A quick guide to the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS)

This article was first written in April 2026. It was most recently updated on 29 September 2026.

The application window for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) opens on 1^st October 2026. Over 10,000 manufacturing businesses are eligible to apply and get relief on their electricity bills. Here’s our quick rundown of how BICS works. For advice or support with your application, get in touch with Sustainable Energy First.

What is the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS)?

BICS is a government scheme designed to reduce electricity costs for eligible UK manufacturers and other energy-intensive businesses in their supply chain. It works by exempting eligible businesses from the government’s three main levies for supporting renewables:

• Renewables Obligation (RO)
• Feed-in Tariffs (FIT)
• Capacity Market (CM)

These levies are normally added to each unit of electricity a business uses and the government estimates that exemption from all three will save businesses around £35-40 per MWh.

What’s the point of BICS?

It’s a key part of the government’s Industrial Strategy, announced in June 2025. The UK government has identified high electricity prices as a serious barrier to industrial competitiveness and BICS is one of the ways it is trying to fix that. 

A big chunk of energy spend for a typical UK business comes from non-commodity charges; that is, charges levied on top of the cost of the energy itself. A lot of government support for energy-intensive industries works by exempting certain types of business from some or all of these levies.

Through BICS, the government is supporting manufacturers to the tune of around £600 million a year.

Which companies are eligible for BICS?

The government estimates that over 10,000 UK businesses are eligible for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme.

To be eligible, a business must:

• Be registered with Companies House
• Operate in an eligible sector
• Manufacture at least one eligible product
• Use at least 33MWh of electricity a year from the grid

Eligible sectors

The full list of sectors and products eligible for BICS is available from the government website. Sectors include car manufacturing, chemicals and medical devices.

Whether you make hearing aids or fertiliser, to apply for BICS you will need:

• The four-digit SIC code for your company’s sector
• The six-digit HS commodity code for the products that are eligible

Both can be found on the government’s downloadable list of sectors and products.

When does the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme come into effect?

BICS comes into effect from April 2027. The government has also confirmed a one-off additional payment, also due in 2027. This will cover the support businesses would have received had the scheme been in place from April 2026.

In August 2026 the government published official guidance for BICS applicants. Here are the timescales for the first year.

1 October 2026: applications open 

30 November 2026: applications close (at 11:59pm)

January 2027: the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) will notify businesses of their eligibility decision

April 2027: for eligible businesses, exemption from the Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariff levies begins

October 2027: exemption from Capacity Market levies begins

How long will BICS eligibility last?

For five years, but in the second year BIST will carry out a full review of your eligibility. This is as rigorous as the initial assessment, so you will need to supply the same amount of supporting evidence.

After the year 2 review, maintaining eligibility is more straightforward. Businesses just need to submit an annual declaration:

• confirming that their circumstances have not materially changed; and
• stating the value of the BICS exemption to the business in the past year

Does BICS apply to SMEs or only large businesses?

It’s about the sector, not the size. So SMEs may also be eligible, provided they meet the qualifying criteria. Support is based on the nature of the activity being carried out and the energy used at each site.

That means a specialist manufacturer with a single qualifying facility could benefit, while a much larger organisation outside scope may not.

Is every manufacturer automatically eligible for BICS?

No – BICS is targeted support, not a universal discount for every manufacturer in the UK. Eligibility depends on whether a business operates in an approved sector, manufactures eligible products, and can evidence qualifying energy use.

If a business wishes to claim BICS support for a manufacturing site, they will need to provide details of all import Metering Point Administration Numbers (MPANs) related to the site, and evidence of the proportion of electricity consumed at the site which relates to eligible production processes.

How will BICS support be calculated?

BICS will operate on a site-by-site basis, rather than applying one decision across an entire business group.

Support will be calculated as follows:

• Less than 25% of electricity usage at the site relates to eligible manufacturing: no exemption
• Between 25% and 50% of electricity usage at the site relates to eligible manufacturing: 50% exemption
• 50% or more of electricity usage at the site relates to eligible manufacturing: 100% exemption

For businesses with multiple sites, this matters. Two facilities under the same ownership could receive different outcomes depending on their operations and energy profile.

Businesses will need to provide MPAN information and evidence to support the proportion of electricity used for eligible manufacturing activities.

What about hospitality, retail, offices and other sectors?

Many businesses outside manufacturing will understandably ask whether they can claim bill relief through BICS.

In most cases, the answer is no. That is because BICS has been designed as an industrial competitiveness measure rather than a broad business support package. Its purpose is to help sectors facing international competition where energy costs directly affect competitiveness.

So while hospitality, retail, offices and many service-sector organisations continue to face energy pressures, they are not the primary focus of this scheme.

Will this increase electricity bills for everyone else?

BICS will be funded through a combination of energy system changes, the removal of Carbon Price Support from April 2028, and Exchequer funding. The government says households and other businesses will not face higher electricity bills as a result of the scheme.

What should businesses do now?

The first BICS application window opens on 1 October and closes on 30 November 2026. Before beginning your application, we recommend that you read the official BICS guidance and gather the necessary information. If your business doesn’t already have a GOV.UK One Login account, you will need to set one up.

Once you’ve submitted your application, you can’t edit it. So it’s important to get all the information right first time. You are allowed to get someone else, like a consultant, to do the BICS application on behalf of your business as long as you confirm they are authorised to do this.

What does this mean for the wider market?

The government has acknowledged that UK industrial energy costs are a competitiveness issue requiring direct intervention. That recognition alone may help improve confidence in sectors that have long argued they face structural disadvantages versus overseas competitors.

For businesses outside the scheme, the challenge remains the same: managing costs through strong procurement, improved efficiency, smarter consumption and long-term planning.

For advice on British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme eligibility, get in touch with Sustainable Energy First via the form below. You can also read our guide to government support for energy intensive industries.