EDF Energy Electricity: What a Unit Costs, and What EDF Pays for One Back

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EDF Energy charges 26.595p a kilowatt-hour for electricity on its Standard (Variable) tariff in London by Direct Debit, with a standing charge of 42.915p a day, both effective from 1 October 2026 and both printed in EDF’s own rate card, reference DM1903.08/26.AW16.V1. The same card covers all fourteen distribution regions and three payment methods, which is more than most suppliers publish in one place. Behind the supply licence sits Britain’s largest generator of zero-carbon electricity: five nuclear power stations producing about 12% of national demand, 31.4 TWh of zero-carbon output in 2024, and £4.3 billion invested that year in nuclear, wind and solar.

Electricity is the only fuel on a household bill that runs in both directions, and EDF is one of the ten suppliers legally obliged to buy it back. Its best advertised export rate is 18p a kilowatt-hour, which is high by the standards of the Smart Export Guarantee and well above the 12.86p a kilowatt-hour the whole scheme actually paid out in its fifth year.

The rate you are offered, though, is decided by where you bought your equipment rather than by what you generate. The 18p tariff asks you to “Purchase any combination of solar or battery with us” and to have enquired and bought after 2 March 2026; the 13p one-year fixed rate is for existing EDF electricity customers; 5.6p is “Exclusive to EDF electricity customers”; and the only rate EDF publishes for a household that already has panels fitted by somebody else is 2.0p. If your system is already on the roof and your electricity comes from another supplier, 2.0p is the number to compare, and it is the one this page keeps coming back to.

Five prices for the same kilowatt-hour, and the cheapest one is the open door

EDF publishes four household export tariffs and one for small businesses, and the gap between the top and the bottom is wider than the gap between any two suppliers in the scheme. Export Exclusive 12m V3 pays 18p a kilowatt-hour. The Export 12m V2 one-year fixed rate pays 13p. SEG Export Variable Value pays 5.6p. SEG Export Variable pays 2.0p. On the small business side, Export 12M Small Business pays 15p, with the same 5.6p and 2.0p variable rates underneath it.

Nothing in that ladder is about the electricity. A kilowatt-hour exported from a four-panel array in Yorkshire is identical whoever installed it. What moves the price from 2.0p to 18p is whether EDF supplies your import, and whether EDF sold you the hardware: the 18p tariff’s first sign-up step reads “Purchase any combination of solar or battery with us”, with “Submit your enquiry and purchase after 2 March 2026 to qualify”. Ofgem has a word for this distinction and uses it in its own reporting — a tariff is tied if it requires the generator to take something else from the supplier, and untied if it does not.

Set the bottom of the ladder against the top of the bill and the shape of the thing is clear. In London on Direct Debit EDF sells a unit at 26.595p and buys one back, from a household it does not supply, at 2.0p. That is thirteen times the price in one direction, which is this page’s own division rather than a figure EDF publishes. Against 5.6p the ratio is about four and three-quarters; against 18p it is still about one and a half, so even EDF’s best export rate is below what EDF charges for the same unit. Inside EDF’s own range, 18p is nine times 2.0p.

The scheme-wide numbers put that in proportion. In Smart Export Guarantee year five, 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, Ofgem recorded 270,395 registered installations with 1,585 MW of capacity, 443.1 GWh of export and £56,973,963 paid out. Divide the money by the energy and the market’s realised export price was about 12.86p a kilowatt-hour; divide it by the installations and the average registered site earned about £210.71 for the year. Both of those are this page’s arithmetic on Ofgem’s figures. The scheme average export of roughly 1,639 kilowatt-hours is worth £295.02 at 18p, £213.07 at 13p, £91.78 at 5.6p and £32.78 at 2.0p.

Eighteen pence lasts twelve months, and the contract says where you go next

The Export Exclusive terms, reference R1480.02/26.AW1.V2, March 2026 Edition, are explicit about the end of the fixed period: “If the price has a fixed price period it will become variable at the end of the fixed price period”, and “we will switch your Export Tariff to our Export Variable tariff or the EDF Export Variable Value tariff (as applicable)”. Those are the 2.0p and 5.6p tariffs. A generator who stays with EDF for their import lands on 5.6p; one who has moved supplier lands on 2.0p.

On the scheme-average 1,639 kilowatt-hours, that is export income falling from £295.02 in year one to £91.78 or £32.78 in year two — a cut of 69% or 89%, worked out here from EDF’s own published rates. The document does not print a rate of its own at all: the price sits in “the Term Sheet which accompanies these terms”, which is not published, and the variable prices are “published online at www.edfenergy.com/SEG”. Clause 1.1 says the agreement “shall continue in force until terminated”, so the twelve months is a price period rather than a contract length.

EDF keeps a good deal of room to move. Clause 16.6 lets it “vary the terms of this Agreement at any time, to the extent that such variation is not materially detrimental”, and vary them immediately where law or regulation requires. Clause 8.2 allows immediate termination without notice in listed circumstances, including a breach of the eligibility criteria. Clause 8.5 gives either side 28 calendar days’ written notice. The variable terms, reference H3142.01/23.v1, are blunter still: clause 4.4(a) says the export tariff “shall be subject to variation, as determined by EDF from time to time”, and the key terms say “The Export Tariff prices can be changed at any time.” Clause 8.2(h) lets EDF terminate immediately if it “is no longer a Mandatory SEG Licensee”, which is the one condition no generator can watch.

Payment runs on a different clock from billing. Clause 4.5 of both documents gives EDF “within 90 calendar days following the last day of the relevant Meter Reading Month” to pay, and only once it has validated the readings. Import comes out by Direct Debit monthly; export can take a quarter of a year to arrive. Payment goes to the energy account where possible, otherwise by bank transfer or cheque.

Exporting cannot touch the standing charge

The part of an electricity bill that solar cannot reach is the daily charge, and EDF’s rate card shows how much that is. The standing charge “applies whether or not you use any electricity or gas at your premises as supplied by EDF”, in the card’s own footnote. London Direct Debit is the lowest on the card at 42.915p a day, which is £156.64 over a year. North Wales and Merseyside by cash or cheque is the highest at 76.723p, or £280.04. The spread between those two is 33.808p a day, £123.40 a year, and no amount of generation changes either number.

The unit rates move far less. Across all fourteen regions and three payment methods the Standard (Variable) unit rate runs from 24.580p a kilowatt-hour in the East Midlands on prepayment to 29.429p in North Wales and Merseyside by cash or cheque, a span of 4.849p. At Ofgem’s revised typical consumption of 2,500 kilowatt-hours a year, revised on 1 July 2026 from 2,700, that is a cheapest annual electricity cost of £802.30 and a dearest of £1,015.77 on the same tariff with the same supplier — a difference of £213.47, of which £92.24 is the standing charge alone. The figures are this page’s arithmetic on EDF’s rate card.

Ofgem’s cap for the quarter is 26.32p a kilowatt-hour and 54.83p a day on Direct Debit, giving £1,723 a year for typical consumption of both fuels. Split that at the published rates and the electricity half is £858.13 and the gas half £865.48 — electricity is a shade under half the capped bill, and the only half a household can sell anything back into. EDF’s London Direct Debit price of £821.52 sits £36.61 under the cap average, which is London’s distribution costs rather than a discount: on the Manweb rows the same tariff is dearer than the average.

Economy 7 is the other lever the fuel allows. In London on Direct Debit the day rate is 32.348p and the night rate 15.041p, against the single rate of 26.595p — so the day units cost 5.753p more and the night units 11.554p less, with a standing charge of 42.569p that is marginally below the single-rate one. The widest day-night gap on the card is the South West, where 33.656p day sits against 13.279p night.

Who is obliged to buy your electricity, and what the obligation is worth

The Smart Export Guarantee makes a supplier a mandatory licensee if it has “at least 150,000 domestic electricity customers as at 31 December” of the preceding year, and every licensed supplier has to tell Ofgem its status by 14 February. The scheme year runs 1 April to 31 March. Eligible technologies are solar PV, wind, micro-CHP, hydro and anaerobic digestion, with a total installed capacity of no more than 5MW, or 50kW for micro-CHP, and the installation “must be located in Great Britain”.

What the obligation does not do is set a price. Ofgem’s own wording is that “any SEG tariff rate offered must always be above zero”, and that licensees “can choose the tariff rate, contract length and some other relevant terms”. One penny clears that bar. EDF’s 2.0p untied rate is a long way above the floor and a long way below what the market pays, and both of those statements are true at once.

Ofgem’s year five report shows how thin the field is. Eleven licensees offered a tariff at all — ten mandatory and one voluntary. Solar PV accounted for 99.98% of registered installations, 99.56% of capacity and 95.45% of export; 95.3% of sites were 10 kW or smaller. Rates across the market ran from 1p a kilowatt-hour on E’s untied tariff to 40p on E.ON Next’s Export Premium Plus, a tied one. Ofgem adds the point that matters for anyone weighing EDF’s ladder: “tied tariffs with low rates are outpriced by some of the untied tariffs with higher rates.” And a generator is not obliged to keep both sides with one company — Ofgem states that a SEG licensee “does not need to be the same company as your current energy supplier.”

EDF’s residential supply terms, reference R1434.09/26.AW13.V1, October 2026 Edition, make no mention of the export obligation. Clause 19 of the tariff conditions deals with the Feed-in Tariff, closed to new applicants on 1 April 2019: “We’re required to make Feed-in Tariff (FiT) payments under our supply licence.” The newer scheme lives entirely in separate documents, and the supply contract a solar household signs says nothing about it.

No smart meter, no export payment

Every EDF export tariff requires “a smart meter or half-hourly electricity meter”, and the export meter has to record half-hourly readings; if it “is not capable of sending EDF half hourly readings automatically”, the generator has to “provide actual readings from the export meter every quarter”. That is a hard gate, and the national statistics show roughly how many homes are behind it.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s quarterly bulletin, published 27 August 2026 for the quarter to June 2026, counted 42 million smart and advanced meters in homes and small businesses across Great Britain, 72% of all meters, with 75% of properties holding a smart electricity meter. Of the 40 million smart meters, 92% were operating in smart mode, leaving 3,133,000 in traditional mode — 3.8% of homes have a smart electricity meter that is not communicating. Between April and June 2026, 1.1 million meters were installed by large suppliers, of which 525,000 were new installations and 570,000 replacements: more than half of a quarter’s fitting work was replacing meters already there.

The settlement machinery behind all this is changing on a published timetable. Elexon, which administers the Balancing and Settlement Code, said on 28 October 2026 that around 75% of meters had migrated to market-wide half-hourly settlement, with 7 May 2027 the deadline for suppliers to finish moving the rest and 2 July 2027 the cutover to the shorter settlement timetable. More than 100 organisations went through qualification.

There is an asymmetry worth noticing in EDF’s own terms. On the import side, half-hourly data is opt-in: clause 3.d(g) of the tariff conditions lets EDF “take half hourly consumption data, provided you have agreed we can do this”, and clause 3.f covers submitting it. On the export side it is a condition of being paid at all. The same clause 3.d(c) also records that with a smart meter EDF “may remotely repair and update it, switch it from credit to prepayment mode or disconnect your supply”.

The fuel mix of the tariff most people are actually on

EDF publishes a fuel mix for its supply licence and, separately, for three groups of tariffs, which is more disclosure than the rules demand and worth crediting. For EDF Energy Customers Limited across April 2025 to March 2026 the licence-wide mix is 41.1% nuclear, 28.5% gas, 23.0% renewable, 5.0% coal and 2.4% other, at 173g of carbon dioxide a kilowatt-hour and 0.0025g of radioactive waste. The UK average in the same table is 13.7% nuclear, 31.4% gas, 48.0% renewable, 4.7% coal and 2.2% other, at 147g and 0.0008g.

The row that describes the Standard (Variable) tariff is the third one, “All other: All other tariffs and products — tariffs not referred to as Zero Carbon or Renewable.” It reads 44.0% nuclear, 38.4% gas, 7.7% renewable, 6.7% coal and 3.2% other, at 233g of carbon dioxide a kilowatt-hour. Set against the UK average of 147g, that is about 59% more carbon per unit, and the renewable share of 7.7% is under a sixth of the national 48.0%. This is arithmetic on EDF’s own two columns, not a claim EDF disputes — the green supply is sold on named tariffs, and what is left in the pool for everybody else is what the table says it is.

The green tariffs carry their own numbers. The zero carbon row is 100% nuclear with 0g of carbon dioxide and 0.0060g of radioactive waste a kilowatt-hour, which is seven and a half times the UK average figure of 0.0008g; EDF notes that “Zero carbon tariffs and products include any sold as ‘nuclear backed’”. The renewable row is 100% renewable at 0g and 0.0000g. EDF also states plainly that “Customers receive that electricity through the National Grid, not directly from zero-carbon generators”, which is the honest version and one many suppliers leave out.

Where the panels come from, and what the £0 bill assumes

The equipment that unlocks the 18p rate is sold by EDF and installed by Contact Solar, which EDF describes as “a wholly owned subsidiary of EDF” and acquired in 2024. The Export Exclusive terms say the tariff “can only be used once per purchase with Contact Solar”, so the installer is named in the contract rather than only in the marketing.

Prices come at two different configurations. EDF’s current cost guide says “Solar panel costs start from £5,775”, on a 1.92 kW system of four panels with a 3.6 kW inverter, no battery, including scaffolding of up to £995, and puts typical installation at “between £5,800 and £10,000”. Its June 2024 release gave “solar panel systems available for on average £8,495 for a typical 3-bedroom house”, being 10 panels, a 5 kW hybrid inverter and a 5.32 kWh battery, with a 10-year battery and inverter warranty and 25 years on the panels. Running costs are published too: an annual service “can cost on average around £100” and inverter replacement “typically ranging between £500 and £1,000”. All solar and battery installations carry 0% VAT.

Alongside the export tariff sits an import tariff for the same customers. Empower Fixed Exclusive 12m has “No standing charge for a year”, fixed rates for 12 months, no exit fees, a 10p a kilowatt-hour overnight discount for charging a battery, and the same conditions: buy from EDF, enquire and purchase after 2 March 2026, be on the Variable tariff, and have a smart meter set to half-hourly reads. The 2024 release that launched the predecessor tariff named the window — “three hours of discounted, zero carbon electricity every day between the hours of 1am and 4am” — while the current page gives the discount without the hours.

The headline claim on that package is a nil electricity bill, and EDF prints the assumptions beside it, which is the right way round. A household on the Standard Variable “would pay £858 per year for electricity”; one with solar and a 3 kWh battery “will pay £0 over a year”, on October 2026 cap rates and 2,500 kWh of annual solar generation, assuming “solar generation is prioritised to power the home with excess stored in the battery”. The £858 is the Ofgem cap average rather than an EDF-specific price, and 2,500 kWh of generation against 2,500 kWh of consumption only cancels out if the timing cancels out as well. A 3 kWh battery holds a little over an hour of a kettle and an oven; it cannot move a June surplus into a December evening. Note too that the figure has been updated honestly: the 2024 version of the same example used 2,700 kWh, which was the typical consumption value before Ofgem revised it.

EDF’s third time-of-use option, FreePhase Static, is open to “existing residential EDF electricity customers” with no solar requirement, fixes rates for 24 months and publishes its bands — red peak 4pm to 7pm, amber 6am to 4pm and 7pm to 11pm, green 11pm to 6am — along with “Periods of free electricity when grid demand is lowest”. What it does not publish anywhere findable on 1 November 2026 is a single rate for any of those three bands, or the hours when the free electricity runs.

Where the paperwork disagrees with itself

None of the following is a figure that has moved. Each is two of EDF’s own documents describing one thing two ways on the same day, which is cheap to check and worth a reader knowing before they ring.

One terms document, two start dates. The variable export terms are the same file on both of EDF’s export pages, r1271. The household page says the terms are “applicable to new sales from 17 October 2025”; the small business page says “Applicable to new sales from 10 February 2023”. The document’s own footer reads H3142.01/23.v1, a January 2023 reference. The withdrawal list on the household page separately records that “EDF Export Variable & Export Variable Value tariff (PDF)” was “withdrawn on 16 October 2025”, which fits the later date and not the earlier one.

Three reading frequencies for one tariff. Eligibility requires a meter recording half-hourly readings. The key terms say a meter that cannot send them automatically means “actual readings from the export meter every quarter”. Clause 2.2(c) of the terms says “Meter readings measured by the Export Meter will be provided manually to us in line with your normal billing cycle.” Half-hourly, quarterly and monthly are three different answers.

Two notice periods, and neither is in the supply contract. The export page promises that “If we plan to change the price of your exported electricity, we’ll contact you in writing at least 5 days before to let you know.” Clause 16.6 qualifies the same promise as “no less than 5 days written notice of the same (where reasonably practicable)”. The supply terms, clause 18.a, give only “advance written notice (a ‘variation notice’)” with no number of days at all, and say a change to a non-fixed tariff “will apply from the date we publish them on our website”. Clause 18.b does allow a suspension of up to 20 working days in defined circumstances.

A tariff with two version numbers. The solar tariffs page names the 18p tariff Export Exclusive 12m V3 in its tariff list and Export Exclusive 12m V2 in its own frequently asked questions, and mentions an “Empower Tracker Exclusive V2” tariff it does not describe. The withdrawal list meanwhile shows “EDF Export Exclusive 12m V2 (PDF)” as withdrawn on 2 March 2026, the same date the V3 offer opens, so the FAQ appears to be naming a document EDF has already retired.

And one that reads the other way. The household page also lists “EDF Export 12m tariff (withdrawn on 2 March 2026)” while continuing to advertise Export 12m V2 at 13p with terms referenced R1458 AW1 V6. Whether the 13p tariff is still open to new generators could not be settled from EDF’s own pages on 1 November 2026, and it is worth one question on the phone rather than an assumption either way.

Service, scale and the firm behind the licence

EDF Energy Customers Limited holds the supply licence, as its own fuel mix disclosure states, and sits inside a group that generates as well as sells. The 12 November 2025 release puts it at 5 million customers and 31.4 TWh of zero-carbon generation in 2024, which it gives as 17.0% of the UK total; five nuclear power stations covering about 12% of national electricity demand on 6 GW of capacity, avoiding over 13 million tonnes of carbon dioxide against gas-fired power; more than 35 onshore and three offshore wind farms with more than 2 GW running; £4.3 billion invested in 2024, almost £9 billion in the nuclear fleet since 2009, and “more than £100 million weekly” in electricity infrastructure. It holds 12.5% of Sizewell C and is building Hinkley Point C, which together are intended to “meet 14% of UK demand and power around 12 million homes”.

Two of the group’s own pipeline figures do not match each other in the same release — “2GW of capacity” with a “14GW development pipeline” in one place, and “more than 2GW of renewable generation in operation” with “over 10GW in construction, planning and development” in another — and the release also slips between electricity and “energy supply” when stating the 17% share. Neither is consequential for a household, and both are the kind of thing a reader can see for themselves.

On service, the independent measure for energy supply is the Citizens Advice star rating rather than any ratings agency, because Defaqto does not rate energy supply at all. Its page for EDF could not be retrieved on 1 November 2026, and the most recent reading recorded for this site is 2.96 out of 5 for April to June 2026, tenth of sixteen suppliers, with complaints scoring 2.0 of 5 and customer commitments a full 5. That figure is carried forward rather than re-checked here, and it should be read as of its quarter.

Figures were taken from each provider's own published terms on 1 November 2026. Variable rates can change at any time — confirm the current rate with the provider before applying.