Smart Export Guarantee: UK Homeowner Guide
SEG, made simple
What is the Smart Export Guarantee?
The Smart Export Guarantee is usually called SEG. It makes certain electricity companies offer a way to pay small generators for power sent to the grid.
What do you need?
- An approved type of small power system, such as home solar panels.
- A meter that can record exported power. This is often a smart meter.
- An MCS certificate or another form of proof the company accepts.
- An export MPAN. This is the number used to identify your export meter.
- A completed application with the company you choose.
Can you use a different company?
Often, yes. The company that pays for exports can be different from the one that sells you electricity. But some higher rates make you use the same company for both.
Why rates are different
Companies can offer a simple fixed rate, a rate that can change, or a rate that changes by time of day. Some deals need a certain battery or let the company control when it charges.
Only exported power is paid
Your panels first power your home. A battery may store some of the spare power. SEG pays only for what is left and sent to the grid.
Apply for SEG in five steps
- Check that the system is in Great Britain and uses an eligible technology such as solar PV.
- Find the MCS certificate or other evidence the SEG company accepts.
- Confirm that an export meter can provide readings and ask how the export MPAN will be set up.
- Choose a company from Ofgem’s current SEG licensee list and read that tariff’s own rate and rules.
- Apply to the chosen company and keep its acceptance, start date, contract and payment records.
Ofgem says your SEG company does not have to supply your home electricity. Some individual tariffs still make matching supply, panel purchase or battery ownership a condition of a higher rate. That is a tariff rule, not a rule for every SEG application.
Keep these documents
- Your MCS certificate.
- Your network company paperwork.
- Your smart meter and export MPAN details.
- The rate and full terms from the day you apply.
- Your application emails and payment records.
Supplier detail: compare the current EDF solar export tariff rates and eligibility, then return to the Ofgem supplier list before applying.
Reusable data: download the selected July 2026 SEG and flat-rate CSV or JSON, with Ofgem status and a primary supplier source for every row.
Compare possible routes: the solar export tariff finder filters sourced flat-rate offers without assuming that missing public conditions mean you qualify.
Compare named suppliers: use our guides to Octopus, E.ON Next, British Gas, ScottishPower, Good Energy and EDF.
Current evidence: the 2026 export tariff transparency report checks selected companies from Ofgem’s current SEG list and separates published rates from public-source gaps.
Sources and official guidance3
Optional next step
Export income is only part of the picture.
A quote can help separate self-use, export payments, battery choices and system size so the numbers are easier to compare.
- No pressure from Here4Solar
- Personalised home quote
- Check if solar could work
Compare at least three written quotes before choosing an installer.