Which Smart Export Guarantee Rates Pay UK Solar Homes Most?
- How the Smart Export Guarantee Works
- Best Smart Export Guarantee Rates in the UK for 2026
- Higher Rates That Tie You to One Installer
- What You Will Actually Earn From Exporting
- Export or Store: What a Battery Changes
- How to Choose and Switch Supplier
- Keeping More of Your Solar Power With Home Energy Storage
- Conclusion
- FAQ About Smart Export Guarantee Rates
Search smart export guarantee rates and the spread hits you. A 4.9kWp semi with no battery earns £115 a year at 4p per kWh. Same panels at 16p? £459. Scroll through smart export guarantee rates uk 2026 solar export tariff listings, checked on 5 November 2026, and offers run from 1.05p to 16p.
Ofgem's cap prices imported electricity at 26.32p per kWh for October to December 2026. You sell cheap and buy back dear. That is why the real question isn't just which supplier pays the most—it is whether selling your electricity makes sense in the first place, or if keeping that power with home energy storage delivers far greater value.
How the Smart Export Guarantee Works
The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) obliges larger suppliers to pay you for solar power you push back to the grid. It launched in January 2020, replacing the Feed-in Tariff export payment. Suppliers with 150,000 or more domestic customers must offer a tariff. Great Britain only, not Northern Ireland.
Solar PV up to 5MW qualifies. For a home system you’ll need an MCS or Flexi-Orb certificate, a smart meter, proof you own the property and DNO approval (G98 or G99). A DIY install won’t get you in. The one exception is Octopus, which offers a £250 route if you hand over three documents.
Pick a tariff, then send your MCS number, DNO letter and a meter photo. The supplier requests an export MPAN from the DNO and your first meter reading starts payments. Octopus signs you up in about two days, E.ON takes up to four weeks, OVO up to 11.
If you want to know smart export guarantee rates UK per kWh, then you're not alone. Ofgem's 2024–25 report counts 270,395 signed-up installations, up 63%. It shows £56.97m paid for 443GWh, an average of 13p per kWh. Now, real money is paid for smart export guarantee rates.
Best Smart Export Guarantee Rates in the UK for 2026
Compare smart export guarantee rates on three points: the payout, whether you must buy your imports from the supplier, and the import tariff it pairs with. Of 31 open tariffs, 16 pay 6p or less and 10 pay a flat 12p or more. The top flat rate, Ecotricity's 16p, is 61% of the 26.32p import cap. Chasing the best smart export guarantee rates means accepting a tie to one supplier. Every smart export guarantee rates uk 2026 solar export tariff figure below was checked on 5 November 2026.
Open-to-All Rates Compared
Pick the best smart export guarantee rates uk suppliers offer to anyone and the list shrinks to eight tariffs. Rates of 12p and above mostly demand imports from the same supplier. Fuse is the exception.
The table below is a Smart export guarantee rates comparison, 5 November 2026
Tariff | p/kWh | Import customer? | Paired import tariff | Type |
Ecotricity Smart Export Tariff | 16 | Yes | EcoFixed 1 Year July 26 v3: 23.1p | Variable |
EDF Export 12m | 15 | Yes | Empower Fixed: 10.361p (1–4am), 20.22p, 30.22p (4–7pm) | Fixed |
Fuse Energy Single Rate Variable | 13 | No | Any | Variable |
E.ON Next Export Exclusive v3 | 13 | Yes | E.ON Next Fixed 12m | Confirm |
Good Energy Solar Savings | 12 | Yes | Heat Pump: 14p (5–9am, 1–4pm), 30.59p | Fixed |
100green Export Tariff | 12 | Yes | Tide Smart: 7.43p (12–7am), 34.63p, 46.96p peak | Variable |
British Gas Export Premium | 12 | Yes | Fixed Tariff Sep27 v7A | Confirm |
Outgoing Octopus | 12 | Yes | Agile Octopus (average 18.17p) | Variable |
ScottishPower SmartGen 6p, Octopus SEG 4.1p, OVO SEG 4p are the non-customers at the floor. Even the top smart export guarantee rates sit over ten pence below the import cap.
Note: Smart Export Guarantee rates, eligibility and conditions were checked on 5 November 2026 and change often. Always verify the current conditions and rate with the provider before signing up for a tariff. In order to find out the latest information on export rates, check the Ofgem`s official website. |
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Higher Rates That Tie You to One Installer
Unavailable to homes with solar already installed. Each has a catch.
Tariff | p/kWh | Condition | Catch |
Good Energy Solar Savings Exclusive | 25 | Install via Good Energy or JPS | 12 months, then 12p |
So Energy So Bright | 20 | Install via So Energy | 12 months, then 4.5p |
OVO SEG Install Exclusive | 20 | Solar and battery via OVO | 15p if solar only |
EDF Export Exclusive 12m V3 | 18 | Install via Contact Solar | Cut from 24p in March 2026 |
E.ON Next Export Premium v3 | 17.5 | Solar or battery via E.ON | 15kWp cap |
ScottishPower SmartGen Premium Plus | 15 | Install via ScottishPower | Must import from them |
Octopus Smart Export Guarantee Rates
Search octopus smart export guarantee rate and you land on Outgoing Octopus at 12p, cut from 15p in March 2026. Prime Outgoing pays 9p, or 16p from 4–7pm. Agile Outgoing averaged 9.97p between 6 July 2025 and 5 July 2026. Non-customers get Octopus SEG at 4.1p. Octopus Flux needs solar and a battery: export pays 4.99p (2–5am), 10.11p otherwise and 29.32p (4–7pm), against imports at 15.31p, 25.51p and 35.72p. You schedule battery export by hand in your inverter app. Intelligent Octopus Flux has been closed to new customers since April 2026.
What You Will Actually Earn From Exporting
SEG income is units exported multiplied by your rate. Smart export guarantee rates set the multiplier. Your roof sets the units. Assumptions, stated once. A 4.9kWp system (the MCS 2025 average) at 900kWh per kWp makes 4,410kWh a year. Without a battery, 65% is exported: 2,866kWh. With one, 20%: 882kWh. The Scottish bungalow runs 3.5kWp at 800kWh per kWp (2,800kWh), 65% exported. All figures round to the nearest £.
A battery cuts exposure to the export rate by 69%. The tariff matters most to homes without storage.
Annual Earnings by Rate and Export Volume
The tariff gap is worth £344 a year without a battery and £106 with one. At Ofgem's 13p average, the no-battery semi earns £373.
Household | Exported kWh | 4p | 8p | 12p | 15p | 16p |
Semi, 4.9kWp, no battery | 2,866 | £115 | £229 | £344 | £430 | £459 |
Same semi, with battery | 882 | £35 | £71 | £106 | £132 | £141 |
Edinburgh bungalow, 3.5kWp, no battery | 1,820 | £73 | £146 | £218 | £273 | £291 |
Note: the earnings and savings shown are illustrations based on the stated assumptions, not guaranteed results. Your own figures depend on your system size, location, usage, tariff and battery. |
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What Moves Your Export Income
The first point is capacity – every additional 1kWp provides an extra 585kWh of export without a battery, which costs £70 at 12p. If you live in the south-east or south-west then you're looking at almost 95% of your roof that can output energy, and if you're in the east or west then you've got 80% to 90% of your roof that can do the same.
Consumption is the opposite of consumption. The typical use of Ofgem is 2,500kWh, market models utilise 3.4kWh and a heat pump increases use by more than 90%. An EV adds more. Both shrink exports. Exports are equal to generation, 4,410kWh minus 1,544kWh used on site leaves 2,866kWh.
Smart Export Guarantee Rates in Scotland
Search smart export guarantee rates scotland and you find the same tariffs as everywhere in Great Britain. Suppliers set rates nationally. Only time-of-use export tariffs vary by region. The Scottish difference is yield, which is approximately 800kWh/kWp in the Central Belt and 750kWh/kWp in Aberdeen and Inverness, 11% lower than the UK average of 900kWh/kWp. At 12p that's £62 per kWp against £70. The Cap rates for October to December 2026 are 26.35p in Northern Scotland and 26.11p in Southern Scotland.
Export or Store: What a Battery Changes
A battery becomes profitable when the export rate is less than 90% of the import price that it replaces. With capping at 26.32p, it would need to break even at 23.7p. There are two tariffs that can achieve this goal: Good Energy’s 25p installer-only tariff, which lasts for 12 months, and Octopus Flux’s peak tariff of 29.32p, which runs from 4pm to 7pm. No flat rate tariff comes near that. Therefore, compare the smart export guarantee rates and find whether they fall above or below 23.7p.
Selling Versus Storing: The Pence-Per-kWh Maths
When the smart export guarantee rates are in line with a battery, here's what 1,000kWh of surplus solar is worth. Use 90% as a generic efficiency - not a product specification - and disregard standing charges.
Route | Value |
Export at 4p | £40 |
Export at 12p | £120 |
Export at 16p (best open flat rate) | £160 |
Store, replacing 20.22p import (EDF Empower Fixed day rate) | £182 |
Store, replacing 26.32p import (Ofgem cap) | £237 |
Store, replacing 30.22p import (EDF 4–7pm peak) | £272 |
Break-even export rates: 18.2p, 23.7p and 27.2p.
Batteries, Export Metering and Time-of-Use Tariffs
SEG pays on metered export, so you need a smart or export meter and an export MPAN. 100green and E.ON ask for a battery single-line diagram. A battery added to an existing array needs DNO notification (G98 up to 16A per phase, G99 above). Time-of-use tariffs add a second gain: net gain per kWh charged is 90% of the peak price minus the off-peak charge price.
Tariff | Charge | Discharge | Net gain per kWh |
EDF Empower Fixed | 10.361p (1–4am) | 30.22p (4–7pm) | 16.8p |
100green Tide Smart | 7.43p (12–7am) | 46.96p (4–8pm) | 34.8p |
Octopus Flux | 15.31p (2–5am) | 35.72p (4–7pm) | 16.8p |
Cycle a generic 5kWh battery fully every day and the ceiling is about £307 a year on EDF and £636 on 100green. A ceiling, not a forecast.
How to Choose and Switch Supplier
Hunting for smart export guarantee best rates on export alone backfires. Smart export guarantee rates tell half the story, so rank suppliers by combined import plus export savings. In SunSave's model (4.9kWp, 10kWh battery), EDF Export 12m with Empower Fixed saves £1,063 a year. The weakest pairing saves £834, a £229 gap.
Use the matrix as a smart export guarantee rates comparison by household type, and compare smart export guarantee rates as pairs, never as single numbers.
Household | Best fit | Why | Watch-out |
Solar installed, no import switch | Fuse Single Rate Variable, 13p | No import tie | Variable rate |
Solar, no battery, will switch | Ecotricity 16p or EDF Export 12m 15p | Highest open flat rates | Must import from them |
Solar plus battery | EDF Export 12m with Empower Fixed, or 100green with Tide Smart | 10.361p / 7.43p overnight | 100green is variable |
Heat pump | EDF Export 12m with Heat Pump Tracker (14.9p off-peak), or British Gas Export Premium 12p | Off-peak suits heating | Tied to import supplier |
EV owner | Ecotricity EV, EDF GoElectric 12m or Intelligent Octopus Go | Overnight 7.99p, 6.99p, 8p | Match the export tariff |
Planning new solar | Installer-tied tariffs (EDF 18p, OVO 20p) | Highest rates | Locks installer; promo expires |
Exit fees apply if you leave a fixed deal before its last 49 days, under Ofgem's switching rules. They run £25 to £150 per fuel, and Good Energy Heat Pump carries £75. Move your import supply first to speed up export sign-up.
Keeping More of Your Solar Power With Home Energy Storage
Storing midday surplus and charging overnight cuts what you buy at the cap. For installation you need a qualified electrician and DNO notification.
Planning Solar and Storage Together
A couple installing solar panels for the first time avoid tariffs that offer attractive export rates initially but drop to 12p or even 4.5p after the first 12 months. They prefer an open tariff that features low night time energy prices and the intention to accumulate a bigger amount of solar energy at home. The EcoFlow STREAM 5000 complements this arrangement. It combines a hybrid inverter with battery storage for homes installing solar for the first time. It accepts up to 5,000W of solar input across four MPPT channels, each rated at 1,250W. The battery provides 5kWh (5,024Wh) of storage, expandable up to 90kWh, with 10,000 guaranteed cycles. By using more of their own solar electricity first, the couple only needs to rely on smart export guarantee rates to earn money from whatever surplus remains.
Adding Storage to Solar You Already Have
A standard three-bedroom semi-detached property with a 4.9 kWp solar system installed in 2021 generates around 2866kWh of electricity annually. This results in an export profit of £344 at 12p per kWh, although the homeowner continues to spend 26.32p per kWh on grid electricity. Storing 1,000kWh instead of exporting it could increase its value from £120 to around £237, assuming 90% round-trip efficiency. The EcoFlow STREAM AC 5000 is designed for homes that already have solar panels and need a battery storage upgrade. It offers 5kWh (5,024Wh) of storage, expandable up to 90kWh, with Intelligent Mode+ managing when the battery charges. For this household, smart export guarantee rates are only part of the picture. Storing more surplus electricity for later use could deliver greater value than selling it back to the grid.
Conclusion
Smart export guarantee rates vary widely, from 1.05p to 16p per kWh. Choosing the right tariff could earn a home without a battery around £344 a year from its surplus solar electricity. However, if the export rate falls below the 23.7p break-even point, storing that electricity for later use offers better value. The real savings also depend on what you pay for imported electricity, so it's worth comparing both rates before choosing a supplier. The uk smart export guarantee rates 2026 solar export tariff figures below reflect a snapshot taken on 5 November 2026.
The break-even maths points solar owners towards storage. EcoFlow builds the STREAM series for that job. Explore the EcoFlow STREAM 5000 and EcoFlow STREAM AC 5000 on the EcoFlow UK website to find the home energy storage that suits your solar setup.
FAQ About Smart Export Guarantee Rates
Do you pay tax on smart export guarantee income?
SEG income is tax-free on a home you own and live in, provided the system isn't built to generate far more than you use. The average amount of electricity used is about 20% less than the line HMRC. In addition, there is an additional allowance for trading and miscellaneous income of £1,000.
Can I switch from the Feed-in Tariff to the Smart Export Guarantee?
Yes, and FiT generation payments continue. Compare your real export in your solar app with the 50% deemed export. Switching pays when real export exceeds about 20% of generation.
How often are smart export guarantee payments made?
Suppliers pay smart export guarantee rates monthly or quarterly. E.ON pays annually unless you request quarterly. Money arrives as a bank transfer or bill credit.