Smart Export Guarantee rates:
the power you don’t use is worth money.
How much depends on who fits it.
Every unit of solar your home doesn't need goes back to the grid, and you get paid for it. The standard rate is 4p per kWh. When OVO installs your solar and your battery, it's 20p.1 On a typical roof that difference is around £620 a year.2
- 20p per kWh on OVO's SEG Install Exclusive, when OVO fits both your solar and your battery1
- MCS certification handled as part of your install, so the paperwork is done for you
- You could start earning in as little as four weeks from applying3
What the Smart Export Guarantee actually is
Two minutes of reading that changes how the whole purchase adds up.
Your solar panels generate most in the middle of the day. That is usually when a house needs the least. So a good chunk of what your roof makes is surplus, and that surplus flows back out to the grid where somebody else uses it.
The Smart Export Guarantee is the rule that says you have to be paid for it. It is a government scheme administered by Ofgem, and it obliges larger licensed electricity suppliers to offer households an export tariff. It came in on 1 January 2020, after the old Feed-in Tariff closed to new applicants on 31 March 2019.
Here is the part most people miss. The government sets the obligation, not the price. Each supplier decides what its own SEG tariff pays. That is why the rates on offer range from a few pence to twenty, and why the question is never just "will I get paid" but "who is paying me, and how much".
It also means your export rate is a live decision you get to make, not a fixed feature of going solar. It is worth more than most people realise.
4p, 12p, 15p or 20p
These are OVO's published SEG rates. Same scheme, same exported units, four very different numbers on the end of it.1
| Tariff | Pays | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|
| SEG | 4p per kWh | Anyone with an eligible system, whoever supplies your energy |
| SEG Beyond Exclusive | 12p per kWh | OVO energy customers on Beyond, systems under 30kW |
| SEG Install Exclusive Solar only |
15p per kWh | OVO energy customers where OVO installed the panels |
| SEG Install Exclusive Solar and battery |
20p per kWh | OVO energy customers where OVO installed both the panels and the battery |
Rates correct at July 2026 and subject to change. Eligibility criteria apply to each tariff, including system size limits and being an OVO energy customer for the exclusive rates. The 4p standard rate is open to customers of any supplier.
Free, no obligation. We'll tell you which rate your home would qualify for.
The same roof. The same exported units.
Four different cheques.
A 12-panel system on an average UK roof exports around 3,875 kWh a year. Here is what those identical units are worth on each rate.2
£155 a year
OVO's standard SEG tariff. Open to customers of any supplier.
£465 a year
SEG Beyond Exclusive, for OVO energy customers.
£581 a year
SEG Install Exclusive, where OVO fitted your panels.
£775 a year
SEG Install Exclusive, where OVO fitted your panels and your battery.
£620 a year separates the top of that list from the bottom. Over the 25-year life of a system that is around £15,500, on electricity your roof was going to make anyway.2
Get your free quoteThe battery isn't just storage.
It's what unlocks the rate.
This is where the export rate stops being a detail and starts driving the whole design.
Without a battery, your surplus leaves the moment it is made. You export a lot, at whatever your rate happens to be, and in the evening you buy electricity back at the full unit price.
With a battery, three things change at once:
- Your export rate goes from 15p to 20p, because OVO fitting both parts is what qualifies you for the higher SEG Install Exclusive rate.1
- You stop buying expensive evening electricity. The battery covers the evening from what your roof made at lunchtime, or from cheap off-peak units overnight.
- You can fill the battery when power is cheapest and keep the roof's output for export at 20p. When the export rate is higher than the off-peak import rate, exporting the solar and charging the battery off-peak is worth more than using the solar yourself.
That last one is the part almost nobody explains, and it is the reason our designs put a battery in wherever it stacks up. It is also why we size the battery around how much you actually use in an evening rather than selling you the biggest one on the shelf.
45 minutes on video. Your roof, your usage, your numbers.
Four steps to get yourself on it
Applying for a SEG tariff is genuinely straightforward, and if OVO installed your system most of the evidence is already in your hands.
Pick your tariff
Choose the SEG tariff you qualify for and fill in the application. It takes a few minutes.
It gets reviewed
Your supplier checks the application and comes back to you if anything is missing.
Your export meter is set up
An export MPAN is created for you if you don't already have one. That is the reference your exported units are recorded against.
You start getting paid
You're told when the tariff goes live, and payments follow your export readings from there.
What you need to qualify
Four things. If OVO fits your system, three of them are handled for you.
- An MCS certified system. Your installation has to be certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme or an equivalent. Every OVO Solar & Battery install is MCS certified as standard.
- A smart meter. Your export has to be measured at least every half hour, which in practice means a smart meter recording export separately from import.
- A battery schematic, if you have battery storage. Your installer produces this as part of the handover pack.
- No Feed-in Tariff export payments or public grant on the same system. You can be paid under one scheme, not both.
The bit that trips people up
SEG pays on metered export, not on what your panels generate. Two homes with identical roofs can be paid very different amounts, because one of them uses more of its own solar during the day.
That is not a problem to solve, it is a design decision. Using a unit yourself saves you 26.1p. Exporting it earns you 20p. Both are worth having, and the right split depends on when your house actually uses power.
Working that out for your home is exactly what the free design call is for.
SEG and the old Feed-in Tariff are not the same thing
If a neighbour tells you they get paid a fortune for their panels, this is usually why.
| Feed-in Tariff | Smart Export Guarantee | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Closed to new applicants on 31 March 2019 | Open, started 1 January 2020 |
| Paid for | Generation and export | Export only |
| Who sets the rate | Government, fixed and index linked | Each supplier sets its own |
| Export measurement | Often deemed at 50% of generation | Metered, half hourly |
| Can you switch rate | No, locked for the term | Yes, you can move between SEG tariffs |
The Feed-in Tariff paid people for every unit they generated, whether they used it or not, at a rate fixed for twenty years. It was generous, and it is gone. Nothing available today replicates it, and anyone suggesting otherwise is selling something.
What SEG has that FiT did not is competition. FiT rates were set centrally and you took what you were given. SEG rates are set by suppliers, they differ by a factor of five, and you are free to move. That is why it is worth paying attention to who installs your system, because on the Install Exclusive rate the installer and the rate are the same decision.
See your own export figure
Rather than a worked example on somebody else's roof, put your own address in and see what your system would generate, use and export.
It takes about two minutes and there is no salesperson at the end of it. If the numbers look right, book the free design call and we'll go through them properly.
Get your free quoteThe 20p rate needs an OVO install
Which means it needs an OVO partner near you. Find yours on the map, or type your postcode.
Solar & battery installers in Bristol
Yes, show me →Export questions, answered
What is the Smart Export Guarantee?
A UK government scheme, administered by Ofgem, that requires larger licensed electricity suppliers to pay households for renewable electricity they export to the grid. It started on 1 January 2020 and replaced the Feed-in Tariff, which closed to new applicants on 31 March 2019.
How much does the Smart Export Guarantee pay?
That depends entirely on the supplier, because the government sets the obligation to offer a tariff but not the price of it. OVO's standard SEG rate is 4p per kWh and is open to customers of any supplier. OVO's SEG Install Exclusive pays 20p per kWh where OVO installs both your solar panels and your battery, or 15p per kWh for panels only.1
Do I have to have a battery to get 20p?
Yes. The 20p rate applies where OVO installs both the solar and the battery. Panels fitted on their own by OVO qualify for 15p. It is worth running both options on your design call, because the battery changes your evening import costs as well as your export rate, and the two together are what decide whether it pays for itself.
Do I need a smart meter?
Yes. Your export has to be recorded at least every half hour, which in practice means a smart meter. Your exported units are measured separately from the units you import, so exporting does not interfere with your normal billing.
Can I be on the Feed-in Tariff and SEG at the same time?
No. You cannot take FiT export payments and SEG payments for the same system. If you already hold a FiT export agreement you would have to leave it first, and for most FiT holders that is not worth doing. If you are on FiT, check your existing rate carefully before changing anything.
Does my system have to be MCS certified?
Yes, it has to be certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme or an equivalent. Every OVO Solar & Battery installation is MCS certified as standard, and the certificate comes to you as part of the handover pack, so you are not chasing paperwork afterwards.
How long before I actually get paid?
OVO says you could start earning in as little as four weeks from applying. The application is reviewed, an export MPAN is created if you need one, and you are told when the tariff goes live.
Is it better to use my solar or export it?
Using a unit yourself saves you the full import price, currently around 26.1p. Exporting it earns you 20p on the Install Exclusive rate. So self-use is worth a little more per unit, but you can only self-use what you actually need at the time it is generated.
The real answer is that a well-designed system does both, and adds a third option: charging the battery on cheap off-peak electricity so your solar is free to be exported at 20p. Which split is best for you depends on when your house uses power, and that is what the design call works out.
What happens to my export rate if I move house?
The SEG tariff belongs to the property's export meter and the person supplying it, so it does not travel with you. The buyer of your home takes on the system, and would apply for a SEG tariff in their own name. A certified system with a live export arrangement is generally a straightforward thing to hand over.
Do export payments count as taxable income?
For a typical household generating renewable electricity at home for their own use, SEG payments are not normally treated as taxable income. Tax treatment depends on your own circumstances though, so if you have an unusual situation it is worth checking with HMRC or an accountant rather than taking a website's word for it.
Find out what your roof would export,
and what it would earn.
A free 45-minute video design with your local OVO expert. You will see your roof layout, your generation forecast, how much of it you would use, how much you would export, and what that is worth at 20p. No home visit, no obligation.