The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) is a government-initiated export tariff for British businesses and homes who have installed small-scale, renewable or low carbon technology. It means that as a licensed electricity supplier, and a mandatory SEG licensee, we'll pay you for every kilowatt hour of unused, eligible electricity your business generates and feeds into the National Grid. It replaces the export part of the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) scheme, which closed to new applicants in March 2019.
Are you a home or residential customer?
You'll be eligible for this tariff if:
You can apply if you have:
These systems must be small scale – up to a capacity of 5MW, or 50kW for micro-CHP. Your installation must be accredited by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) or equivalent.
We'll pay you for every kilowatt hour (kWh) of eligible electricity you export to the grid on any of our tariffs.
You'll need to provide an opening export meter reading, when you start the contract. Once you have provided this, we will collect subsequent readings automatically every 3 months from this date.
We'll make SEG payments once every 3 months, so you'll receive a maximum of four payments a year.
After receiving your meter reading, we'll send you a cheque, or a bank transfer if you have supplied us with your bank details, for that amount within 28 working days. We'll only make SEG Payments once in any three-month period.
Simply download and fill in our application form (pdf, 299kb), with information about your renewable system, as well as an opening meter export reading.
Read our business terms and conditions (pdf, 226kb).
Email your completed form to smartexportguarantee@britishgas.co.uk, or post it to British Gas, Smart Export Guarantee Team, Winnall Down, Alresford Road, Winchester, Hampshire, SO21 1FP.
Read our privacy notice.
Creating your account could take up to 28 days. We'll write to you once your account has been set up to confirm your new account number.
You can find out more about the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) by visiting Ofgem's website.
A: Unfortunately, your business can’t receive both the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) and SEG (Smart Export Guarantee) payments at the same time.
If your business has FIT export currently that doesn’t exclude you from opting into the SEG export plan. Your business will continue to receive FIT payments.
Remember, you may only opt out of FIT export payments once every 12 months. Once you've switched from deemed to metered export payments, you can't go back.
A: As an existing British Gas business electricity customer, we’ll automatically put you on our best SEG tariff - you don't need to request it.
A: You can energy switch supplier or cancel your contract at any time without notice or exit fees. We’ll just ask you for a final export reading so we can send your last payment and close your business energy account.
A: Unfortunately, you can't be in receipt of an export tariff such as the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme if you want to claim SEG payments, regardless of whether FIT export payments are made based on metered export or deemed export.
If you receive the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) today, you can opt out of receiving export payments under the FiT scheme and sign-up for the SEG tariff instead. It's a good idea to check your FiT rates, as well as other provider's SEG tariffs to decide what is best for you.
A: Energy storage (i.e. co-located batteries) can receive export payments for electricity that's stored on your battery then fed into the grid if you have an eligible renewable energy source.
A: You can install additional capacity to an eligible system. Please remember that if do this, anything over 5MW for solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, hydro or anaerobic digestion (AD) installations, or over 50kW for micro-CHP won’t be paid for.
If you add capacity to an existing SEG installation or have any questions, please contact us to let us know and discuss further.
A: You can export an unlimited amount of electricity to the grid, but it can’t be any more than the amount of renewable energy your system can generate.
A: You'll need to have either a smart meter (first and second-generation smart meters also called SMETS1 and SMETS2 meters) or a separate export meter that's capable of recording export readings half-hourly.
If you're not sure, get in touch with your current energy supplier. They'll be able to tell you if you have a smart meter and if it's capable of reporting exports on a half-hourly basis.
A: How you identify the export meter reading you need to give us will depend on the type of meter you have. It's always best to check your meter specifications on how to do this for your type of meter.
If you have a separate export meter, your meter reading will be the number shown on the main display of the meter. You may need to press a button for it to be displayed or illuminated.
If you have a smart meter, the export reading will be available on the display on the smart meter itself. To access the export meter reading you will need to press the button, or buttons on your smart meter to scroll through the information on the meter display or select the export register from a menu system – it will depend on the type of smart meter you have installed.
Specific instructions may be available in a User Manual (if you have one), your electricity supplier should be able to help you if you have any problems locating the export meter reading.
When it comes to sending us your export meter reading, we’ll need your installation number, meter serial number, meter reading and meter reading date. Please note, you do not need to provide an installation number when you give your opening export meter reading as part of your application. See how your gas smart meter works or how your electricity smart meter works for help.
A: The SEG tariff has been set up specifically so that you can export renewable electricity to the grid and is separate to your import tariff where you are charged for the electricity you import from the grid to power your business.
The flow of electricity into your business (known as consumption) and from your business (known as export) are measured separately by your smart meter. We'll use the export meter readings you give us to pay you for your exported electricity.
You don't need to have an import tariff with us to qualify for our SEG export tariff.
A: If you decide to leave there's no exit fees, and you’re free to cancel the contract at any time. You can also switch to another supplier without notice or exit fee.
If you do decide to leave, you just need to provide a final export meter reading by email so we can issue your final payment and settle your account.
A: A Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN) is a supply number that's unique to each smart meter. Your export MPAN is linked to the electricity you export to the grid.
It'll be different to the supply number you'll see on bills you receive from your energy supplier, which is for the electricity you import from the grid.
If you're joining the SEG scheme for the first time, we'll create and register your export MPAN for you. If you're moving your SEG to us from another provider, we'll get your export MPAN directly from them.
Email us at: smartexportguarantee@britishgas.co.uk
Call us on : 0333 202 9483
