The Smart Export Guarantee Explained

The Smart Export Guarantee, usually shortened to SEG, is the scheme that pays you for the surplus electricity your solar panels send to the grid. It replaced the old Feed-in Tariff for new installations and works differently: rather than one government-set rate, licensed energy suppliers set their own export tariffs and you choose between them. Here is how it works for the systems we fit across North Wales.

How the SEG works

You do not need to take your import and export tariffs from the same supplier, though some of the best export rates are reserved for suppliers’ own customers, so it pays to compare both together.

Who qualifies

Systems up to 5MWCertified installationHalf-hourly meter

The scheme covers solar PV systems up to 5MW, which is every domestic installation and nearly every commercial one. Your installation needs to meet the scheme’s certification requirements and you need a meter capable of recording half-hourly export. We confirm your system’s eligibility route as part of every installation, and handle the paperwork the supplier needs. The scheme rules sit with Ofgem.

How much can you earn?

Rates vary widely between suppliers and change over time, so any specific figure printed here would be stale within months. The useful framing is this: SEG income is a contribution to payback rather than the main event. The bigger saving is the electricity you do not buy.

Where it fits in the bigger picture

Export payments are one of three legs that make solar stack up in this region, alongside 0% VAT and falling equipment costs. The full argument is in are solar panels worth it in North Wales, and the support schemes that sit alongside the SEG are covered in our Wales grants guide.

Official source: Ofgem, Smart Export Guarantee. Tariffs change: check current rates before choosing a supplier.