Solar feed-in tariff Ireland [Updated 20th Oct 2023]

Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) Tariff - Get paid for surplus energy

All utility companies have to pay homeowners for any surplus energy sent back to the grid from your home solar PV system.

This one change alone can make a homeowner with solar 14.8% better off due to the feed-in tariffs you get paid.

A lot of names...

This is officially called the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) Tariff, though most people call is the Feed-In Tariff. Sometimes you'll hear it called the Clean Export Tariff and Micro-generation Support Scheme too. These all mean the same thing.

Who pays the highest feed-in tariff rates in Ireland?

The current winner (as of Oct 2023) is Pinergy on 25 cents / kWh, closely followed by SSE Airtricity and Energia on 24 cents / kWh.

Each energy supplier sets their own feed-in tariffs rates, and we have seen a fair number of changes since the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) Tariff - to give it it's official title - was brought in back in 2022. We have seen the title of Best Rates for Feed-in tariff change hands many times already.

The current rates as of writing (20th October 2023) are:

Pinergy	25 cents / kWh
SSE Airtricity	24 cents / kWh
Energia	24 cents / kWh
Electric Ireland	21 cents / kWh
Flogas	20 cents / kWh
Bord Gais	18.5 cents / kWh

Click here for non-domestic feed-in tariff rates

Can I sell my electricity to the highest-paying company?

Yes, but you have to buy from them too. You can only have one electricity company that you both buy from and sell to. So, if you want to avail of another electricity supplier's better feed-in tariffs, then you'll need to change over to make them your electricity supplier.

Will I use all the electricity I generate?

No, is the short answer. Most solar installations will export between 10% and 40% of the power they make back out to the grid (depending on your own PV system design and usage).

If you have a battery installed, the surplus energy charges your battery first. But even with a battery, on a sunny summer's day, chances are you'll have that full, and the surplus energy you generate gets diverted back to the grid.

Even if you happen to both use and generate 20 units of electricity on one particular day, it's very unlikely that your production and generations will line up exactly. Solar panels tend to produce nice steady electricity, whereas most of us homeowners tend to use electricity in peaks and troughs. During your troughs you will likely be exporting your generation to the grid, and getting paid for it.

How is my exported electricity measured?

Smart Meters: measure in both directions

New smart meters are rolling out across the country. These are able to measure electricity flow in both directions, so they track electricity you export to the grid and automatically send that information to your utility company.

Standard (pre-smart) meter: Estimated values

The meters before smart-meters only measure electricity one way: in-bound.

If you are still on one of these because you are not yet eligible for a smart meter (or are still on the installation list) then ESB Networks will estimate how much you export and you'll get paid based on that.

If you are eligible for a smart meter, but refuse one, you do not get paid anything for electricity you export.

Old wheel meters: run backwards

If you have one of those really old meters with a wheel in, then yes they do run backwards when you are exporting! They measure your net usage. ESB Networks & utilties companies are very keen to get the last of those replaced, but as of writing there are still some around the country including on houses with solar.

How does this affect the payback from solar?

It has a huge effect. The financial benefits of adding solar panels to your home were always good, but this has moved them up another level.

Typical 3-bed home: 14.8% extra returns

Here are the numbers for a typical 3-bedroom house here in Ireland. We've done the numbers both before and after the feed-in tariffs were introduced to show the improvement it's made.

	Old Figures (before feed-in tariffs were introduced)	Current Figures (including feed-in tariffs)
Cost to Homeowner	€5,880	€5,880
Payback period	5 years 1 month	4 years 4 months Nine months faster to payback
Net Lifetime Savings	€43,804	€50,290 That's an extra €6,486, which is a 14.8% improvement

Want to see the full details of before and after?

No problem. Firstly, here are the before and after financials:

Before feed-in tariffs - payback in 5 years 1 month:

graph showing the payback from solar before the implementation — How it used to be, before feed-in tariffs, with payback in 5 years 1 month

Now we have feed-in tariffs - payback in 4 years 4 months:

graph showing the payback from solar after the implementation of feed-in-tariffs — How it is now, with feed-in tariffs reducing your payback to 4 years 4 months. There's also an extra €6,486 in your pocket.

Do I have to pay Tax on Feed-in Tariff / CEG earnings?

Those who qualify for the CEG payment also enjoy a tax exemption on the first €200 they sell to their supplier. For the vast majority of people who have solar panel installations below 6kW (which is generally the largest size you get on houses), there will be no need to declare their income from the CEG.

Added benefit of Feed-in tariffs

Yes there's the obvious benefit of getting money from by your utility company, and that means your solar panels pay for themselves in an even shorter time.

Also though it can reduce the upfront investment needed, as for some people this has meant a battery is no longer required.

Before the Clean Export Guarantee was introduced in 2022, people with solar panels on their homes just gave away any surplus electricity for free to the grid. That was understanbly a bit heart breaking, and so many felt the need to invest in storage batteries to save the spare power generated for later.

Solar storage batteries are expensive though - adding €2,400 - €2,800 to the price of the full installation. Now that you can get paid for your spare energy, for some people removed the nneed to invest in a storage battery, significantly reducing the the upfront investment required.

For some people though a battery is still a very sage investment. If you'd like to know more please see our solar batteries page including the savings calculator.

Feed-in tariff for non-domestic solar installations

Smaller business / commercial solar installations of 6kWp (approx. 14 panels) or under can avail of the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) scheme the same as homes.

Clean Export Premium (CEP) scheme - discontinued

Originally there was a commercial scheme envisaged that was called the Clean Export Premium (CEP), for businesses with solar panel arrays of 6kWp to 50kWp.

As we understand the roll out of that has been stopped. Instead, installation grants such as the NDMG grant for business solar have been developed and rolled out. As we understand there's no official scheme for a feed-in tariff for commercial solar above 6kWp.