Will a battery reduce my feed-in tariff payments?

Almost certainly not. 89.7 per cent of installations on the scheme are paid deemed export, which assumes 50 per cent of everything you generate is exported regardless of what actually leaves your property. A battery changes what actually leaves, and deemed export does not measure that, so the payment is unaffected.

Does a battery affect the generation tariff?

No. The generation tariff is paid on what your panels produce, measured at the generation meter. A battery sits after that meter and does not change the reading.

What is deemed export?

Where an installation of 30kW or less has no export meter, export is estimated as a percentage of the generation meter reading rather than measured. The percentage is set each year by the Secretary of State and is 50 per cent for the 2026 to 2027 FIT year.

Home › Guides › Battery storage

Will a battery affect my feed-in tariff?

Q: Do I need to tell anyone if I install a battery?

Tell your FIT licensee before it is installed. Adding storage changes your installation, and your licensee sets the terms you are paid under.

For almost everyone on the scheme, no. Not the generation tariff, and not the export payment either. The reason is a quirk of how export is calculated that most battery guidance never mentions.

The short answer. 780,554 of the 869,807 installations on the Feed-in Tariff, 89.7 per cent, are paid deemed export. Deemed export assumes half of everything you generate is exported, whatever actually happens. A battery changes what actually happens. It does not change an assumption.

The two payments, and what a battery touches

Your Feed-in Tariff is two separate payments. The generation tariff is paid on every unit your panels produce, read from the generation meter. The export tariff is paid on units that go back to the grid.

A battery sits after the generation meter. Electricity is measured the moment it leaves the panels, and whether it then goes into your house, into a battery or out to the grid makes no difference to that reading. The generation tariff is untouched by storage, for everyone, without exception.

Why the export payment is untouched too, for nearly everyone

Where an installation of 30kW or less has no export meter, Ofgem does not measure export at all. It is deemed: estimated as a fixed percentage of the generation meter reading. The percentage is set each year by the Secretary of State, and for the FIT year running 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 it is 50 per cent.

So if your system generates 3,400 units in a year, you are paid export on 1,700 of them. That is true whether you exported 2,000 units, 200, or none at all because a battery soaked them up. The figure is an assumption, and a battery cannot change an assumption.

Which category are you in?

Export status on the register	Installations	Share	Does a battery change your export payment?
Export (Deemed)	780,554	89.7%	No, it is an assumption
Export (Standard Tariff)	62,711	7.2%	Yes, this is measured
No Export	13,513	1.6%	No export payment either way
Export (Negotiated Tariff)	12,274	1.4%	Yes, this is measured
No Export (Off-Grid)	755	0.1%	No export payment either way

The exception is the 62,711 installations, 7.2 per cent, paid on a standard export tariff, plus the smaller number on a negotiated one. Those are measured at an export meter, so a battery that keeps electricity in the house genuinely does reduce what is exported and therefore what is paid. Your FIT statement will say which you are on.

So what does a battery actually change?

What you buy. That is the whole case for one on a FIT installation, and it is worth being clear-eyed about, because it is a different argument from the one usually made.

Electricity you generate and store is electricity you do not buy at the import rate later. Whether that pays for the battery depends on the price you buy at, how much of your generation you currently fail to use, the size and cost of the battery, and how long it lasts. Those are numbers about your own house and your own tariff, and we do not have them, so this site will not pretend to tell you whether a battery pays for itself.

Tell your licensee before you install one. Adding storage changes your installation, and your FIT licensee sets the terms you are paid under. Tell them first, in writing, and keep the reply. The generation tariff is much the larger of your two payments and runs for the rest of a 20 or 25 year term; it is not worth putting at risk over a notification.

Two things people get wrong

"I should use less of my own electricity to export more"

Under deemed export this does nothing at all. You are paid on half your generation whatever you do. Deliberately using less of your own electricity in order to export more is simply buying more from the grid for no gain.

"A battery will cut my feed-in tariff income"

For 89.7 per cent of installations this is false, and it is the reason some people on very high legacy rates have avoided storage for years. If you are on deemed export, your Feed-in Tariff income is unaffected by what a battery does.

Not sure what you are paid? The rate finder will tell you your generation tariff from your eligibility date and system size, and exporting explains how the two payments fit together.

Sources: export status and installation counts from the Ofgem Feed-in Tariff installation report of 2025-12-31. The deeming rule, and that it applies to installations of 30kW or less without an export meter, from Ofgem, Feed-in Tariffs payments and tariffs. The 50 per cent figure for FIT year 17 from the Secretary of State's annual determinations. Information only, and not financial advice.