The Feed-in Tariff closed to new applicants on 31 March 2019, so if you install solar panels today the scheme that pays you for exported electricity is the Smart Export Guarantee. The two work very differently. FiT paid a government-set rate on everything you generated, plus an export payment, locked in for 10 to 25 years. SEG pays only for what you export, at whatever rate your supplier chooses, and in July 2026 those rates ran from about 3p to 18p per kWh. Existing FiT contracts carry on unchanged. Here is how the schemes compare, and what to do if you are on either side of the 2019 line.
What happened to the Feed-in Tariff?
The government closed the Feed-in Tariff scheme to new applicants from 1 April 2019, and nothing you install now can join it. Anyone who got in before the deadline keeps their contract: Ofgem confirms existing generators receive payments for between 10 and 25 years depending on the technology, its capacity and when it was commissioned, and both the generation and export tariffs rise each financial year with the Retail Price Index. Source: Ofgem, Feed-in Tariffs.
That is why your neighbour with panels from 2011 may be earning far more from their roof than a new install ever will. Early FiT contracts paid a generous, index-linked rate on every unit generated, whether it was used in the house or not. The scheme did its job, the cost of installing solar fell sharply over its lifetime, and the government decided new installs no longer needed that level of support.
For nine months after FiT closed there was nothing at all. The Smart Export Guarantee arrived on 1 January 2020 to fill the gap. Source: Ofgem, Smart Export Guarantee.
SEG vs FiT: the differences that matter
The short version: FiT paid you for generating, SEG only pays you for exporting, and the rate moved from a government tariff table to your supplier's discretion.
| Feed-in Tariff | Smart Export Guarantee | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Closed to new applicants 31 March 2019; existing contracts continue | Open, launched 1 January 2020 |
| Who sets the rate | Government, index-linked to RPI | Each supplier; the only rule is the rate must stay above zero |
| Generation payment | Yes, paid on every unit generated | No, export only |
| Export payment basis | Metered, or "deemed" for smaller installs without an export meter | Actual export meter readings only |
| How long it lasts | 10 to 25 years, fixed by contract | Tariff terms vary; most are 12-month deals you re-shop like any energy tariff |
| Where it applies | Great Britain | Great Britain only; Northern Ireland is not covered |
The practical consequence of "export only" is that self-consumption now drives the economics of solar. Under FiT you were paid whether or not you used your own power. Under SEG, every unit you use yourself avoids buying at your import rate, while every unit you export earns the SEG rate, and the gap between those two numbers is wide. We work through that arithmetic in are solar panels worth it in the UK.
What you actually get paid under SEG now
In July 2026, SEG and supplier export tariffs ranged from about 3p to 18p per kWh, and where you land in that range depends mostly on your relationship with the supplier. The headline rates at the top generally require you to have bought your solar system from that supplier, the mid-range 12p to 15p rates usually require taking your import supply from them, and generators with no relationship to the supplier are typically offered 3p to 6p. There are no set rates: Ofgem's only requirement is that a tariff stays above zero, and suppliers with 150,000 or more customers must offer at least one. Rates move often, so treat any figure more than a month old as stale.
Supplier-by-supplier rates and the small print behind the headline numbers are in our Smart Export Guarantee rates comparison. Two structural points worth knowing before you shop:
- Your SEG supplier does not have to be your electricity supplier. You can import from one company and export to another, though the best rates are usually reserved for import customers.
- You can only hold one SEG tariff at a time. One installation, one export deal, per the Energy Saving Trust.
Already on the Feed-in Tariff? Keep it
If you hold a FiT contract, nothing about SEG takes it away, and for most FiT households the right move is to leave the contract alone. Your generation payments continue for the life of the contract regardless of anything else you do. The only decision point is the export half: Ofgem is explicit that you cannot receive both FiT export payments and SEG payments for the same electricity, so switching to a SEG tariff means first opting out of FiT export payments through your FiT licensee. Ofgem's FiT guidance for suppliers allows that opt-in or opt-out choice to be changed once every 12 months, so it is not a one-way door, but it is not instantly reversible either. Sources: Ofgem, FiT information for generators; Energy Saving Trust.
When could switching the export half make sense? Smaller FiT installations without an export meter are paid on "deemed" export, an assumed percentage of generation set each year by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, rather than on what actually leaves the house. If your actual export is well above the deemed assumption and a supplier is offering a strong SEG rate, the sums are worth running. If you have since added a battery and export very little, deemed payments that assume you export a chunk of your generation are usually the better half to keep. Check your own FiT statement and your licensee's terms before moving anything.
What you need to qualify for SEG
For a new solar install, SEG eligibility comes down to certified kit, a meter that can measure export, and a GB address. Per Ofgem and the Energy Saving Trust:
- MCS certification. Your system and installer must be certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme or equivalent, and suppliers may ask for the MCS certificate when you apply. Using an MCS-certified installer handles this automatically.
- A smart meter. You need a registered meter that records exported electricity, in practice a smart meter, even if you are not on a smart import tariff.
- Eligible technology within the caps. Solar PV, wind, hydro and anaerobic digestion up to 5MW, micro-CHP up to 50kW. A domestic roof is nowhere near the limit.
- A Great Britain installation. SEG does not operate in Northern Ireland, though some NI suppliers offer their own export arrangements.
Batteries have a wrinkle: suppliers do not have to pay SEG on electricity that originally came from the grid, so some tariffs only cover what your panels generated. How storage and SEG interact is covered in our solar battery storage guide.
Does the end of FiT make solar a worse deal?
New installs earn less from the grid than FiT generators did, but they also pay far less for the system, and the overall payback maths still works for most homes. A typical 4.5kWp system costs around £6,100 installed at 0% VAT, a fraction of what solar cost in the early FiT years, and the Energy Saving Trust's July 2026 payback modelling puts most GB homes at 9 to 12 years with export payments included. The full cost picture, size by size, is in our solar panel costs guide.