afternoon/early-evening peak when the grid is tight.

One point that catches people out: your export supplier does not have to be the same company that sells you electricity. You can import from one supplier on a cheap smart tariff and export to a different supplier paying a better SEG rate. Some premium export tariffs do require you to import from the same supplier, but the two are not automatically locked together — so treat import and export as two separate decisions.

The range of rates in 2026

SEG rates are retailer-set and volatile. As a broad picture, published offers span roughly 4 to 16.5 p/kWh. To show how wide that is, a few reference points from our pack:

These are illustrative, not promises. Export rates can change with 30 days' notice, so always confirm the live figure before you count on it. Note the spread: the difference between roughly 4p and 12p is a threefold gap on the same exported electricity. On a typical system exporting a meaningful share of its output, that choice alone can be worth more than any single hardware upgrade.

How to pick a good one

The right SEG tariff depends on how your household behaves, not on which headline number looks biggest.

• If you export a lot and at random times (no battery, out during the day), a solid flat rate is usually the safest win — you're paid the same whenever you export.
• If you have a battery, a time-of-use tariff can pay far more, because you can hold charge and discharge into the peak export window when the rate is highest. Some of the top TOU export tariffs require a battery for exactly this reason.
• Self-consumption beats export every time. At a typical import rate of around 24.67 p/kWh, a unit you use yourself is worth far more than a unit you export at even a good SEG rate. Shift washing, the dishwasher, hot water and EV/battery charging into your solar hours first; export is what's left over.

Pair the export decision with the right import tariff. Smart tariffs with cheap overnight windows let a battery charge cheaply and then either power your evening or export at the peak — but those rates also change with 30 days' notice, so check the customer's actual plan, never the marketing.

Here's the catch

A high SEG rate can flatter a business case that doesn't stand up. Three honest warnings:

• A premium export tariff that needs a battery isn't "free money". You've paid for the battery — indicatively £3,500–£5,000 for 5kWh or £6,500–£9,000 for 10kWh, with typical paybacks of 7–12 years. The export premium is one input into that sum, not a reason to buy on its own.
• DNO export limits can cap what you're paid for. Systems above 3.68 kW per phase need a G99 application, and the DNO may impose an export limit — larger single-phase systems are often capped at 3.68 kW. If your export is limited, the SEG rate applies to less electricity than the panels could produce.
• The best advertised tariff may not suit you. A chart-topping TOU rate is worthless if your life doesn't line up with its peak window and you've no battery to time-shift into it.

Do the arithmetic on your own usage

The honest answer is that SEG income is usually the smaller part of a solar case — self-consumption savings typically do the heavy lifting. Before you choose, work out roughly how many kWh you'll genuinely export (versus use), then multiply by realistic p/kWh figures you've verified today. Only then does it make sense to compare suppliers, and to decide whether splitting import and export is worth the admin.

We don't sell panels, batteries or tariffs, and no supplier pays us a penny for a referral — even the "free" comparison sites get paid by whoever they point you to. We charge one small fixed fee to model your actual export, your actual usage and the live rates, and tell you plainly whether a better SEG tariff — or a battery to unlock one — is worth it for you, or whether it simply isn't.

Figures in this guide are current at the date of publication and indicative only — SEG/export rates change with 30 days' notice, the Ofgem price cap resets quarterly, and grant terms change. Confirm the current numbers for your situation before you commit. This is general information, not personal financial advice.