Best SEG Rates UK 2026: Smart Export Guarantee Tariff Comparison

British Gas Export & Earn Plus: 15.1p, but read the small print

If your gas and electricity are both already with British Gas, Export & Earn Plus is a genuinely competitive flat rate at 15.1p/kWh (verified June 2026). It sits right alongside Good Energy's 15p, and because it's a flat rate it's simple — no time-of-use windows to think about, you get paid the same for every unit you export.

The two things to know. First, it's dual-fuel customer-only: you need both your gas and electricity supply with British Gas to qualify. If you're electricity-only, or you'd have to switch your gas as well, factor that into the decision — sometimes the import savings or losses from switching outweigh a few pence on export. Second, and importantly for 2026: British Gas has announced that from July 2026 the 15.1p rate is being cut to 8p for larger systems above 15kW. For a typical domestic install (well under 15kW) the 15.1p rate is expected to continue, but this is a clear reminder that export rates move — confirm the current figure on the British Gas SEG page before you commit.

For most Hertfordshire homes we install (4kW–6kW), you're comfortably under the 15kW threshold, so the 15.1p rate applies — but if you're an existing British Gas dual-fuel customer it's worth comparing against Good Energy's no-strings 15p and Octopus's battery tariffs before settling.

Highest rates with a battery: time-of-use arbitrage (Octopus Flux & Agile Outgoing)

This is where the genuinely big numbers live — and where the battery you install does the heavy lifting. The very top headline rates aren't flat: they're time-of-use tariffs that pay a premium only during a peak export window, typically 4–7pm when the grid is short of power.

Octopus Intelligent Flux advertises up to ~32p/kWh in that peak window and ~24p off-peak, but it requires an Octopus-controlled battery and Octopus electricity supply. Octopus Flux (the self-managed version) pays up to ~29p peak, ~10p mid, and as little as ~5p overnight. Important honesty note: as of April 2026 Octopus has paused new sign-ups to both Flux tariffs, citing volatile wholesale prices, and says they'll return once conditions settle — so check availability before banking on these. Octopus Agile Outgoing is a different beast: it tracks half-hourly wholesale prices, averaging around 9–10p but spiking far higher during evening peaks, which a battery can deliberately target.

The reason a battery transforms the maths: without storage, you export whenever the sun is shining — which is usually the middle of the day, exactly when ToU rates are lowest. With a battery, you store cheap/free midday generation and discharge it to the grid at 4–7pm to hit the ~32p peak, or charge from a cheap overnight import tariff and export into the evening peak (true arbitrage). That's only possible with the right hardware. We fit SigEnergy and Tesla Powerwall battery systems precisely because they support the smart, scheduled export these tariffs reward — the battery is what unlocks the top of this table, not the tariff alone.

Methodology, freshness and who wrote this

How we built the table. The estimated annual figures assume 2,400 kWh exported per year — a realistic middle estimate for an unbattery'd 4kW–5kW system in the Hertfordshire / North London area, where annual generation typically lands around 3,400–4,200 kWh and roughly half to two-thirds is exported on a home that's empty during the day. Your real export depends on system size, orientation, occupancy and whether you have a battery; a battery can cut export volume (because you self-consume more) while raising the value of each exported unit on a time-of-use tariff. Treat the £/yr column as a like-for-like ranking aid, not a personalised quote.

Freshness. Rates verified June 2026 against supplier pages, Ofgem SEG guidance, MoneySavingExpert (updated 8 June 2026), Which? and Sunsave (updated 30 April 2026). SEG tariffs are variable and can change on roughly 30 days' notice — we re-check this table monthly, but always confirm the live rate on the supplier's own page before switching. Two live caveats at time of writing: Octopus has paused new Flux sign-ups (April 2026), and British Gas is cutting Export & Earn Plus to 8p for systems above 15kW from July 2026.

Sources: Ofgem (Smart Export Guarantee scheme rules), DESNZ (solar and net-zero policy), and the supplier tariff pages linked throughout. Written by the Sola UK content team and reviewed by an MCS-certified installer on our St Albans team — we install solar, battery and EV charging across Hertfordshire and North London, so the battery-arbitrage section reflects what we actually commission on real systems, not theory.

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