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Getting paid for what you export
There are two payments in this scheme and they are often confused. The generation tariff pays you for everything your system makes. The export tariff pays you for what goes back to the grid. They have different rates, different rules, and only one of them is affected by the Smart Export Guarantee.
If you are on the Feed-in Tariff
Your export rate depends on when your installation became eligible, and there are only two of them.
| Technology | Eligibility period | p/kWh |
|---|---|---|
| Everything except solar | April 2010 to 30 November 2012 | 5.43 |
| Everything except solar | On or after 1 December 2012 | 7.64 |
| PV | April 2010 to 31 July 2012 | 5.43 |
| PV | On or after 1 August 2012 | 7.64 |
Deemed export, which catches most people out
Most FIT households are not metered on export at all. They are paid deemed export: the supplier assumes 50% of generation was exported and pays the export rate on that half, whatever actually happened. Generate 3,400 kWh and you are paid export on 1,700 of it, regardless of how much you used yourself.
There is a consequence worth understanding. Under deemed export, using more of your own electricity does not reduce your export payment. A battery or a diverter changes what you buy from the grid, not what you are paid.
If you are not on the Feed-in Tariff
The scheme closed to new applicants on 1 April 2019. Anything installed since falls under the Smart Export Guarantee, which began on 1 January 2020. Licensed suppliers above a certain size must offer an export tariff; the rate is entirely up to them, and it is not a subsidy. There is no generation payment under SEG at all, which is the single biggest difference from the FIT and the reason the two are not comparable.
To qualify you need an MCS-certified installation and a meter capable of half-hourly export readings.
We do not rank SEG deals here. A dozen sites already publish that table and are paid when you switch or request a quote through it. Rates move constantly, the best ones are usually conditional on buying your system or your electricity from the same company, and a table that goes stale is worse than no table. Go to the suppliers, or to Ofgem's list of SEG licensees, and read the conditions attached to the headline rate.
Can you keep the FIT and take a better export deal?
This is the question the comparison tables do not answer, and it matters more than the export rate itself. The generation tariff is by far the larger of the two payments, often several times the export payment, and it runs for the rest of a 20 or 25 year term.
The two payments are separate, so moving the export side is in principle possible, but it depends on your FIT licensee's terms, on whether you have an export meter rather than being deemed, and on the SEG supplier accepting a FIT generator. Ask your FIT licensee in writing before you change anything. No export rate is worth putting the generation tariff at risk, and anyone telling you otherwise is usually paid when you switch.
This page explains how the payments work. It is general information, not financial advice, and what you are actually paid is governed by your agreement with your licensee. To see the rate attached to your own installation, use the rate finder.