Solar tariffs and export payments

What a unit of solar is worth

Under Ofgem’s price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026, electricity costs on average 26.32p per kWh for customers paying by Direct Debit, plus a standing charge of 54.83p a day. This rate excludes VAT, which the government has removed from domestic electricity bills from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. The Energy Saving Trust says typical export payments are around 12p per kWh. So the more of your solar electricity you use as it is made, the more you save. The standing charge stays the same whatever you generate.

The Smart Export Guarantee

• What it is: an Ofgem scheme requiring electricity suppliers with at least 150,000 domestic customers to offer export tariffs to small low-carbon generators, including solar of up to 5 MW. Smaller suppliers can choose to offer one.
• What it pays: each supplier sets its own rate and contract length, but the rate must always be above zero.
• What you need: metered exports, which in practice means a smart meter that records export, and, for solar of up to 50 kW, an installation and installer certified under MCS or an equivalent scheme. Without that, a supplier does not have to pay you under the scheme.
• Choosing a tariff: compare rates, and check whether a tariff is only available if you also buy your electricity from that supplier.
• Where: Great Britain only. In Northern Ireland, ask your supplier what, if anything, it pays.

Older systems on the Feed-in Tariff, which closed to new applicants in 2019, carry on being paid under that scheme’s terms.

Time-of-use and smart tariffs

A time-of-use tariff charges different prices at different times of day, usually with a cheap window overnight and sometimes a dearer peak in the late afternoon and early evening. They need a smart meter. They suit homes that can move their use into the cheap hours: a battery that charges overnight, an electric car, or a hot water tank with an immersion heater on a timer.

With a battery, a time-of-use tariff can save money all year round, including in winter, when panels make little. Before switching, compare the cheap and normal rates and the standing charge against your own pattern of use, not just the headline cheap rate. See Home batteries.

Plug-in solar and exports

Plug-in kits are designed for using the power yourself. Citizens Advice says you cannot be paid for unused power from a plug-in kit under the current rules, and export payments need an MCS-certified installation, which a plug-in kit won’t normally have. See Plug-in solar explained.

Northern Ireland

The Smart Export Guarantee is a Great Britain scheme. Northern Ireland has its own regulator and supplier arrangements, so ask your supplier what it offers for exported electricity. See Solar in Northern Ireland.