When does my feed-in tariff end?

Your term runs from your eligibility date for the length set when you were accredited, which is between 10 and 25 years depending on the technology and when you joined. Most domestic solar was accredited for 20 or 25 years. Your FIT statement gives the end date.

What happens when the feed-in tariff ends?

Both payments stop: the generation tariff and the export payment. The system carries on generating and you carry on using that electricity, but you are no longer paid for producing it or for exporting it.

Can I get paid for exports after my FIT ends?

Only under the Smart Export Guarantee, which is a separate scheme with its own suppliers and rates. It pays for exported units only, requires an MCS-certified installation and needs a meter capable of half-hourly export readings.

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What happens when your feed-in tariff ends?

Every accreditation has an end date. It is on your FIT statement, and for a great many households it is closer than they think.

The term, and where to find yours

Feed-in Tariff terms run between 10 and 25 years from your eligibility date, depending on the technology and when you were accredited. Most domestic solar was accredited on a 20 or 25 year term, which is why the bulk of these contracts run into the 2030s and the earliest into the 2040s.

We cannot tell you your end date, and neither can anyone who has not seen your paperwork. It is on your FIT statement, and your licensee will confirm it if you ask.

What actually stops

Both payments. The generation tariff, paid on everything the panels produce, and the export payment, whether that is deemed or metered. There is no taper, and no replacement scheme follows on automatically.

What does not stop is the generating. The panels carry on working, and every unit you use yourself is a unit you do not buy. After the tariff ends, that self-consumption is the entire value of the system.

This is the point at which a battery stops being about convenience and becomes the whole return, because once the term ends there is no payment attached to export at all unless you arrange one. See the battery guide.

Can you be paid for exports afterwards?

Only through the Smart Export Guarantee, a different scheme with different suppliers and its own rates. It pays for exported units only: there is no generation payment under SEG at all, which is the single biggest difference from the tariff you are on now.

To take one you need an MCS-certified installation and a meter that can provide half-hourly export readings. If you are on deemed export, you do not currently have one. See exporting for how the two schemes compare.

Who this is arriving for first

381,837 installations on the register were commissioned in 2012 or earlier. Those are the oldest terms on the scheme and the first to reach their end dates. They are also the ones on the highest rates, which makes the drop the sharpest.

Worth doing now rather than later: find your eligibility date and your term length, and write the end date down. The rate finder will tell you what you are paid until then.

Installation counts from the Ofgem Feed-in Tariff installation report of 2025-12-31. Term lengths and scheme rules are as published by Ofgem; your own term is governed by your accreditation and your agreement with your FIT licensee. Information only, and not financial advice.