Smart Export Guarantee tariffs for offices — what to expect in 2026

What SEG is and why it matters

The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) is the UK government scheme requiring licensed electricity suppliers to pay generators for electricity exported to the grid from solar PV (and other small-scale renewables). All UK PV systems up to 5 MWp installed capacity are eligible, and every major UK supplier offers at least one SEG tariff.

For office solar installations, SEG revenue typically contributes 5-10% of total annual benefit. The bigger driver is avoided-cost from self-consumption (worth 25-40p per kWh self-consumed). But for the 15-30% of generation that exports to grid, SEG tariff selection materially affects total economics.

The 2026 tariff landscape

Best-value SEG tariffs in 2026 (as of May):

Supplier	Tariff name	Rate	Notes
Octopus Energy	Outgoing Agile	~10-13p avg	Variable, tracks day-ahead wholesale prices
Octopus Energy	Outgoing Fixed	~9p	Flat-rate fixed
E.ON Next	Export Exclusive	~10p	E.ON Next import customers only
OVO Energy	Plus Export	~8p	Available to OVO import customers
EDF Energy	Solar Export Premium	~7p	Available to EDF business customers
British Gas	Solar Reward	~6.5p	Open to all UK PV customers
ScottishPower	Smart Export	~5p	Lowest of major suppliers

Note that not all SEG tariffs are open to all customers. Some require an existing import contract with the same supplier; others are available standalone. The cheapest import tariff plus the cheapest export tariff isn’t always optimal — bundle pricing matters.

How to think about tariff choice

Three considerations matter for tariff selection on commercial office installs:

1. Total bundle economics (import + export). Some suppliers offer competitive export rates but expensive import rates. The real question is total annual cost per kWh net of solar generation. Run the maths on a per-supplier basis, not export tariff alone.

2. Self-consumption ratio. If your self-consumption is high (80%+), export revenue is a small absolute number. Going from 7p to 12p export tariff might be worth £2-5k/year. Worth doing, but not the dominant decision.

3. Variable vs fixed. Octopus Agile-style variable tariffs pay above fixed-rate when wholesale prices are high (mid-afternoon weekdays) and below when low (late at night). For Mon-Fri office buildings, the bias is toward variable being better because export tends to happen during high-price hours.

Worked example

A 320 kWp office system in Birmingham generating 294,000 kWh/year at 78% self-consumption exports 65,000 kWh/year.

Tariff	Rate	Annual revenue
ScottishPower (5p)	5p	£3,250
British Gas (6.5p)	6.5p	£4,225
OVO (8p)	8p	£5,200
Octopus Outgoing Fixed (9p)	9p	£5,850
E.ON Next Exclusive (10p)	10p	£6,500
Octopus Outgoing Agile (12p avg)	12p	£7,800

Range across tariffs: £3,250 to £7,800 — £4,550/year of variation. Over 25 years that’s £114k of cumulative difference. Worth getting right.

Practical recommendation

For most UK commercial office customers, the practical recommendation is:

Octopus Outgoing Agile if you’re willing to manage variable tariff pricing (most useful for office hours generation profile)
Octopus Outgoing Fixed if you prefer predictable revenue
E.ON Next Export Exclusive if you’re already an E.ON Next import customer
OVO Plus Export if you’re an OVO import customer

Avoid the lowest-rate offers from British Gas, EDF, and ScottishPower unless you have a specific reason (existing contractual relationships, particular service requirements).

We register the SEG tariff as part of the commissioning process. Customers can switch SEG tariff annually if better deals emerge.

Request a feasibility study with full annual economics including SEG revenue.