Export Tariffs – Get paid for your energy
The solar feed-in-tariff (FIT) ran from 2010 until its demise in March 2019.
FIT was a government incentive to get people investing in solar with guaranteed financial rewards to the homeowner for 25 years.
The feed in tariff payment was split in to two parts, Generation and Export.
- Generation being every kWh you generate from your panels.
- Export being the kWh of energy you don’t use yourself and goes back to the grid.
Originally there was no smart technology to measure the amount being exported, so regardless of how little or how much you actually exported you were paid for 50% of what you generated. This was known as deemed export.
Old Feed in Tariff rates are inflation linked and rise in April each year.
You can find the current rates here.
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-and-social-schemes/feed-tariffs-fit/tariffs-and-payments
As of April 2024, most peoples FIT export rate will be 7.14p per unit.
This is up 5.2% from the previous year.
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/feed-tariff-fit-tariff-table-1-april-2024
Stay on old 50% deemed FIT terms or move to actual metered exports?
So anyone on the old FIT rates needs to ask themselves are they better staying with inflation linked 7p for 50% of what they generate? Or jump to higher priced exports, but where you only get paid for what you actually export?
But with solar owners self consuming more their generation using batteries, air source heat pumps and PV diverters like myenergi Eddi and Zappi, to water cylinders and EVs respectively. You might be better staying put.
You’ll need to run your own numbers.
See this blog post where I detail my solar generation and export monthly totals going back to September 2018 how adding batteries, diversion to EV via the Zappi and diversion to PV via the Eddi have affected my exports.
https://www.energy-stats.uk/solar-generation-history/
Note: If you do decide to jump ship, you only move the export part of your feed-in-tariff payments. Your generation payments will stay on their inflation linked rates. Some of which are quite lucrative for early solar adopters.
Note: All unit pricing information on the website includes VAT.
Octopus Energy Export Options
With Octopus Energy there are three export options available:
- Smart Export Guarantee (4.1p per unit)
- Outgoing Fixed (15p per unit)
- Outgoing Agile ( half-hourly price changes based on day-ahead wholesale rates, helping you make the most of the energy you generate, with pricing very much in the same vein as their Agile Import Tariff.)
- Flux Export (see relevant Flux page for your region)
Note: On 21st September 2022 Octopus raised their Outgoing Fixed rate from 7.5p to 15p per unit.
Note: to qualify for exports your Solar, Wind or Water generation needs to be registered with the DNO so that you are granted an export MPAN number (Meter Point Administration Number).
See the FAQ and acceptance criteria on the official Octopus Energy Outgoing page: https://octopus.energy/outgoing/
Import / Export Valid Tariff Combinations
Which import tariff you are on dictates which export tariff you can choose.
| Import Tariff | Export Options |
| Agile, Flexi, Standard, Fixed, Variable, Tracker, Cosy, Intelligent Octopus Go, Octopus Go | Outgoing Fixed (15p), Outgoing Agile (variable) |
| Flux | Flux export peaks around 35p per unit |
| Have electric from other providers | Smart Export Guarantee (4.1p per unit) |
You can find a full comprehensive list of combinations on the Octopus website here: https://octopus.energy/blog/outgoing-faqs/#tariffcombinations
From 5th September 2023 Octopus opening up the 15p Outgoing (and Agile Outgoing) to the Intelligent Octopus tariff.
So there is now scope for Intelligent customers to charge things overnight and then reap the rewards of their sunshine in the day. Quite a prospect.
From November 2024 the standard Go tariff was allowed to be paired with 15p exports.
Note: for those with batteries there is nothing stopping you charging them from Solar and/or grid and then force discharging when it is profitable.
Fun Fact! During September 2021 export prices on Outgoing Agile peaked at £2.38 per unit.
Remember to follow us on Twitter @energystatsuk as we tweet the next day’s Agile Outgoing prices every day once released.
You can read all the FAQ on Outgoing Octopus via the Octopus website.
You can also read more about the Smart Export Guarantee scheme over on the Which website.
I Moved from Deemed Export to Actual Export
After doing the man maths in my own head I decided to move my export element from FIT deemed exports to actual exports.
This firstly involved me moving the whole of my Feed in Tariff agreement from my previous supplier (EDF) and moving this to Octopus.
Note: It was perfectly fine to have your FIT payments come from a different supplier from the one that bills you for your energy.
Once I had moved the whole of my FIT agreement across to Octopus we started to the process of moving my exports from deemed 50% to actual exports.
This involved getting an export MPAN from the DNO and using my existing smart meter to register 30 min actual exports, in the same way the smart meter registers usage/imports.
So I still get quarterly Generation payments from my FIT agreement and will continue to do so until the end of my 25 year agreement.
But the export element is now solely based on each and every kWh that I send back to the grid. With this shown as a credit on my Octopus bill.
So during the summer you could build up credit ahead of the winter.
Final point. Being on actual exports means you can also take part in the Saving Sessions where you can sometimes get paid high rates for exporting surplus (or stored) energy back to the grid at peak times.
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Note: The current and past performance of energy pricing is not necessarily a guide to the future.
All the Export / Outgoing tariffs for the last 7 days
The fixed lines being the Smart Export Guarantee (4.1p per unit) and Outgoing Fixed (15p per unit).