An export MPAN is a unique electricity supply number used to record electricity exported from your solar panels to the grid. You usually need one before your supplier can pay you for exported solar electricity.

Solar panels are one of the cheapest power sources available, and they’re at the heart of making the UK a clean energy superpower. Government data shows that the UK surpassed 2 million solar installations as of the end of April 2026.

The bulk of the solar panel installations is domestic, yet a significant number of those homeowners will not receive a single penny in export payments. This isn’t due to ineligibility, but because a single piece of paperwork is missing: the export MPAN.

Most homeowners never hear about export MPANs until something goes wrong. Their export payments haven’t started, their supplier is asking for a number they don’t have, or their installer has gone quiet.

Understanding what an export MPAN is and who issues it will help you learn how to obtain one and what to do if the process stalls.

• Your import MPAN and export MPAN are different numbers that serve different purposes.
• You usually need an export MPAN before export payments can start.
• Your installer, your Distribution Network Operator (DNO) and your energy supplier may all be involved at different stages.
• Missing or incomplete paperwork is one of the most common causes of delayed export payments.
• A smart meter capable of recording half-hourly export readings is usually required alongside your export MPAN.

What Is an Export MPAN?

MPAN stands for Meter Point Administration Number. It’s a 21-digit reference number that uniquely identifies a specific electricity supply point.

You already have an import MPAN for the electricity coming into your home, and it appears on your electricity bill.

An export MPAN does the same job in the opposite direction. It uniquely identifies the point at which electricity leaves your property and flows back to the grid from your solar panels.

Energy suppliers and network operators use it to register your export meter point, record how much you export, and ensure you’re paid for it under a Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) tariff or other export arrangement.

Without a valid export MPAN registered against your property, most suppliers cannot set up export payments because there is no recognised meter point to bill against.

Import MPAN vs Export MPAN

These two numbers are easy to confuse, but they serve entirely different functions.

• Your import MPAN identifies the meter point through which electricity enters your home from the grid. It is assigned when your property is connected to the network and doesn’t change when you add solar panels. It appears on every electricity bill you receive, usually prefixed with the letter S.
• Your export MPAN identifies the meter point through which surplus electricity from your solar panels leaves your property and flows back to the grid. It’s created specifically because you have a generation source at your property. It doesn’t automatically appear on your electricity bill, so you may need to request it. It’s managed separately from your import supply.

The two numbers are linked to the same property but are administered independently. Having an import MPAN doesn’t indicate whether the other exists. This is why some homeowners with solar panels in place for months are surprised to find they don’t have one.

Why Do Solar Panel Owners Need an Export MPAN?

When your solar panels generate more electricity than your home is using, the surplus flows back through your electricity meter and onto the local network.

For a supplier to pay you for that electricity under a SEG tariff, they need to be able to identify exactly which meter point the electricity is coming from and verify that it’s correctly metered.

The export MPAN is how the electricity supply industry tracks this. It ties your export readings to a recognised supply point in the national database, allowing your supplier to process payments and allowing the network to manage grid connections correctly.

Without it, your supplier has no validated meter point to register your export tariff against. Some suppliers will tell you your application is incomplete; others may process it as a deemed export arrangement (paying you based on an estimate rather than actual readings), though this is increasingly rare and generally less financially favourable.

Who Issues an Export MPAN?

Your export MPAN is issued by your Distribution Network Operator (DNO), the company responsible for the electricity network in your area. DNOs are separate from your energy supplier. There are six licensed electricity distribution network operators in Great Britain, covering different regions, and they’re regulated by Ofgem.

The DNO issues it as part of the process of registering your solar installation on the local network. This typically occurs alongside, or shortly after, the G99 or G98 application notification or approval process.

This is the formal mechanism by which small-scale generators notify their DNO or seek approval before connecting to the grid.

Your installer should initiate the DNO notification as part of commissioning your system. The export MPAN is then associated with your property in the Meter Point Administration Service (MPAS), the national database that holds supply point information. Once it exists in that database, your energy supplier can look it up and use it to register your export tariff.

When Do You Apply for One?

You don’t usually apply for an export MPAN directly yourself. The process is initiated by your MCS-certified installer during installation and commissioning.

The typical sequence is:

Your installer commissions the system and notifies your DNO under G98 (for systems up to 3.68 kW per phase, which covers most domestic installations) or seeks approval under G99 (for larger systems).

As part of this process, the DNO registers your property as having an export connection and issues an export MPAN. Your installer should provide you with confirmation of the DNO notification or approval that includes or references your export MPAN. You then provide this to your energy supplier when registering for an export tariff.

If your installer didn’t provide the DNO paperwork after installation, that is the first thing to chase up. It’s a standard part of the handover documentation for any MCS-certified installation.

The paperwork homeowners should ask for at handover is: the MCS certificate, the DNO notification confirmation, and the export MPAN reference. Those three documents are what you need to register for export payments. If your installer hasn’t provided all three, ask before they leave the site. Chasing it afterwards takes significantly longer – Ben Richards, MCS-certified solar installer.

What Documents Do You Need?

The table below sets out the documents typically required to register for an export tariff and where each one comes from.

Document	Who provides it	Why it matters
MCS certificate	Your MCS-certified installer	Confirms your installation meets the required standard. Required by most SEG suppliers. Searchable at mcscertified.com.
DNO confirmation / G98 or G99 paperwork	Your installer (who notifies the DNO on your behalf)	Confirms your system has been registered with the network operator.
Export MPAN	Issued by your DNO; passed to you by your installer	The unique reference number your supplier needs to set up your export tariff.
Smart meter details	Your energy supplier	Confirms your meter is SMETS2 (or compatible SMETS1) and is configured to record half-hourly export readings.
Import MPAN	On your electricity bill	Needed by your export tariff supplier to link your supply points, particularly if you’re registering with a different supplier from your import supplier.
Proof of ownership or address	Standard supplier requirement	Verifies you’re the bill payer or property owner eligible to register the export tariff.
Supplier export tariff application	Completed by you via your chosen SEG supplier	The formal registration with your chosen tariff provider.

How Long Does It Take to Get an Export MPAN?

In straightforward cases involving a standard domestic system, a G98 installation and a responsive DNO, it should be in place within a few weeks of installation and sometimes sooner.

The DNO notification under G98 can, in many cases, be submitted by your installer on the day of commissioning, and the export MPAN may be issued promptly thereafter.

G99 applications, which apply to larger systems, involve a more detailed approval process and typically take longer, potentially several weeks to a few months, depending on the DNO and the complexity of the connection.

Once it’s in place and you have registered for a tariff, your supplier will need to set up your account and confirm your meter readings.

The total time from installation to first export payment can realistically range from a few weeks to several months, depending on how smoothly each step goes.

Why Your Export MPAN May Be Delayed

Delays are common, and most trace back to one of the following:

• The DNO notification wasn’t submitted by the installer, or was submitted incorrectly. This is the single most frequent cause of delay. Some installers treat the DNO paperwork as an afterthought; reputable MCS-certified installers handle it as a standard part of the commissioning process.
• The system size triggers a G99 application rather than a straightforward G98 notification. This adds weeks or months to the timeline, depending on the DNO’s workload and whether any reinforcement of the local network is required.
• The export MPAN was issued by the DNO but wasn’t passed to the homeowner. You may also find that it hasn’t been loaded into the national MPAS database in a way the supplier can retrieve. In this case, your supplier may tell you that no export MPAN exists for your property, even though one has technically been issued.
• Your smart meter isn’t configured to record export readings. Even after the export MPAN is in place, the supplier cannot verify metered export data.

Can You Export Solar Electricity Without an Export MPAN?

Technically, electricity will flow back to the grid from your panels whether or not an export MPAN exists.

The physics doesn’t care about the paperwork. However, without a valid export MPAN registered to your property, you won’t receive payment for the electricity you export from most suppliers offering SEG tariffs.

A small number of older arrangements used deemed export, where you’re paid based on an assumed percentage of generation rather than metered export, but this isn’t standard practice for new tariff registrations.

The SEG framework is built around metered export, which requires a valid, registered export MPAN.

What To Do If Your Supplier Says You Don’t Have an Export MPAN

This is one of the most common problems solar homeowners encounter. Here is how to work through it.

My Supplier Says I Don’t Have an Export MPAN

Start by contacting your installer. Ask them to confirm whether the DNO notification was submitted and to provide you with the export MPAN reference. If they cannot, contact your DNO directly; most DNOs have a dedicated connections or metering enquiries line.

Give them your address and ask whether an export MPAN has been issued for your property. If it has, take the reference number back to your supplier and ask them to register it manually.

My Installer Says the DNO Paperwork Is Complete, but I’m Still Not Being Paid

The export MPAN may exist but not yet be visible in your supplier’s systems, or your smart meter may not be configured to record export readings.

Ask your supplier to confirm both: that they can see your export MPAN in their system, and that your meter is sending half-hourly export data. If the meter isn’t recording exports, ask your supplier to arrange for it to be configured correctly; this is their responsibility.

My Smart Meter Doesn’t Show Export Readings

Contact your supplier. A smart meter capable of half-hourly export readings is required for most SEG tariffs, but not all meters are set up to record and report export by default. Your supplier should be able to configure this remotely for a compatible meter.

I Changed Suppliers, and My Export Tariff Stopped

Export tariffs don’t automatically transfer when you switch your import supplier. You need to re-register for an export tariff with your new supplier, or maintain export and import with separate suppliers if your chosen tariff allows it. Your export MPAN remains valid, and you just need to re-register it with the new supplier.

I have an Import MPAN, but cannot Find My Export MPAN

Your import MPAN appears on your electricity bill. Your export MPAN will not be there. Check your installation handover documents, any correspondence from your installer, or the DNO notification confirmation.

If you have none of these, contact your DNO with your address, and they can confirm whether an export MPAN has been issued.

Flowchart from Solar Installation to Export Payments

1. Solar panels installed by an MCS-certified installer.
2. MCS certificate for solar panels issued. This confirms installation meets the required standard.
3. DNO notified or approved. You get a G98 notification (most domestic systems) or G99 approval (larger systems); export MPAN issued by DNO.
4. Smart meter confirmed. It should be a SMETS2 or compatible SMETS1, configured for half-hourly export readings.
5. Export MPAN registered. The homeowner provides the export MPAN to the chosen SEG supplier.
6. Export tariff goes live. The supplier registers the export meter point and activates the tariff.
7. Payments begin. The supplier reads export data and credits the account per the agreed schedule.

If any step stalls, payments cannot start. The most common sticking points are steps 3 (DNO paperwork not completed by installer) and 4 (smart meter not configured for export).

Final Thoughts on Export MPAN

An export MPAN sits at the centre of whether you get paid for the electricity your solar panels generate. When it’s not properly in place, your system can generate and export electricity on every sunny day while you receive nothing for it.

For a standard domestic installation, your MCS-certified installer should handle the DNO notification as part of the commissioning process.

The export MPAN should follow automatically, and registration with a SEG supplier is straightforward once you have the reference. Problems arise when one of those steps is skipped, assumed or left incomplete, and the most common cause is simply not knowing to check.

If you have had solar panels installed and aren’t yet receiving export payments, start by confirming three things: that your DNO notification was submitted, that you have your export MPAN reference, and that your smart meter is configured to record half-hourly export readings. Those three checks will identify where the process has stalled in the vast majority of cases.

FAQs on Export MPAN

Is My Export MPAN The Same as My Import MPAN?

No, they’re different numbers. Your import MPAN is on your electricity bill. Your export MPAN is a separate reference that the DNO issues when registering your solar installation on the network.

Do I Need an Export MPAN For Every Solar Installation?

Yes, for each separately metered export connection. Most domestic installations have one export MPAN. If you have multiple generation sources at different supply points, each would have its own.

What If I Had Solar Panels Installed Years Ago and Never Registered for An Export Tariff?

You can still register for a SEG tariff. Check whether an export MPAN was issued at the time of your installation by contacting your DNO.

If your installation was MCS-certified, an export MPAN should exist, or you can obtain it. You’ll not receive retroactive payments for exports made before your tariff registration is active.

Does My Export MPAN Change If I Switch Energy Supplier?

No. Your export MPAN is tied to your property and meter point, not to your supplier. It remains the same if you switch.

ou simply need to provide it to your new supplier when re-registering your export tariff.

Sources and References

• GOV.UK – Solar photovoltaics deployment
• Energy Networks Association (ENA) – G98 Single Summary Guide 2020