Clarification on small business eligibility for peak export rebates

In July 2025 we introduced a requirement that, from 1 April 2026, electricity distribution businesses will need to pay negative charges (rebates) to households and small businesses supplying power to the network at peak times. View guidance

However, distributors told us that applying the definition of “small business consumer” (defined in the Electricity Industry Act 2010 as those using less than 40,000 kWh per year) was not workable because they generally work with connection capacity (kVA), not annual consumption.

In November 2025 we consulted on a proposal to clarify the definition of “small business consumers”, and on 22 December 2026 we announced our decision that, from 1 April 2026, distributors will be required to pay rebates to small businesses that have a network connection size up to 45kVA and that export up to 45kW of electricity back to the network at peak times.

We consider these changes will make the policy clearer and easier to apply, ensuring that the rebates apply to small business consumers we intended to target (and who need this support), while avoiding an unintended extension of the policy to larger-scale generators.

The full decision will be published early in 2026.