British Gas is the UK’s largest energy supplier, and because it has far more than 150,000 domestic customers it is a mandatory licensee under the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG). That means it is legally required to offer at least one tariff that pays you for the electricity your solar panels export to the grid. The headline question for most people is simple: how much does British Gas actually pay, and is it worth staying with them for export?
The short answer
What is the British Gas SEG tariff?
The Smart Export Guarantee replaced the old Feed-in Tariff in January 2020. Unlike the Feed-in Tariff, the SEG has no government-set rate — each obligated supplier chooses its own export price. British Gas offers its SEG payment under the Export & Earn Flex banner. It is a variable tariff, meaning British Gas can revise the rate, and historically it has sat at or close to the minimum the scheme requires (the SEG rules only mandate that the rate is greater than zero).
British Gas measures your export using your smart meter’s export register and credits the payment to your energy account, typically quarterly. You do not receive a separate cheque — the export earnings offset what you owe for imported electricity, and any surplus is carried as credit on the account.
British Gas SEG export rate (2026)
British Gas has run a few different export products. The figures below are approximate and change frequently — treat them as a guide, not a guarantee, and verify against the Ofgem register or the British Gas website before applying.
| British Gas product | Approx. export rate | Key condition |
|---|---|---|
| Export & Earn Flex (standard) | ~3p–4.5p/kWh | Open to British Gas and non-British Gas customers |
| Export & Earn Flex (higher tier) | ~6.4p/kWh | Usually requires you to import your electricity from British Gas too |
Approximate rates, last checked July 2026. British Gas revises these periodically — confirm the current figure before switching.
The pattern here is common across the “big six” legacy suppliers: a low baseline rate, with a slightly better rate reserved for customers who also buy their import electricity from the same supplier. Even the higher British Gas tier sits below what the best dedicated export tariffs pay.
Who is eligible for the British Gas SEG tariff?
To register for any SEG tariff — British Gas included — you must meet the scheme’s standard eligibility conditions:
- Your generation technology must be solar PV, wind, hydro, anaerobic digestion or micro-CHP, with a total installed capacity of 5MW or less (50kW for micro-CHP). A balcony solar system is comfortably within this limit.
- You must have a meter capable of measuring export every half hour — in practice, a SMETS1 or SMETS2 smart meter operating in smart mode, or a separate export meter.
- Crucially, your installation must hold a Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certificate (or the equivalent Flexi-Orb certification) covering both the equipment and the installation.
The MCS barrier affects balcony solar owners
How British Gas SEG compares to other suppliers
The single most important thing to understand about the SEG is that the spread between suppliers is enormous. The best export rate on the market is roughly five times the British Gas baseline. If you generate and export a meaningful surplus, the supplier you choose for export matters far more than any other decision.
| Supplier | Approx. SEG export rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Octopus Energy (Outgoing Fixed) | ~12p/kWh | Cut from 15p on 1 March 2026; Agile/Flux variants vary by time of day |
| OVO Energy | ~12p/kWh | Competitive flat export rate |
| E.ON Next | ~6p–17.5p/kWh | Tiered Next Export products; the 17.5p Premium is for E.ON’s own installations only |
| EDF | ~3p–5.6p/kWh | Export + Earn variants; see our EDF SEG guide |
| British Gas | ~3p–6.4p/kWh | Export & Earn Flex; higher tier requires British Gas import |
| Scottish Power | ~5p–12p/kWh | Higher rate for Scottish Power import customers |
Indicative rates, last checked July 2026, gathered from supplier sites and the Ofgem SEG register. Rates change often — always verify before switching.
For a fuller side-by-side of every major UK export rate, see our dedicated SEG export rates comparison for 2026. If you are specifically weighing British Gas against EDF, our EDF SEG tariff guide breaks down the EDF Export + Earn products in detail. We also cover the market-leading Octopus SEG tariff and the tiered E.ON SEG tariff in dedicated guides.
Should you switch away from British Gas for export?
You do not have to take your export tariff from the same supplier that provides your import electricity. The SEG explicitly allows you to import from one company and export with another. So if you are a British Gas import customer, you can stay with British Gas for your day-to-day bills and still sign up to Octopus Outgoing purely for export — the two arrangements are independent.
Whether it is worth the effort depends on how much you actually export. Consider a modest example: a household exporting 200 kWh a year (typical for a small system with high self-consumption). At the British Gas baseline of ~3p that is £6 a year; at Octopus’s ~12p it is £24 a year. The £18 annual difference is real but small. For a larger rooftop system exporting 2,000 kWh a year, the same rate gap is worth £180 a year — clearly worth switching for.
The catch for many switchers
What this means for balcony solar specifically
For balcony and plug-in solar owners, the practical reality in 2026 is that the British Gas SEG tariff — like every SEG tariff — is currently out of reach because of the MCS certification requirement. The government’s March 2026 legalisation announcement explicitly acknowledged this gap, and Ofgem is consulting on a simplified registration route for plug-in devices. Until that lands (industry expectation is 2027), balcony solar pays you back through self-consumption, not export payments.
That makes maximising the share of your generation you use yourself far more valuable than chasing export rates. Our self-consumption guide and smart tariffs guide cover how to get the most from every unit you generate while SEG access for plug-in solar remains pending.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the British Gas SEG export rate in 2026?
The British Gas Export & Earn Flex tariff pays roughly 3p–4.5p per kWh on the standard product, rising to around 6.4p per kWh on the higher tier for customers who also import their electricity from British Gas. These are variable rates that British Gas reviews periodically, so confirm the current figure on the Ofgem SEG register or the British Gas website before applying.
Can I get the British Gas SEG tariff for balcony solar?
Not currently. Every SEG tariff, including British Gas’s, requires your installation to hold MCS (or Flexi-Orb) certification. There is no MCS pathway for a DIY plug-in balcony solar system you connect yourself, so balcony solar owners cannot register for SEG payments today. A simplified route is under consultation following the March 2026 legalisation announcement and is expected around 2027.
Do I have to be a British Gas customer to use its SEG tariff?
No. The standard Export & Earn Flex rate is open to households that import their electricity from another supplier. However, the higher British Gas export tier is generally reserved for customers who also buy their import electricity from British Gas. You are free to import from one supplier and export with another under the SEG rules.
Is the British Gas SEG tariff worth it, or should I switch?
If you export a meaningful surplus, you are usually better off on a higher-paying export tariff such as Octopus Outgoing (~12p/kWh) rather than the British Gas baseline (~3p/kWh). For a household exporting 2,000 kWh a year, that rate gap is worth around £180 annually. For a small system exporting only 200 kWh, the difference is around £18 a year — still worth having, but less pressing. Always compare the combined import and export cost, not the export rate alone.
Work out what export is worth to you
Estimate your generation and self-consumption first — for balcony solar, that is where the savings come from today.