Can I switch from FiT to a SEG tariff?

The mechanics are set by Ofgem. To register for the SEG, a generator must first opt out of FiT export payments for the installation by contacting their FiT licensee, and most accredited FiT installations are eligible provided a smart or export meter is installed³. The generation tariff is untouched by that step: one supplier states the generation payment makes up the majority of the FiT payment and will not change, and another confirms generation payments remain the same⁴.

The decision is one-way and account-specific. Once switched, FiT export payments cannot be restored, and a household on a deemed or estimated FiT export rate cannot return to that arrangement after a smart meter is fitted¹. On earnings, supplier guidance is blunt: most people already on the FiT are unlikely to earn more with the SEG, though it very much depends on the rate⁷.

Switching from FiT export payments to a SEG tariff: what is allowed

The rule that shapes everything here is a prohibition on double payment. Ofgem states plainly that a generator cannot receive both SEG payments and FiT export payments for the same electricity³. The licence conditions behind the scheme put it in the same terms: a prospective SEG generator must not also receive or benefit from the FiT export tariff, or receive SEG payments from another licensee for the same installation⁹.

What is allowed is the split. A household can discard the FiT export rate and replace it with a SEG tariff while retaining the main generation tariff portion of the FiT payment¹. Independent guidance from the Energy Saving Trust frames it as opting out of FiT export payments and taking SEG payments instead, with FiT generation payments continuing². Ofgem's generator guidance requires that opt-out as a precondition: a household intending to claim SEG payments must not be in receipt of an export tariff under the FiT for the same installation and generation capacity, and must contact its FiT licensee first¹⁰.

There is one route to holding both, and it depends on physical separation rather than paperwork. A household can receive SEG payments for one installation while still receiving FiT export payments for a different installation, provided the installations are completely separate, with distinct import and export meters and different import and export MPANs¹⁰. That is a two-array arrangement, not a way to double up on one roof.

The SEG itself is not administered by government. Energy suppliers that have signed up to either scheme administer it and make the payments, and the government does not make FiT or SEG payments directly¹. That matters for the switch: the counterparty is a licensed supplier, and the terms are commercial.

What you keep and what you give up

The FiT was a two-part payment, and only one part moves. The generation tariff is paid for every unit generated regardless of where it goes, and it stays with the FiT. The export tariff is paid for units sent to the grid, and that is the element replaced by the SEG. One supplier describes the generation payment as making up the majority of the FiT payment and confirms it will not change; another states that FiT generation payments remain the same and the generation tariff is not lost⁴.

Both FiT generation and export rates are index-linked to inflation, meaning they rise and fall with it¹¹. That is a feature of the FiT, and it is one reason the export rate being surrendered may be worth more than a flat SEG rate in some accounts. The SEG has no equivalent index-linking rule: licensees determine the rate, the contract length and other terms which generators will receive⁸.

The SEG also pays on a different basis. The FiT pays for both generating and exporting electricity, while the SEG only compensates for the electricity exported¹². A household that consumes most of what it generates therefore gets little from either export mechanism, and the switch changes little in cash terms.

The switch is one-way: you cannot go back to FiT export payments

The export side of the decision is permanent. Once a household has switched to a SEG tariff, it cannot switch back to FiT export payments, although the generation tariff remains unaffected¹. Independent guidance is equally direct: a household must choose one scheme for its export payments and cannot be paid by both SEG and the FiT for the same energy sent to the grid⁶.

A second, less obvious trap sits behind the first. A household on a deemed or estimated FiT export rate cannot go back to that arrangement once a smart meter is fitted⁶. Deemed export was a convenience for installations without an export meter, paying an assumed proportion of generation. Fitting a smart meter ends that assumption, and the move to metered export is not reversible.

There is also a limit on the SEG side: a household cannot get SEG payments from more than one supplier². So the export tariff is a single, exclusive arrangement, and the choice of licensee is the choice of rate.

Will you earn more on SEG? What most FiT households should expect

For most existing FiT households, the honest answer is probably not. Supplier guidance states that most people who already get the Feed-in Tariff are unlikely to earn more with the SEG, though it very much depends on the rate⁷. The reason is structural: the FiT export rate was a scheme-wide, index-linked figure, while the SEG is a commercial rate set by each licensee, and SEG rates are often less than what a household pays for electricity¹³.

The SEG replaced the FiT, and it is widely described as the less generous of the two. One consumer body notes that the FiT has been replaced by the much-less-generous Smart Export Guarantee scheme¹⁴. Another independent guide makes the same point in different words: the SEG replaced FiT and pays for exported electricity, but unlike FiT, SEG rates vary by supplier, so shopping around matters¹⁵.

What a household can control is the rate it accepts. SEG licensees choose the rate, the contract length and other terms, but the tariff must be above zero where the scheme conditions are met⁹. Rates vary by supplier, and a fixed SEG tariff pays a set rate per kWh exported over the length of the contract². Some tariffs carry no fixed end date¹⁶.

For a household with panels only, the practical comparison is between the existing FiT export rate and the best available SEG rate, and the arithmetic is account-specific. Where a battery or a heat pump is involved, the picture widens: independent guidance suggests looking for a good SEG tariff for exported electricity and then either a dynamic tariff or a heat pump tariff for import, from the same company¹⁷. That is a whole-home tariff decision, not just an export one.

Who benefits most from switching: recent FiT sign-ups versus older accounts

The FiT paid households that installed renewable generation technology between 2010 and 2019¹⁸. Within that window, rates fell over time, and that is what splits the population. Recent FiT sign-ups, on lower export rates, may get a better deal by switching to the SEG; most people already on the FiT are unlikely to earn more⁷. Older accounts, on the higher legacy export rates, are the least likely to gain.

The FiT is closed to new entrants, but new installations can still benefit from the SEG from licensed providers¹⁹. That means the SEG is now the only export route for anything installed today, and the switch question is specific to the legacy FiT population.

There is a commercial angle worth knowing about. Solar buyback schemes have been targeted at people who have older solar panels enrolled in the feed-in tariff scheme, which is now closed to new applications²⁰. A household on a legacy FiT export rate is therefore a known target for third-party offers, and the value of the rate being surrendered is exactly what such offers are built around.

How the switch is made, and who pays

The process runs in two steps, in order. First, contact the FiT licensee to opt out of FiT export payments for the installation³. Second, apply directly to a SEG tariff supplier; Ofgem publishes a list of SEG licensees². Signing up is not automatic, so a household must sign up to the tariff to get payments²¹.

The choice of licensee is genuinely open. A household can apply for a SEG tariff with any SEG licensee, and the licensee does not need to be the same company as the current energy supplier³. It can also use separate companies for SEG payments, electricity supply and gas supply³. Independent guidance makes the same point: a household can sign up for SEG payments with a different company to its energy supplier, so shopping around is worthwhile²².

Two conditions sit underneath the application. Most accredited FiT installations are eligible for the SEG provided a smart or export meter is installed³. And a household cannot receive FiT export payments or public grants if it signs up to the SEG²³.

On the money itself, the amount due and the contract length are determined by the chosen SEG licensee³. The government does not make the payments; the suppliers that have signed up to the scheme administer it and pay¹. For a household, that means the export income depends on a commercial counterparty, and the terms are the ones in that licensee's contract.

What this means for household energy independence

The switch is a trade of one dependence for another. Staying on the FiT export rate keeps a scheme-wide, index-linked payment set under the old rules, administered by the FiT licensee¹¹. Moving to the SEG keeps the generation tariff but hands the export rate to a commercial licensee that sets the rate, the contract length and the terms⁸. Neither route removes the household from the grid, and neither removes reliance on a supplier to make the payment.

What the generation tariff preserves is the more valuable half. It is paid on everything generated, not just what is exported, and it is index-linked¹¹. That is the part of the FiT that supports self-consumption economics, and it survives the switch intact⁴.

What the switch does not change is the physical dependence. Export still requires a grid connection and a meter, and the SEG pays only for exported units¹². A household that wants to reduce reliance on the export market altogether would be looking at self-consumption, storage or diversion rather than tariff switching, and those are separate decisions from this one.

The wider context is that the FiT is closed and the SEG is the successor scheme¹⁹. For a household weighing the switch, the question is narrow and answerable: what is the current FiT export rate, what SEG rates are on offer, and is the difference worth giving up a rate that cannot be recovered¹.