What is the Community Energy Export Guarantee?

The obligation bites on suppliers with more than 150,000 customers, who must offer an export tariff for each unit of electricity sold to the grid as measured by the meter³. Suppliers set their own rates, provided they offer more than zero pounds per unit of metered exported power⁴. As of June 2026, SEG payments can reach up to 25 pence per kWh, which is comparable to the unit rate of electricity².

For a household or a community group, the practical meaning is this: export income is available, but it is a supplier product, not a guaranteed national tariff, and the rate, the contract terms and the payment mechanics are set company by company.

What the Community Energy Export Guarantee actually is

Community energy allows people and communities to take democratic control over their energy future, by understanding, generating, using, owning, and saving energy in their communities, as well as working together across regions and nationally⁷. Export payments are one revenue line inside that wider model, and the phrase "community energy export guarantee" describes the expectation that a community generator will be paid for what it sends to the grid.

The mechanism behind that expectation is the Smart Export Guarantee, an export tariff available in Great Britain that pays people for the electricity they export to the grid⁸. It ensures small scale renewable energy generators get paid by electricity suppliers for the export of electricity back into the grid⁹. It supports small scale renewable electricity generation and does not offer upfront payments¹⁰.

That last point matters for how a community project is financed. The SEG is a payment for metered export, not a capital grant, so it cannot fund the build. Community groups therefore pair export income with grant funding, share offers or loans, and treat the export tariff as operating revenue rather than seed capital. The guarantee element is the supplier obligation to pay something above zero, not a promise of a particular rate or a particular term.

How it differs from the Smart Export Guarantee

In law, it does not differ. There is no separate community export guarantee statute. What differs is the commercial layer built on top of the SEG, and the scale at which it operates.

The SEG replaced the Feed-in Tariff, and it also pays for electricity exported to the grid¹¹. The FIT scheme has closed to new applicants, which is why the SEG is the live route for new generation¹². The SEG is designed to ensure small-scale generators are paid for the renewable electricity they export to the national grid¹³.

Where community arrangements diverge is in aggregation and in supplier choice. A SEG tariff does not need to come from the same company as the site's standard energy supplier¹⁴, and a generator can choose a SEG supplier that is different from its current energy company¹⁵. That freedom is what allows a community group to place several sites, or a portfolio of member installations, with a supplier that offers a community-specific product.

The distinction is worth holding onto, because searches for a "community energy export guarantee" sometimes assume a distinct legal entitlement with its own regulator and its own rate. The entitlement is the SEG; the community element is how groups contract for it.

Who it is designed for: community energy groups

The SEG itself is aimed at small-scale electricity generators, meaning homes and small businesses³. Community energy organisations sit alongside those generators, and several funding and support routes are explicitly built for them.

The Powering Communities Fund requires a community energy group or organisation with a current or upcoming Power Purchase Agreement with Younity, a site on their Community Smart Export Guarantee, or use of their Kickstart Loan facility¹⁶. That is the clearest example of a community-specific export product: a named Community Smart Export Guarantee offered through a commercial arrangement rather than a statutory one.

Welsh support has been directed at the same constituency. The Ynni Cymru capital grants scheme provides financial support to community energy organisations, social enterprises, public sector bodies, and SMEs¹⁷, and a separate Welsh programme supports community-led energy projects¹⁸. Smart Local Energy Systems funding can be delivered by community energy organisations, social enterprises, public sector bodies, and SMEs developing innovative approaches¹⁹.

The Great British Energy Community Fund is a government initiative aimed at funding community energy projects, such as small-scale wind farms, across the UK²⁰, and it is directed at community energy groups²¹. The Community Energy Fund is open to anyone²¹.

For a household, the relevance is indirect but real. Joining a community energy organisation is a route to part-ownership of generation without owning a roof array, and it is a different proposition from installing your own system. The trade-offs are set out in joining a community energy scheme versus installing your own solar, and the wider model is described in how local projects work.

How export payments work in practice

Export payment is per unit, measured at the meter. Under the Smart Export Guarantee, electricity suppliers offer payment for each unit of power exported to the grid⁶. Households with installed renewables can get paid for the electricity they export to the National Grid²², and if registered for the SEG, they can receive payments for any excess energy generated and sent back to the grid²². In England, Scotland or Wales, surplus energy exported to the grid can be paid for through the SEG²³, and solar installations receive a payment known as the Smart Export Guarantee in return²⁴.

The conditions are where most applications stall.

• Smart meter: generators must have a smart meter to monitor exports in order to qualify for the SEG⁵.
• Accreditation: residential solar systems in the UK must be accredited by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme to be eligible for the SEG⁶.
• Technology: solar panels, a small wind turbine, or micro CHP are the eligible generation types, and the household must live in England, Scotland, or Wales¹⁵.
• FIT opt-out: a generator intending to claim SEG payments must not be receiving an export tariff under the FIT scheme for the same installation and generation capacity, and must first opt out of FIT export payments by contacting the FIT Licensee²⁵.
• FIT export condition: where a site is on FIT export payments, the FIT generator must have the ability to export and have opted in to receive export payment from the FIT licensee²⁶.

Applications go directly to a SEG tariff supplier, and the Ofgem website lists the energy suppliers that provide SEG tariffs²⁰. There is no central application portal and no queue: the contract is between the generator and the supplier.

Where the scheme sits in UK energy policy

Export payment policy sits inside a wider settlement that is devolved in parts and reserved in others, and the differences matter for community groups working across borders.

The Energy Company Obligation is a government energy efficiency scheme in Great Britain²⁷, so it does not extend to Northern Ireland. The Energy Price Guarantee operated, for the most part, in the same way for households across the whole of the UK, with differences for Northern Ireland²⁸, and its regional rates applied to England, Scotland and Wales²⁹. The UK Emissions Trading Scheme is jointly administered by the Scottish Government, UK Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive³⁰.

The SEG's own territorial reach follows the same pattern as the electricity market: it is available in Great Britain, and the eligibility guidance for households names England, Scotland, or Wales¹⁵. Northern Ireland sits outside it, which is why community energy in Northern Ireland develops under different funding and regulatory conditions, covered in community energy in Northern Ireland.

The direction of travel in policy is toward more local generation and more local control. The grid edge, the boundary where a site connects to the network, is changing in ways that let households and communities support a fair energy transition²¹, and proposals for a local power plan set out a larger role for community generation²¹. Funding routes for community projects are collected in funding for community energy projects, and the national picture is in community energy in the UK.

What this means for independence is bounded. Export income reduces the net cost of generation a household or group already owns, and it turns a surplus into revenue rather than waste. It does not remove dependence on the grid, on a licensed supplier, or on that supplier's willingness to keep offering a competitive rate. The connection itself remains the network operator's, and the payment remains a contract with a company.

If payments are not made

Contact the energy supplier first. Ofgem's guidance directs consumers to their supplier for late, incorrect, or missing bills, back billing, being overcharged, a faulty meter, poor customer service, and refusing to refund credit from your account³¹. The same list applies to export payment disputes, because the payment obligation runs from the supplier to the generator.

Where a supplier does not resolve the complaint, it can be escalated through the established redress route. Separately, in cases where the installer that fitted the faulty installation is no longer trading and the guarantee is missing, fraudulent or cancelled, the National Energy Foundation can be relevant³².