OVO's 20p export rate: is it the best on the market?
OVO's headline export rate is 20p per kWh, one of the higher Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) figures advertised by a major supplier. The number is real, but it comes with conditions that decide whether you can actually get it.
OVO's three export rates
| Tariff | Export rate | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Standard SEG | 4p per kWh | Open to most solar owners |
| SEG Beyond Exclusive | 12p per kWh | For existing OVO import customers |
| SEG Install Exclusive | 20p per kWh | OVO installed your solar and battery, and supplies your import |
If OVO installed your solar but a different company fitted the battery, the Install Exclusive rate drops to 15p. OVO also discontinued its Battery Boost add-on in February 2026.
What the rest of the market pays in 2026
The point of a 20p headline is comparison, so here is where the other major export tariffs sit as of mid-2026. These are published headline rates, and the conditions attached to each matter as much as the number.
| Tariff | Type | Headline rate | Main condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| E.ON Next Export | Flat | ~16.5p | Existing E.ON import customers |
| British Gas Export & Earn Plus | Flat | ~15.1p | Existing British Gas customers |
| Octopus Outgoing Fixed | Flat | 15p | Octopus import customers |
| Octopus Flux / Intelligent Octopus | Time-of-use | varies, peak up to ~24p | Octopus import; rate changes by time of day |
| OVO SEG Install Exclusive | Flat | 20p | OVO-installed solar and battery, plus OVO import |
Two things stand out. First, the leading flat rates that do not require buying your hardware from the supplier cluster around 15p to 16.5p, so OVO's 20p is genuinely above them, but only if you meet its install condition. Second, a time-of-use tariff like Octopus Flux can pay more than 20p during peak export windows and less off-peak, so its real value depends on when your panels actually push power to the grid. Across the whole market the spread is wide: the best and worst common rates in 2026 sit roughly 14p apart, from around 3.3p to about 24p.
Is 20p the best rate?
On the headline flat number, 20p is at the top of the table, but "best for you" is a different question. The rate is tied to buying your system through OVO and importing from OVO, so the comparison is not just "who pays most to export". A higher export rate paired with a more expensive import tariff can leave you worse off overall than a lower export rate on a cheaper import deal, and import cost is usually the bigger line for a solar-and-battery home. If you have not yet bought a system, OVO's 20p is reachable; if you already own panels, the 15p to 16.5p flat rates or a time-of-use export tariff are the realistic field, and you can often take an export tariff from a different supplier than your import one.
To make the export figures concrete: a typical 4 kWp system exports in the region of 2,400 kWh a year. At 3p that is about £72; at 15p, roughly £360; at 20p, around £480. The gap between a poor rate and a strong one is real money, but it is still smaller than the saving from using your own generation instead of importing, which is why the export rate alone should not drive the decision.
SEG rates move, so do not buy solar for the rate
The single most important point: an export rate you see today is not guaranteed for the life of your panels. The Smart Export Guarantee is not a fixed government subsidy. It replaced the old Feed-in Tariff, which closed to new applicants in 2019 and did lock in payments for years. Under SEG, the only legal requirement is that licensed suppliers with 150,000 or more customers must offer at least one export tariff above 0p. The level is set by each supplier and moves with wholesale power prices and commercial strategy.
In practice that means rates rise and fall, headline deals get withdrawn or closed to new sign-ups, and the eye-catching tariff of this year may not be available next year. Basing a solar purchase mainly on the current SEG rate is the wrong anchor. The economics that hold up over 25 years are how much of your own generation you use rather than import, the quality and sizing of the install, and the payback that follows from those, with the export rate as a movable bonus on top. Treat a high SEG rate as a reason to pick a supplier, not a reason to buy panels.
How to judge it for your home
Add up both sides: the export rate and the import unit rate you would pay, then weigh that against how much you would use yourself. The Smart Export Guarantee guide explains how SEG payments work, the home batteries piece covers how storage raises self-consumption, and the battery calculator shows how much you would export versus use, which is what sets the value of any export rate. OVO's full record across service, value and the rest is on its supplier profile, and you can compare every major supplier in the supplier rankings.