The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) allows you to earn money by exporting renewable electricity that you generate with solar panels or alternative eligible electricity sources at your business premises or home.
How it works

If you have solar panels in Gloucester or elsewhere in the country, or if you generate electricity using another eligible method, you can feed back what you don’t use to the National Grid.

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The SEG ensures you are paid for each surplus unit generated by small-scale generators. The payment only applies to the units fed back and not to the electricity you use yourself.

How to apply

You will need to apply to an SEG licensee, which is a supplier of electricity that must offer an SEG tariff to eligible generators. You can find out more details about this on the Ofgem website.

Who can apply?

Five types of low-carbon technology can make you eligible for the SEG. These are solar photovoltaic, such as the solar panels Gloucester installed by companies such as gsmlimited.com/services/solar-panels/gloucester, wind turbines, micro combined heat and power sources (micro-CHP), hydro generators, and anaerobic digestion technology.

These installations must be in the UK and not have a TIC (total installed capacity) of more than 5mW, or 50kW in the case of micro-CHP. You must also have a meter that can give export readings at half-hourly intervals and your installation and installer must be Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certified or similar.

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You do not have to have an SEG tariff from the same energy supplier you normally use and can find a list of suppliers with SEG tariffs on the Ofgem website. You should always compare offerings, as suppliers can determine their own terms and conditions.