Your panels will export either way, the meter decides if you get paid in full
If someone told you smart meters and solar panels don’t mix, that advice is about ten years out of date. A modern smart meter is what lets your supplier see, and pay for, the electricity your roof sends to the grid. Without one, a typical 4kWp system gives away £200 or more of surplus power every year.
- Smart meters and solar panels work together. SMETS2 meters, and older SMETS1 meters moved onto the national smart network, record import and export separately.
- You need one to be paid for exports. The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) needs half-hourly export readings, which for a home means a smart meter.
- The tariff you pick is worth up to £170 a year. A 4kWp home exporting 1,700kWh earns £85 at 5p, or £255 at 15p.
- A smart meter doesn’t measure what your panels generate, only what crosses into or out of your home. Use your generation meter or inverter app for output.
- Feed-in Tariff homes should check before switching. A smart meter can end 50% “deemed” export payments, which costs money if you export less than you’re currently paid for.
Do smart meters work with solar panels?
Yes. The “don’t mix” reputation comes from early SMETS1 meters, which ran on supplier-specific networks, often stopped sending readings after a switch and sometimes struggled to record export. The Data Communications Company (DCC) has since moved millions of them onto the national network, and SMETS2, which records import and export on separate registers, has been the standard install since 2018.
At the end of June 2026, Britain had more than 42 million smart and advanced meters, 72% of all meters, and 92% of smart meters were working in smart mode, according to government figures. The other 8% is where most solar metering headaches start, so it’s worth checking which group your meter is in.
What a smart meter records on a solar home (and what it doesn’t)
A smart meter sits where the grid cable enters your home, so it only sees electricity crossing that point. Solar you use in the house never passes through it. If your panels are producing 2kW and the oven and washing machine are drawing 2.5kW, the meter records 0.5kW of import, and the 2kW your roof supplied doesn’t appear anywhere.
| Device | What it counts | What the number is used for |
|---|---|---|
| Smart meter, import register | Electricity bought from the grid | Your electricity bill |
| Smart meter, export register | Surplus electricity flowing out to the grid | SEG payments, or metered Feed-in Tariff export |
| Generation meter (fitted by your installer) | Everything the panels produce, used or exported | Feed-in Tariff generation payments and checking output |
| Inverter or battery clamp | Live power flowing through the incoming cable | Battery charging decisions and your solar app |
The gap between generation and export is the solar you use yourself, and that’s the number that drives your savings. Our solar generation tracker helps you log both.
Do you need a smart meter for solar panels?
You don’t need one to run solar panels, but you need one to be paid for your exports. Suppliers also want an MCS-certified (or equivalent) installation and an export MPAN, the meter point number used to register your export.
Without that set-up, surplus solar still flows to the grid and nobody pays you for it. Take a 4kWp system in the Midlands generating around 3,400kWh a year with half exported. That 1,700kWh earns £85 on a 5p tariff, £204 at 12p and £255 at 15p.
| Tariff type | Typical rate | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier-installed deals | 17.5p-25p | Usually only if that company fitted your panels or battery. Often fixed for 12 months. |
| Open-market flat rates | 12p-16p | Some require you to buy your electricity from the same company. |
| Export-only, no switch | 3p-6p | No need to move supplier, but the lowest payout. |
| Time-of-use and dynamic | Varies; peaks can top 25p | Needs a battery and good control to catch the high-paying slots. |
Rates change often, so check live terms and run your own figures through our SEG calculator before switching.
From 1 October 2026 the price cap electricity rate is 26.32p per kWh. Every unit you use at home instead of exporting at 15p is worth about 11p more, which is why running the dishwasher at lunchtime still beats the best flat export rate. See the best times to use electricity with solar.
Tell your supplier about your panels. Ofgem has warned that onsite generation can affect some older meters: certain electromechanical models run backwards, which can be treated as tampering if unreported. A free smart meter swap fixes it.
How to set up a smart meter for solar export payments
The order matters, because export payments generally start when your SEG contract begins, not when your panels switch on.
Sort the smart meter before install day
Your solar installer can’t fit a smart meter; your energy supplier does. Book it as soon as you’ve signed with an installer, as the two appointments are arranged separately.
Confirm it’s smart and can record export
Ask your supplier two questions: is the meter communicating over the DCC network, and will it record export? You need a yes to both.
Keep the paperwork together
Export tariff applications ask for your MCS certificate, proof your DNO was notified (G98 or G99) and often a system schematic.
Apply the week your MCS certificate arrives
The supplier sets up your export MPAN as part of the application, and every week of delay is surplus you won’t be paid for.
Agree to half-hourly readings
Export suppliers need your consent to collect half-hourly export data from the meter. Without it, the tariff can’t work.
Check the numbers after a fortnight
Compare the export figure in your supplier’s account with your inverter app. A zero after two sunny weeks means the export register or MPAN isn’t set up properly.
SMETS1 or SMETS2: which one have you got?
Fitted after 2018, it’s almost certainly SMETS2. Older, and it may be SMETS1, which is fine for solar once enrolled onto the DCC network. Four checks tell you where you stand:
- Did your in-home display stop updating after you switched supplier? That points to a SMETS1 meter that hasn’t been enrolled.
- Is there a separate communications hub fixed to the electricity meter? A hub clipped to the top or side is typical of a SMETS2 set-up.
- Does a DCC-based app connect? Free apps that pull data through the DCC, such as Hildebrand’s Bright app, only work with SMETS2 or enrolled SMETS1 meters.
- Ask your supplier. They’re the only definitive source. If the meter has gone “dumb” and can’t be enrolled, ask for a free SMETS2 replacement.
How to read your solar export on a smart meter
There are four places to look, and they don’t all show the same thing. Your in-home display is the least useful, as many show import and cost only, or a zero while you’re exporting. The meter itself holds the export total: most SMETS2 meters cycle through screens or have a button to step through them, with export labelled as export, shown with a minus sign or marked “A-” depending on the make.
Your supplier’s app shows half-hourly export once your export MPAN is live, and that’s the figure you’re paid on. Your inverter or battery app shows generation, home use and grid flows in close to real time. It’s the best tool for spotting faults, but it isn’t the billing figure. Our guide to energy dashboards for solar homes covers the better options.
One habit worth building: on the first of each month, note your total generation and your meter’s export total. Export divided by generation is your export share, and on the Feed-in Tariff that percentage decides whether a smart meter makes or costs you money.
That’s normal when the house is drawing more than the panels are making at that moment. An oven and a kettle running together can pull 5kW, which is more than most home systems produce even at midday in June.
Smart meter problems solar owners run into
Most issues come down to set-up rather than faulty kit, and missing export data costs you money, so chase it in the first month rather than waiting for a quarterly statement.
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No export data in your supplier account | No export MPAN yet, export not configured, or no half-hourly consent | Ask the supplier to confirm the meter is recording export |
| Readings stopped after switching supplier | A SMETS1 meter not enrolled on the DCC network, or a hub fault | Ask the new supplier to enrol or replace it, and send manual readings meanwhile |
| Bills rose after panels went in | An older non-smart meter counting export as import | Report it and request a meter exchange and a billing review |
| Export far lower than expected | A battery soaking up surplus, a DNO export limit or high daytime use | Check battery settings and whether your system has export limitation |
| Import all day, even in bright sun | The inverter has tripped or the panels have stopped producing | Check the inverter app; if it shows nothing, see solar producing less than expected |
| No SEG payment for the first few weeks | Payments generally run from your contract start date | Ask whether any backdating is possible |
On the Feed-in Tariff? Check this before your smart meter arrives
If your panels went up before April 2019, you’re probably on the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) with “deemed” export: your supplier assumes you export 50% of what you generate and pays you on that, whatever actually reaches the grid.
A smart meter can end that. Under Ofgem’s FiT rules, once a meter that can measure your installation’s export is commissioned, export can no longer be deemed, and several suppliers move customers onto metered export as soon as readings start arriving. Your generation payments stay the same. Your export payment might not.
On a 4kWp system generating 3,400kWh a year, at the 2026/27 FiT export rate of 7.64p per kWh (5.43p for systems predating August 2012), deemed export pays on 1,700kWh, or £130 a year.
Home A has a battery and someone in most days, so it only exports 850kWh. Metered at the FiT rate, that’s £65, so the smart meter has cost this household £65 a year. Moving export to a 15p SEG tariff pays £127.50, roughly back where it started.
Home B is empty from 8 till 6 and has no battery, so it exports 2,210kWh. Metered at the FiT rate that’s £169; on a 15p SEG tariff it’s £331.50. The smart meter is worth £200 a year to this home.
The break-even: a 15p SEG tariff overtakes deemed export once you export more than about 25% of what you generate. Below that, ask your FiT supplier how a smart meter would affect your payments before booking one. Metered FiT export rarely wins either way, because open-market SEG rates are roughly double the FiT export rate.
Enter your own figures to compare deemed FiT export, metered FiT export and a SEG tariff.
Before you change anything, know the rules:
- You can keep FiT generation payments and move only your export to SEG. You can’t be paid FiT export and SEG on the same units.
- You can only opt in or out of FiT export once every 12 months, and once you leave deemed export you generally can’t go back to it.
- Batteries can change the picture. Where a battery shares the connection and the meter can’t separate panel export from battery export, some homes have kept deemed payments. Ask your FiT supplier in writing before accepting a change.
Smart meters, batteries and time-of-use tariffs
A battery doesn’t read your smart meter. Hybrid inverters and battery systems use their own clamp on the incoming cable to decide when to charge and discharge, so a meter fault won’t stop your battery working, but it will stop you being billed and paid correctly.
Where the meter matters is tariffs. Cheap overnight rates, EV tariffs and time-of-use export tariffs all run on half-hourly readings. That’s how a battery earns its keep: charge overnight, run the house through the evening peak, and export when it pays most. Our time-of-use tariffs guide and battery calculator show how the numbers stack up.
One catch. The meter can’t tell whether an exported unit came from the roof or from grid electricity stored in the battery, and suppliers aren’t obliged to pay SEG on grid-charged export. Check your tariff allows battery export before setting the inverter to discharge to the grid. Tariffs built for batteries, such as Octopus Flux, allow it. Intelligent Octopus Flux has been closed to new customers since spring 2026.
Plug-in solar and smart meters
Plug-in kits of up to 800W became legal to self-install in the UK on 27 August 2026. You still need to notify your DNO under G98, and a smart meter is useful because it shows your daytime import falling. What it won’t do is earn you export payments: an export MPAN needs an MCS or equivalent certified installation, and self-installed kits don’t have one. Octopus has said customers with its own two-panel kit can pair it with a smart export tariff, so check supplier-specific terms. For most 800W set-ups the surplus is small, and the value comes from using the power at home.
Is a smart meter free if I have solar panels?
Yes. There’s no charge to have a smart meter fitted, with or without solar panels. The cost of the national rollout is spread across everyone’s energy bills.
Will my smart meter stop working if I switch supplier?
Not if it’s SMETS2 or an enrolled SMETS1 meter. Your import and export suppliers can also be different companies, although the best export rates are often tied to buying your electricity from the same supplier.
What does half-hourly settlement mean for solar homes?
Every electricity meter in Great Britain is moving to half-hourly settlement, with a deadline of 7 May 2027. About half had moved by August 2026. For solar homes, expect more tariffs that pay different export rates at different times of day. It doesn’t make a non-smart meter smart.
My old Economy 7 teleswitch meter was replaced. Does that affect my solar?
The radio teleswitch service was phased out by 30 June 2026, so many of these meters were swapped for smart meters. The new meter works fine with solar, but if you’re on the Feed-in Tariff with deemed export, check how your supplier will now pay it.
Get the meter sorted early, then pick the tariff carefully
A smart meter is free, works with solar and is the only practical way to be paid for your exports. Get it fitted and confirmed as smart before install day, then apply for an export tariff as soon as your paperwork lands. The meter is the easy part. On a typical 4kWp home, the export tariff you choose is worth up to £170 a year.
If you’re on the Feed-in Tariff, do the sums first. Export more than about a quarter of what you generate and SEG beats deemed payments. Export less, and a smart meter could cut what you’re paid.
METHODOLOGY: Worked examples assume a 4kWp system generating 850kWh per kWp per year. SEG rate bands reflect supplier and comparison data published August-September 2026. Import price is the Ofgem price cap average Direct Debit rate for 1 October to 31 December 2026. FiT export rates are the 2026/27 CPI-adjusted rates. Smart meter figures are DESNZ statistics to the end of June 2026.
DISCLAIMER: Export tariffs change often and eligibility rules vary by supplier. Check live terms before switching. This guide is general information, not financial advice.
UPDATED: 11 September 2026.
