Export payments
Export payments
There will be times when the electricity you generate from your renewable energy system is more than you can use or store, so the surplus can be exported to the grid to be used by somebody else.
The Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme is a government programme introduced in 2010, designed to promote the uptake of renewable and low carbon electricity generation technologies. The scheme pays those installing electricity-generating systems a rate for what they export back to the grid. This has been particularly successful for solar energy and led to a boom in domestic installations.
Following the closure of the FiT scheme to new applicants in March 2019, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) introduced the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) on 1 January 2020, to pay small-scale renewable energy generators for the electricity they export to the grid.
Under the scheme, all licenced energy suppliers with over 150,000 customers will be obliged to offer an export tariff to small-scale electricity generators (homes and small businesses) for each unit of electricity they sell to the grid, as measured by your smart meter.
Unlike with the FiT, electricity suppliers will determine the tariff they are willing to pay to small-scale generators, so you should shop around before choosing your supplier.
Some electricity supply companies now offer power purchase agreements (PPAs) which are long-term contracts for selling the renewable energy you generate to the supply company, who will sell it on to homes and businesses.
Useful links
Smart Export Guarantee (SEG)
Payments for exporting energy to the grid.