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The Smart Export Guarantee, explained
The Feed-in Tariff closed to new applicants in 2019. What took its place is a narrower thing, and understanding the difference matters most to the households whose tariff term is ending.
What it is
The Smart Export Guarantee, or SEG, requires the larger electricity suppliers, known as SEG Licensees, to pay small-scale generators for the low-carbon electricity they export to the grid. All licensed suppliers have to declare an SEG status each year, and the larger ones must offer a tariff.
The single most important difference from the Feed-in Tariff is what it pays for. SEG pays for exported units only. There is no generation payment, the part of the Feed-in Tariff that pays you for everything the panels produce whether you use it or export it. That payment does not exist under SEG.
You cannot hold it alongside a FIT export payment
Not for the same electricity. You cannot receive both a FIT export payment and an SEG payment, so to register for the SEG you must first opt out of your FIT export payments by contacting your FIT licensee.
This mainly matters at two moments: when your Feed-in Tariff term ends and both FIT payments stop, which is covered in what happens when your feed-in tariff ends; and if you are weighing whether an SEG export rate would beat the FIT export payment you have now. Your FIT generation payment is separate and is never affected by any of this.
The rates are set by suppliers, not by the scheme
This is the other big difference. Under the Feed-in Tariff your rate was set by the scheme from your eligibility date. Under SEG the supplier sets the rate, the contract length and the other terms, so rates vary widely and it is worth comparing them. The only floor is that an SEG rate must always be above zero.
Because suppliers compete on it, the SEG tariff you can get is not tied to who supplies your electricity in the way FIT payments often were. Some of the better rates come from suppliers you would have to switch your electricity to; some do not.
What you need
An eligible installation. Solar PV, wind, micro-CHP, hydro or anaerobic digestion, up to 5MW, or 50kW for micro-CHP, in Great Britain.
An export meter. SEG payments are worked out from meter readings of what you export, so you need a meter that can provide them. A smart meter capable of half-hourly export readings is the usual route.
That meter requirement is the practical catch for anyone coming off the Feed-in Tariff on deemed export, because deemed export does not measure what you send to the grid at all. See deemed or metered export for what that means.
We cannot tell you which SEG tariff is best for you, because it depends on how much you export and which suppliers you are willing to use. What we can tell you is that the rates are set by suppliers and move, so the figure to trust is the one on a current tariff, not a number quoted second hand.
Scheme rules from Ofgem's Smart Export Guarantee pages and its guidance for SEG generators. The Feed-in Tariff closed to new applicants on 1 April 2019; installation counts are from the Ofgem Feed-in Tariff installation report of 2025-12-31. Information only, and not financial advice.