Solar Export Payments and the SEG: A UK Guide

When your solar makes more than your site is using, the extra goes to the grid. You can be paid for it. Here is how that works in Great Britain, and why it matters less than you might think.

The short version

Power you use yourself is usually worth far more than power you export.
The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) makes larger energy suppliers pay you for exported power.
Rates vary a lot, from about 1p to 15p per kWh, and the best ones are usually tied to buying your electricity from the same supplier.

Self-consumption comes first

Businesses typically pay well over 20p for each kWh they buy from the grid. Most export rates are much lower than that. So every unit you use on site saves you more than the same unit earns as export.

That is why we design systems around how your site uses power, and why export is a bonus rather than the main reason to go solar.

How the Smart Export Guarantee works

Suppliers with 150,000 or more domestic customers must offer at least one SEG tariff. Smaller suppliers can choose to.
It covers solar, onshore wind, hydro and anaerobic digestion up to 5MW, in Great Britain.
Every SEG tariff must pay more than zero at all times. Beyond that, suppliers set their own rates and terms.
You need a meter that records half-hourly exports. In practice, that is usually a smart or half-hourly meter.

In the year to March 2025, SEG paid out nearly £57 million for about 443 GWh of exported power.

Certification: what you need

Up to 50kW: the system and the installer need MCS certification, or an equivalent.
50kW to 5MW: the installation must be certified to a recognised standard, but the installer doesn’t have to be. Your supplier decides how it checks this.

What rates can you get?

From Ofgem’s latest SEG report and Solar Energy UK’s 2026 tariff table:

Open to anyone: often around 1p to 5.6p per kWh. Business SEG tariffs listed by Ofgem include rates around 3p.
For the supplier’s own customers: often around 12p to 15p.
For systems installed by the supplier: higher still, but you have to buy their kit.
Time-of-use export: some tariffs pay a different rate every half hour.

Rates change often, so always check the latest before you choose.

Larger sites: other ways to sell

Bigger systems sometimes sell exported power through a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a supplier or trader instead of SEG. These deals can pay more but are more complex. For most businesses and farms, SEG is the simple option.

Export limits

Before a larger system connects, your network operator must approve it under G99. If the local network is busy, they may set an export limit.

An export limit caps what you can send to the grid, and a G100 system enforces it.
With a zero export limit, there is no export income, and surplus solar is wasted unless you can use or store it.
That is where a battery can help.

Tax

HMRC’s guidance says export payments received in the course of a business are a business receipt on normal principles. Speak to your accountant about your own case.

What we do

We size your system for self-consumption, handle the G99 application and any export limit, and help you register for export payments at handover. Get a quote →

Sources

Facts last checked 8 October 2026. Export rates change often. This is general guidance, not financial or tax advice.

Getting paid for exported solar power: the Smart Export Guarantee and other options