Not being paid for solar export
Your solar panels are generating electricity and sending surplus to the grid, but you are not receiving any export payments — or payments you were receiving have stopped. This is one of the most common financial problems for UK solar owners, and it is almost always fixable.
The cause is usually one of four things: no export tariff registered, a metering issue, a missing MCS certificate, or a supplier billing error. Work through the steps below to find and fix yours.
We can check your metering, confirm your SEG registration status, and tell you exactly what needs to happen to start receiving payments.
Book a payment review — from £75 → What's includedWhy you might not be getting paid
There are four main reasons solar owners miss out on export payments. Most can be fixed without an engineer visit.
The single most common cause. The Smart Export Guarantee is not automatic — you must actively sign up with a participating supplier. Many solar owners assume their installer arranged this, but installers are not required to register you. Until you sign up, every kWh you export earns nothing.
SEG payments require a meter that records half-hourly export data — a SMETS2 smart meter, enrolled SMETS1, or dedicated export meter. If you have a traditional meter, there is no way for your supplier to measure what you export. You need a smart meter installed (free from your supplier) before payments can start.
A surprisingly common issue. Your smart meter may be installed and working for import readings, but the export register (the channel that records electricity flowing back to the grid) has not been activated. The export reading stays at zero even though your system is exporting. Your supplier can enable this remotely — no engineer visit needed.
The SEG requires your installation to be MCS-certified. If your installer did not register the installation with MCS, or if the certificate number was not provided to your export supplier, your application may be stuck. Check the MCS database to confirm your installation is listed.
If you were receiving payments and they have stopped, the issue is usually on the supplier's side — a billing cycle change, an account migration error, or a meter communication failure. Contact your supplier's billing department and ask them to investigate. Keep records of your portal export data as evidence.
If your system was installed before April 2019 and registered on the Feed-in Tariff, different rules apply. FIT payments are managed by your FIT licensee (usually your electricity supplier). If FIT payments have stopped, see our dedicated guide on FIT payments stopped.
Step-by-step diagnostic
Work through these checks in order. Most people find the cause at step 1 or 2.
Contact your energy supplier and ask: "Am I registered on a Smart Export Guarantee tariff or any export tariff?" If they say no, you need to sign up. This is the most common cause — and the easiest to fix.
To register, you need your MCS certificate number and a smart meter. You can sign up with any participating supplier — it does not need to be the same company you buy your electricity from. See our Smart Export Guarantee guide for current rates and how to choose.
Check your electricity bill or online account for an export reading. It may be labelled "Export", "Export register", "R2", or "Generation meter". If there is no export reading anywhere, your meter is either not a smart meter, or the export register is not enabled.
If you have a traditional meter: contact your supplier and book a free smart meter installation. If you have a smart meter but no export reading: call your supplier and ask them to enable the export register remotely. This is a common missed step after smart meter installations.
If your meter has an export register, check whether the reading is going up over time. Compare your monitoring portal's export figure against the meter reading. If your portal shows you are exporting but the meter reading stays flat, there may be a metering fault or the meter is not measuring correctly.
Also check your monitoring portal: if it shows zero export, the issue may be with your solar system rather than the payment — your system might not actually be exporting due to an export limit or high self-consumption.
The SEG requires proof that your installation is MCS-certified. When you signed up (or if your installer signed you up), the MCS certificate number should have been provided. If it is missing, your export tariff application may be incomplete.
Check whether your installation appears in the MCS public database. If it does not, contact your installer and ask them to register it. If your installer has gone bust, see our documentation recovery guide for alternative routes to getting your MCS certificate.
Log in to your energy supplier's account and look for export payment line items. SEG payments are typically credited quarterly — not monthly — so you may need to wait for the next billing cycle before the first payment appears.
If payments were previously arriving but have stopped, check: has your smart meter lost communication (contact your supplier), has your SEG contract expired (some have an annual renewal), or has your account been migrated to a new billing system?
Export tariffs do not automatically transfer when a house is sold. The previous owner's SEG agreement ends when they leave, and you need to register a new one in your name. You will need the MCS certificate (which should have been handed over as part of the sale) and a smart meter.
If you do not have the MCS certificate, see our check export payments guide for steps to recover documentation and set up a new export tariff after moving in.
How much could you be losing?
The amount you lose depends on how much you export and what rate you could be earning. Here are typical figures for UK systems.
Frequently asked questions
The most common reasons: you do not have an export tariff registered (the Smart Export Guarantee must be actively signed up for), your meter cannot record exports (you need a smart meter), the export register on your smart meter is not enabled, your MCS certificate is missing, or your supplier has a billing error. Check these in order — most people find the cause at step 1 or 2.
No. There is no automatic export payment in the UK. You must actively sign up for an export tariff — either the SEG or a time-of-use tariff like Octopus Flux that includes export payments. Your installer is not required to do this for you. Until you register, every kWh you export earns nothing.
Contact any participating energy supplier. You need your MCS certificate number, your MPAN (meter point reference), and a smart meter or approved export meter. The supplier verifies your MCS certificate, sets up the export tariff, and starts recording your exports. The process takes 2–4 weeks. Rates range from 3p to 15p per kWh. See our SEG guide for current rates and how to choose the best one.
Yes, in practice. The SEG requires a meter that records half-hourly export data — a SMETS2 smart meter, enrolled SMETS1, or dedicated export meter. Traditional meters cannot measure exports. Smart meter installations are free from your energy supplier — book one and ask them to enable the export register once it is installed.
The export register on your smart meter is likely not enabled. This is common — the meter works for import but the export channel was never activated. Contact your energy supplier and ask them to remotely enable the export register. This usually takes a few days and does not require an engineer visit. Once enabled, the meter will start recording your exports and your SEG payments will begin accruing.
Payments that were arriving but have stopped usually mean: your smart meter has lost communication with your supplier, your export tariff contract has expired and needs renewing, your supplier changed billing cycles, or there is an account error. If your meter is communicating normally, contact your supplier's billing department. If you are on the old Feed-in Tariff (system installed before April 2019), see our guide on FIT payments stopped.
Still not sure why you are not getting paid?
A remote review checks your monitoring data, confirms your SEG registration status, verifies your meter is recording exports correctly, and identifies exactly what needs to happen to start receiving payments. We deal with export payment issues every week.