The Smart Export Guarantee explained

The Smart Export Guarantee is an obligation on larger licensed electricity suppliers — SEG Licensees — to offer a tariff that pays for electricity you export to the grid. It is an obligation to offer, not to offer a particular price. Each supplier sets its own rate, contract length and terms, subject only to the rate being above zero. Ofgem does not set the rate. Eligible solar PV is up to 5MW, so capacity is never the domestic issue. To qualify, the system must have been installed by an MCS certified installer using certified products, and suppliers may ask for the certificate.

What the scheme actually guarantees

Two things, and only two: that larger suppliers must make an export tariff available, and that the rate cannot be zero or negative.

Everything else is commercial. Rates differ substantially between suppliers. Some are flat; some are time-varying, paying more when the grid values the energy. Contract lengths differ. Some suppliers offer a higher export rate only to customers who also import from them, or who buy a particular tariff bundle.

This is a market, in other words, and it should be shopped like one. It is also worth revisiting, because a rate that was competitive when you signed may not be a year later, and switching your export supplier is possible.

What you need to qualify

Four things, in practice:

1. An eligible generating installation. Solar PV up to 5MW.
2. MCS certification. Certified installer, certified products, and the certificate to show for it. MCS is the standards scheme covering both products and installers for small-scale renewables, and it is the gateway to the SEG.
3. Export metering. Half-hourly export readings, which means a suitable smart meter with export capability enabled.
4. An application to a SEG Licensee. You apply to the supplier; the supplier does not apply for you.

The certification requirement is the one that catches people out. A system installed by an uncertified contractor, or a self-build, may work perfectly and still have no route to an export tariff.

How export actually behaves

Export is what is left after the house has used what it can. Two systems of identical size can export very differently depending on when the household consumes.

Because export rates are generally lower than import rates, using a unit yourself is normally worth more than selling it. That is the whole logic of storage: a battery moves midday surplus into the evening, converting a low-value export unit into a higher-value avoided import unit. It also means that on some time-varying export tariffs there are hours when exporting is genuinely the better call, and a well-configured system can be set up to take advantage of that.

Monitoring matters here. If you cannot see your import, export, generation and battery flows separately, you cannot tell whether your settings are doing what you assumed.

Common misunderstandings

“The SEG replaced the Feed-in Tariff, so it works the same way.” It does not. The Feed-in Tariff paid a set rate fixed by scheme rules, including a generation payment. The SEG pays only for measured export, at a rate the supplier chooses.

“My old system is on the FIT, so I should switch to the SEG.” Not necessarily, and often not. Legacy FIT arrangements and the SEG are different regimes with different economics. Take advice specific to your agreement before giving anything up.

“I get paid for everything the panels produce.” Only for what leaves the property and is measured. Self-consumption is not paid — it is simply electricity you did not have to buy.

“Deemed export means I don’t need a meter.” Deemed export applied under the FIT. The SEG pays on metered export.

Applying, in order

Get the system commissioned and the MCS certificate issued. Confirm your meter can provide half-hourly export readings and that export is enabled — this sometimes requires a call to your import supplier. Compare the SEG tariffs available to you, looking at rate structure and contract terms together rather than headline rate alone. Apply, supplying the MCS certificate, meter details and proof of ownership. Then check your first statements against your own monitoring data.

We support customers through this at handover, because the paperwork we produce is what the application depends on.

Rates change, tariffs are withdrawn and replaced, and the value of export in any given year depends on decisions outside anyone’s control. Actual generation, savings and payback depend on the property, roof orientation and pitch, shading, system design, your electricity usage and tariff, export rates and future energy prices. Figures shown are estimates and are not guaranteed.