Smart Export Guarantee for Solar

Your electricity supplier has to pay you for solar electricity you send back to the grid. This is the Smart Export Guarantee. It covers solar in Great Britain up to 5MW. The rate stays above zero. The supplier chooses the pence rate, how long the contract lasts, and how you apply. For a home solar system up to 50kW, the supplier asks you to show the kit and the installer are certified. An MCS certificate is the usual example. You can compare suppliers.

Smart Export Guarantee · Ofgem generator guidance · correct as of 3 October 2026

Your electricity supplier has to pay you for solar electricity you send back to the grid. This is the Smart Export Guarantee. It covers solar in Great Britain up to 5MW. The rate stays above zero. The supplier chooses the pence rate, how long the contract lasts, and how you apply. You can compare suppliers.

Smart Export Guarantee · correct as of 3 October 2026

You apply to an electricity supplier. That company can be a different supplier from the one that sells you electricity. That supplier sets the amount and how long the contract lasts. Payments can be based on actual meter readings. The public page is linked above, and the walkthrough for an Edinburgh roof is solar panels for Edinburgh homes.

Smart Export Guarantee · correct as of 3 October 2026

For a home solar system up to 50kW, the supplier asks you to show the kit and the installer are certified. An MCS certificate is the usual example. Other schemes that meet EN 45011 or EN ISO/IEC 17065:2012 also count. For systems above 50kW and up to 5MW, the guidance asks for a certificate for the installation.

Ofgem generator guidance · correct as of 3 October 2026

That certification rule is about the export scheme. Home Energy Scotland has a separate MCS rule when its grant or loan pays for a renewable system. The two schemes are stated on their own pages. Solar panels explains the installation we survey. This post states the Ofgem position.

0% VAT on solar installs until 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 the rate is 5%. That 0% covers the panels, the cables, the controller, and the inverter, fitted in or on the building. If you only buy the equipment and nobody fits it, VAT is at the standard rate. Houses and blocks of flats both qualify.

VAT Notice 708/6 · correct as of 3 October 2026

The tax rule and the export rule sit side by side. The 0% is about the installation at your home. The Smart Export Guarantee is about payment for electricity that leaves the home. What a particular roof earns is the supplier's rate and the survey of that roof.

Pentland Renewables surveys the roof, then quotes the panels, mounting, inverter, and electrical connection. A battery, if you want storage priced, is battery storage and home batteries with solar PV. Heat pumps are a separate scope.

You can usually put solar panels on your house without a planning application when they stick out by 1 metre or less. You need to apply if the house is listed, in the grounds of a listed building, or in a World Heritage Site. In a conservation area, the panels go on the back of the house, or on a side that faces away from the road. Ask for a survey on the quote form.

Scottish Government Circular 1/2024 (28 May 2024) · correct as of 3 October 2026

You choose a supplier and follow that company's application. The supplier sets the payment details and the contract length. You can use a different company for the export tariff, your electricity supply, and your gas supply. Payments can be based on actual meter readings. The list of suppliers is on the Ofgem page linked above. Compare the offers. The rate is theirs.

Smart Export Guarantee · correct as of 3 October 2026

The installation underneath that application is the array we survey: panels, mounting, inverter, cabling, and the connection into the home. Solar panels is the scope. Battery storage can be quoted at the same time. 0% VAT on solar installs until 31 March 2027. In a conservation area the panels go on the back of the house, or on a side that faces away from the road, and a listed building needs a planning application. The heritage post explains that for Edinburgh.

VAT Notice 708/6 · correct as of 3 October 2026

Pentland Renewables surveys homes in Edinburgh and the Lothians from the workshop at Unit 2b Eastfield Industrial Estate, Penicuik, EH26 8HA. The quote form is the next step. Heat pump funding is a separate scheme, set out on heat pumps and the grants guide.

For solar above 50kW and up to 5MW, the guidance asks for a certificate for the installation. A home roof is ordinarily in the up-to-50kW row, where you show the kit and the installer are certified. An MCS certificate is the usual example on that row. Ask the supplier which documents they want. The installation we quote is still the surveyed array on solar panels.

Ofgem generator guidance · correct as of 3 October 2026

A battery can sit beside that array. Battery storage and home batteries with solar PV cover 0% VAT on a home battery fitted from 1 February 2024 to 31 March 2027. The export rate remains the supplier's rate. Edinburgh sets out the planning position for the roof.

VAT Notice 708/6 · correct as of 3 October 2026