SEG Rates UK (2026): What Suppliers Pay for Your Solar Export

When your panels generate more than your home is using, the surplus flows to the grid, and under the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) your electricity supplier pays you for it. The "guarantee" is that licensed suppliers must offer an export tariff; it says nothing about how generous it must be, and the spread is enormous: from 1p to over 30p per kWh across the market in 2026.

That spread is the entire story of this guide. Two identical roofs exporting identical kilowatt-hours can earn many times different amounts purely on tariff choice. Picking your SEG tariff deliberately, and re-checking it annually, is the highest-value admin task in UK solar ownership.

Rates verified June 2026. Suppliers change SEG rates and conditions regularly: always check the current rate, and the import tariff attached to it, before switching.

Two practical notes. First, the best export rates usually come with conditions: being a customer of that supplier, owning a battery, or taking a specific import tariff. Second, a high export rate attached to expensive import rates can cost you more overall: judge the whole package against your own usage, not one headline number.

At 2026 prices:

• Export a kWh on a typical 12p tariff: earn 12p.
• Use a kWh yourself: avoid buying it at the cap rate of 24.67-26.11p.

So on the benchmark tariff, a kWh you use yourself is worth roughly twice one you export. That ratio should drive your habits:

1. Run heavy appliances in daylight: dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer on delay timers through the middle of the day.
2. Heat water on solar: a heat pump's hot water cylinder is a thermal battery you already own; daytime scheduling fills it on sunshine.
3. Charge the EV in the day when it is home: a solar-diverting charger automates it.
4. Then export the rest on the best tariff you qualify for.

The interesting 2026 twist: with the top battery tariffs paying up to 32.17p at peak, exporting at the right time can now beat self-consumption for battery homes. That is new, it is tariff-dependent, and it is the next section.

A home battery changes your relationship with the SEG from "sell the leftovers" to "sell deliberately".

The model behind tariffs like Intelligent Octopus Flux: the battery stores your solar (or cheap off-peak grid power), the home runs on it through expensive hours, and the system exports into the evening peak when the tariff pays up to 32.17p/kWh. The conditions are real: you need the battery, and you need to take the matching import tariff. But for suitable homes it turns the battery into an earning asset rather than just a saving one.

Hardware anchors (indicative June 2026, 0% VAT until 31 March 2027): a GivEnergy 9.5kWh battery runs £4,500-5,500 installed with a 12-year warranty; a Tesla Powerwall 3 £9,500-10,500. The honest payback maths, including what these tariffs do to it, is in our battery guide.

1. Estimate your export share. Homes empty during the day export more; homes with daytime occupants, a heat pump or an EV export less. Your inverter app will tell you within a month of going live.
2. Check what you qualify for. The best rates are conditional: same-supplier customership (Good Energy's 25p), a battery plus import tariff (Intelligent Flux's 32.17p peak), or smart metering requirements.
3. Judge import and export together. A 5p better export rate is worth £50 a year on 1,000 exported kWh; a 3p worse import rate on 4,000 purchased kWh costs £120. Whole-package arithmetic only.
4. Re-shop annually. SEG rates move constantly, and switching is straightforward. The 20 minutes a year is the best-paid admin in home energy.

Still at the planning stage? A 4kW system at £5,500-7,500 installed is the standard starting point, and local installers can quote your roof with a yield estimate to hang these numbers on.