Written by 40p
Top tied rate
E.ON Next Export Premium Plus
4p
Typical untied rate
Real market price of export
11
SEG licensees
50 tariffs in Year 5
Smart
Meter required
Half-hourly export readings
What would a SEG tariff actually pay you?
Set your system size and how much electricity you self-consume. The calculator compares the realistic earnings under three tariff types so you can spot whether the headline rate is worth the bundle.
Not eligible yet
A smart meter is needed first
SEG suppliers require half-hourly export readings to pay you. Without a smart or half-hourly export meter, no SEG licensee will sign you up. The good news: your supplier will install one free of charge.
Ask your supplier for a smart meter upgrade before you compare SEG tariffs.
Estimated annual earnings
kWh exported per year
Untied rate (~4p)
Switch import freely
Tied average (~15p)
Import bundled with same supplier
Top Flux/Premium (~27p)
Time-of-use, requires shifting
Rates verified May 2026, Source: Ofgem SEG Annual Report Year 5 (Dec 2025). Earnings are indicative; the bundled import tariff still drives the real bottom line.
The belief most readers carry
"Pick the highest export rate" is the wrong question
The Smart Export Guarantee looks like a comparison-shopping exercise. Sort suppliers by p/kWh paid for export, pick the top of the list, sign up. That is how every league-table article presents it, and it is wrong in a way that costs households hundreds of pounds a year.
The two top rates in the Year 5 Ofgem report tell the story. E.ON Next Export Premium Plus pays 40p/kWh. Octopus Intelligent Flux Export averages 27p/kWh. Both are tied: you can only get them if you also buy your import electricity from the same supplier. And on the import side, the tariff is usually structured so that the supplier recovers the export premium through a higher unit rate.
The untied tariffs (the ones you can take while buying import electricity from anyone else) average 4.47p/kWh across the market. That is the real market price of a unit of exported solar electricity in the UK right now. Every penny above it is the supplier moving money from one side of your bill to the other. The right question is not "what is the highest export rate" but "what is the lowest combined import plus export bill across the year".
Where standard SEG guides fail
Why most SEG guides quietly mislead you
Three structural mistakes appear in almost every SEG explainer published since 2023.
SEG treated as standalone
Tables rank suppliers by export rate alone, as if you were comparing savings accounts. In practice, the export rate and the import rate are joined at the hip. Comparing them separately is how households end up paying more in total to brag about a higher headline number.
Tied vs untied glossed over
The 40p and 27p rates are tied. The 4p market average is untied. Most articles list them in the same column without flagging this. That column is then sorted "best to worst", which puts the worst-value tied deal at the top.
No annual whole-system view
The right model is twelve months of import plus export with your actual generation, self-consumption and usage profile. The wrong model is "rate × kWh exported". Almost every SEG article uses the wrong model.
How tied tariffs really work
What "tied" actually means in pounds and pence
The premium on the export side has to come from somewhere. Usually, it comes from your import bill.
A typical UK household imports 2,700 kWh/year of electricity. At the Q2 2026 Ofgem price cap unit rate of 24.67p/kWh, that costs roughly £666 a year in unit charges before standing charges. A 4kWp solar system exports around 1,700 kWh/year. Now imagine three SEG choices on identical import volumes:
| Choice | Import unit rate | Import cost (2,700 kWh) | Export rate | Export income (1,700 kWh) | Net unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Untied 4p SEG + cheapest fixed import | 22.5p | £608 | 4p | £68 | £540 |
| Tied 15p SEG (average bundled deal) | 24.7p | £667 | 15p | £255 | £412 |
| Tied 27p Octopus Flux (with shifting) | 28.6p | £772 | 27p (avg) | £459 | £313 |
The Flux row is the winner here, but only if you actually shift consumption (heat pump, EV charging, dishwasher) into the cheap windows the time-of-use tariff exposes. Without shifting, the Flux import bill creeps up and the gap to the 15p tied deal shrinks fast. The 40p E.ON Next Export Premium Plus deal is similar: brilliant numbers on paper, but the import unit rate it is paired with is currently among the higher fixed rates in the market.
Who qualifies for the Smart Export Guarantee
The SEG eligibility test is technical rather than means-tested. You need a low-carbon generation system, the right paperwork, and a meter that can record export half-hourly.
Required for sign-up
Hard rules- An MCS certificate for the installation (or Flexi-Orb equivalent);
- An MCS-certified installer who issued the paperwork;
- A smart meter or half-hourly export meter capable of half-hourly export readings;
- A system within the SEG size limits (5 MW total, 50 kW for micro-CHP);
- An eligible technology (solar PV, wind, hydro, anaerobic digestion, micro-CHP).
Often misunderstood
Watch out- You can choose any SEG licensee, regardless of who supplies your import (subject to the tied vs untied tariff terms);
- SEG is not the Feed-in Tariff. If you have a live FIT contract you usually keep the FIT generation payment but cannot also receive SEG export pay for the same units;
- The SEG tariff floor is above zero by law, even if wholesale prices go negative;
- There is no government subsidy. The supplier pays from its own pocket and chooses the rate.
Top UK Smart Export Guarantee tariffs in 2026
A snapshot of the highest-paying SEG tariffs reported in the Year 5 Ofgem Annual Report. The "Tied?" column is the one to read first.
| Tariff | Rate (p/kWh) | Type | Tied? | Contract length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E.ON Next Export Premium Plus | 40.0p | Fixed | Tied | 12 months |
| Octopus Intelligent Flux Export | ~27p (avg) | Variable (TOU) | Tied | 12 months |
| Octopus Outgoing Fixed | 15.0p | Fixed | Untied | 12 months |
| Scottish Power SmartGen+ | 12.0p | Fixed | Tied | 12 months |
| British Gas Export & Earn Flex | 6.4p | Variable | Untied | Rolling |
| Octopus Outgoing | ~15p | Agile (half-hourly) | Untied | Rolling |
| SO Energy SO Export Flex | 4.5p | Variable | Untied | Rolling |
| EDF Export+Earn | 3.0p | Fixed | Untied | 12 months |
Source: Ofgem SEG Annual Report Year 5 (Apr 2024 to Mar 2025), published December 2025. Live rates change frequently; check the supplier site before signing.
What goes wrong on the ground
Three SEG traps that cost households the most
The same handful of avoidable mistakes shows up every year.
Chasing the headline export rate
A household with a 4kWp system signs up to a 40p tied tariff to claim "best in market", then realises their bundled import rate is 27p instead of the 22p they could have had on a separate fixed deal. Over 2,700 kWh of import, that 5p gap is £135. The 40p export gain on 1,700 kWh is £170, so the apparent £680 export bonus net of £535 of "what could have been" is only worth around £145.
Always model the whole year, both sides of the meter.
Mismatched contract lengths
You sign a 12-month export deal that depends on staying on a tied import tariff. The import deal ends after 9 months and reverts to a standard variable rate. For the last 3 months you are stuck on the variable, often above the price cap, with no way out of the export contract.
Match the start and end dates of both contracts or, better, take untied tariffs you can switch independently.
Paperwork blocking sign-up
No MCS certificate (lost in a house move, the installer went bust, the install was technically retrofit and never certified), or no smart meter. Either one blocks every SEG licensee. Households often discover this only after installing solar, expecting the export pay-back as part of their financial model.
Get an MCS certificate copy from the installer before the system is commissioned and request a smart meter the same week.
Why SEG pays less than the Feed-in Tariff, and why that is the point
The Feed-in Tariff that SEG replaced in January 2020 was a subsidy, not a market price. Pre-2016 sign-ups locked in 20 years of generous index-linked payments for every kWh generated, whether the household used it or exported it. That bill is paid by every other UK electricity customer, on every unit they consume, and will keep being paid until the last FIT contract ends in the early 2040s.
- ▸SEG only pays for export, not generation. The household self-consumption (which avoids paying the import unit rate) is now the main reward.
- ▸SEG has no fixed term. Each tariff is a normal commercial contract you can switch out of, just like an import deal.
- ▸SEG rates are set by suppliers, not Ofgem. They reflect what each supplier thinks an extra kWh of midday solar is actually worth on the wholesale market, which is often very little.
SEG looks less attractive than FIT only because FIT was structurally overgenerous. SEG is a market price. The right strategy under SEG is to push self-consumption as high as you can (battery, EV, heat pump, dishwasher and washing machine timed to solar hours), and treat the export rate as a small top-up rather than the main attraction.
Worked example: a typical 4kWp solar system
A 4kWp solar PV array in central England generates roughly 3,400 kWh/year. Self-consumption is typically 50% without a battery, so about 1,700 kWh/year is exported. At Q2 2026 import unit rates of 24.67p/kWh, the self-consumed half saves the household around £419/year in avoided import. That is the bedrock of the financial case for solar, before any SEG income is added.
SO Energy SO Export Flex
Export income: £68/yr
Import cost catch: Cheapest import deal in the market
Simple, no lock-in, fair price.
Octopus Outgoing Fixed bundled
Export income: £255/yr
Import cost catch: Import unit rate ~1p above cheapest fixed
Often the sweet spot for households with no time to shift.
Octopus Intelligent Flux
Export income: £459/yr
Import cost catch: Import 3-4p above cheapest, but shifting recovers more
Best for EV owners or battery households who can shift load.
E.ON Next Export Premium Plus
Export income: £680/yr
Import cost catch: Import unit rate near top of market
Headline winner; net only competitive if export volume is high.
The pattern is clear. Export income roughly triples from the untied 4p line to the tied 15p, and roughly doubles again to the Flux line. But the import side gets steadily worse as the export side gets better. The household that wins is rarely the one that picks the absolute top rate. It is the household whose load profile fits the tariff being offered. If you have a heat pump, an EV and a battery and you can move 4 kWh of consumption out of peak each day, Flux is a runaway winner. If you cannot, the modest premium of a 15p tied deal usually beats it on net cost.
What to actually do
What to actually do, in six steps
A simple checklist that beats the league-table approach.
1. Get the paperwork right first
Locate your MCS certificate, your installer's MCS reference and your MPAN export number. No SEG licensee will sign you up without all three.
2. Compare tied and untied side by side
Model your annual import and export in pounds, not just the export p/kWh. A tied tariff is only better if the combined bill is lower across a full year.
3. Push self-consumption higher
Shift the dishwasher, washing machine and EV charging into midday hours. Each unit you self-consume saves you ~25p of import instead of earning 4p of export.
4. Match contract lengths
Make sure the SEG end date is on or before the import contract end date. Avoid being stranded on a default variable import after the bundle expires.
5. Consider battery plus time-of-use
Octopus Flux is the most aggressive tariff for households with a battery. The model: charge the battery from cheap overnight import, discharge during the expensive evening peak, export solar in the day.
6. No smart meter? Get one
Suppliers fit them for free. Without half-hourly export data, no SEG licensee will sign you up. Book the install before you compare tariffs, not after.
Other UK energy and renewable-support schemes
SEG is one of several schemes for UK households, alongside fuel-poverty support and home-upgrade grants. Many SEG households qualify for more than one.
| Scheme | What it pays | How to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Warm Home Discount | £150 winter electricity rebate | Automatic if on qualifying benefits with a large supplier |
| Pension Credit | Tops weekly income for pensioners | Apply at gov.uk/pension-credit; unlocks WHD and CWP |
| Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) | Free or part-funded insulation and heating upgrades | Apply via your supplier; scheme runs to 31 Dec 2026 |
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) | £7,500 grant for an air-source heat pump | Apply through an MCS-certified installer in England or Wales |
| Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) | Free or part-funded loft and wall insulation | Apply via your supplier; income or band-based eligibility |
Smart Export Guarantee, frequently asked questions
Bottom line
Why getting SEG right is worth a few hours of homework
For a typical 4kWp solar household, the difference between the worst and best SEG choices, net of import cost, is roughly £200/year. Over a 15-year solar lifetime, that is £3,000 of avoidable mistake or extra income, on top of the £6,000 plus of avoided import charges from self-consumption. The mistake most articles encourage you to make is to read the export rate column and stop there. The harder, better question is what your combined annual bill looks like once both sides are added up.
SEG is a fair scheme. It pays households a real market price for the electricity they push back to the grid. It is no longer a generous subsidy, and it was never meant to be. Treat it as one input into your overall electricity cost, not as a league table, and the right answer for your household becomes clear within an hour of arithmetic.
Ready to pick the right SEG tariff?
Compare suppliers on both sides of the meter, not just the export rate.
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