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Octopus Smart Export Guarantee rates: Outgoing Octopus and the SEG tariff

What Octopus pays for the electricity your panels send back, tariff by tariff, who is allowed each one, and how Octopus says you apply. Read from Octopus's own pages, with how it compares to every other supplier we track. Nobody is going to ring you.

Figures on this page last checked 28 September 2026. Each carries its own receipt with its own date.

Rates as of 28 September 2026. Read from Octopus's own pages (octopus.energy/smart/outgoing and octopus.energy/smart/smart-export-guarantee). If a rate here disagrees with Octopus's page today, Octopus's page wins.

Octopus runs four export tariffs. Three of them are for people who buy their electricity from Octopus, and one, the Octopus SEG tariff, is for people who want to keep another supplier. Octopus's own SEG page says that second group misses out on the better rates, which is honest of it, and the table below shows by how much.

Octopus's export tariffs

Octopus's Smart Export Guarantee tariffs, best first within each group, with who can take each one
TariffRateWho can get itFixed or variableGroupChecked
SEG4.1p/kWhAnyoneFixedOpen to anyone2026-09-28
Prime Outgoing Octopus16p/kWh from 4pm to 7pm, 9p/kWh the rest of the dayOctopus electricity customers with solar and a home batteryFixed, 12 months, time-of-useFor that supplier's electricity customers2026-09-28
Outgoing Octopus12p/kWhOctopus electricity customersVariableFor that supplier's electricity customers2026-09-28
Agile Outgoing OctopusWholesale-linked, no fixed figureOctopus electricity customers with storageVariable half-hourly, 12-month termFor that supplier's electricity customers2026-09-28
The receipt

4.1p/kWh
pence per kWh exported
The source page carries no date. Read 28 September 2026.

Source: Octopus Energy · checked 2026-09-28 · JSON

The receipt

16p/kWh from 4pm to 7pm, 9p/kWh the rest of the day
pence per kWh exported
The source page carries no date. Read 28 September 2026.

Source: Octopus Energy · checked 2026-09-28 · JSON

The receipt

12p/kWh
pence per kWh exported
The source page carries no date. Read 28 September 2026.

Source: Octopus Energy · checked 2026-09-28 · JSON

The receipt

Wholesale-linked, no fixed figure
pence per kWh exported
The source page carries no date. Read 28 September 2026.

Source: Octopus Energy · checked 2026-09-28 · JSON

How Octopus compares with every other supplier

We keep every supplier's export rates in one table, each read from that supplier's own page. Here is where Octopus's rates sit in it, group by group, because a rate only means something against the others you could actually have.

The ranks and the differences in pence are our comparison from the table as we last read it, not figures Octopus publishes. Rows paying the same rate share a place. Time-of-use and wholesale-linked tariffs anywhere in the table are left out of the ranking, because they have no single rate to rank. Here that means Prime Outgoing Octopus and Agile Outgoing Octopus. The rate open to anyone runs from 2p/kWh to 13p/kWh across the whole table.

What you need before you apply

As Octopus's own pages put it, in our words:

How to apply, as Octopus describes it

  1. If you are not with Octopus and want an Outgoing tariff, sign up as a customer first, then come back to the Outgoing page and apply. If you are staying with another supplier, the Octopus SEG tariff has its own online application.
  2. Octopus processes the application and asks your Distribution Network Operator for an export MPAN, the meter number for the electricity you send out. Octopus puts its own part at 2 days.
  3. The network operator creates the MPAN. Octopus says this takes 1 to 4 weeks, is the longest step, and is out of its hands.
  4. Octopus enrols the MPAN on your account, which it puts at 5 days, and emails you for a first meter reading. On the SEG tariff it also wants a photo of the meter to go with that reading.
  5. After that Octopus pulls your export readings from the smart meter.

You apply on Octopus's own site. We do not take applications, we do not ask for your details, and nobody pays us for sending you there.

The receipt

Four export tariffs: Outgoing Octopus, Prime Outgoing Octopus and Agile Outgoing Octopus for Octopus electricity customers, and the Octopus SEG tariff for people who buy their electricity elsewhere
supplier page summary
The source page carries no date. Read 28 September 2026.

Source: Octopus Energy · checked 2026-09-28 · JSON

Is Octopus obliged to offer this?

Ofgem lists Octopus Energy Limited as a mandatory SEG licensee for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Ofgem publishes which suppliers have told it they are taking part in the Smart Export Guarantee each year. The big ones have no choice: a supplier with enough household customers must offer a tariff. Smaller ones can volunteer.

The receipt

Mandatory SEG licensees: British Gas Trading Limited; E (Gas and Electricity) Ltd; E.ON Next Energy Limited; EDF Energy Customers Limited; Electricity Plus Supply Limited (trading as Utility Warehouse); Foxglove Energy Supply Limited; Fuse Energy Supply Limited; Octopus Energy Limited; OVO Electricity Ltd; ScottishPower Energy Retail Limited; So Energy Trading Limited; Utilita Energy Limited. Voluntary: Pozitive Energy Ltd; Ruby Electricity Ltd; Smart Pay Energy Ltd; Voltx Power Ltd
suppliers that told Ofgem they are SEG licensees for the SEG year
Covers 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.

Source: Ofgem · checked 2026-09-28 · JSON

Ofgem's rule is that your export payments, your electricity supply and your gas supply can each be with a different company. So you can take an open-to-anyone export tariff from one supplier and keep buying your electricity from another. The catch is in the table: the higher rates are mostly reserved for that supplier's own customers, so switching your export alone gets you the open tier.

The receipt

You can use one company for export payments and another for your electricity supply
scheme rule
The source page carries no date. Read 28 September 2026.

Source: Ofgem · checked 2026-09-28 · JSON

The same page for other suppliers: ScottishPower, British Gas, EDF and E.ON Next.

Questions people actually ask

What is the Octopus Smart Export Guarantee rate?

It depends which Octopus export tariff you are on. The Octopus SEG tariff, open to people who buy their electricity elsewhere, pays 4.1p/kWh. Outgoing Octopus, for Octopus electricity customers, pays 12p/kWh. Prime Outgoing Octopus pays 16p/kWh from 4pm to 7pm, 9p/kWh the rest of the day. Agile Outgoing Octopus has no single figure: it follows the wholesale price half hour by half hour.

Do I have to be with Octopus to get Outgoing Octopus?

Yes. Octopus's page says you need to be an Octopus Energy customer, and that Outgoing Octopus pairs only with certain import tariffs. If you want to keep your current supplier, the Octopus SEG tariff at 4.1p/kWh is the Octopus rate open to you.

Is Outgoing Octopus fixed or variable?

Variable. Octopus's page says the rate can change and that it gives notice before it does. Prime Outgoing Octopus and Agile Outgoing Octopus are 12-month fixed-term tariffs with a locked-in rate formula and no exit fees, and the Octopus SEG tariff is described as fixed.

How long does it take to join Outgoing Octopus?

Octopus breaks it into steps: about 2 days for its own processing, 1 to 4 weeks for the network operator to create your export meter number, then about 5 days to enrol it. The network operator's step is the slow one, and Octopus says it cannot speed it up.

Can I get Outgoing Octopus if I get Feed-in Tariff payments?

Not if you started receiving Feed-in Tariff payments in the last 12 months, according to Octopus's Outgoing page. Its SEG page adds that you cannot be paid a SEG tariff while you are receiving export payments under the Feed-in Tariff.

Where to go next