What Is BICS? British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme Guide

What does BICS actually cut?

Every business electricity bill carries policy costs that fund government schemes. BICS exempts eligible manufacturers from three of them:

• Renewables Obligation (RO): from April 2027

• Feed-in Tariffs (FiT): from April 2027

• Capacity Market (CM): from October 2027

What it doesn't cut: your wholesale energy price, your network charges or your standing charge. Those still depend on your contract, your site and your supplier.

Is BICS only for big manufacturers?

No, and this is the part many small firms miss. According to GOV.UK, small and micro businesses make up 98% of firms in the eligible frontier sectors and 99% in the eligible foundational sectors.

So if you run a small workshop, fabrication unit or production line, it's worth checking before the window closes.

Could your business qualify? A quick check

You're likely worth a closer look if you can say yes to all four:

1. You manufacture. Your business makes products in a sector covered by the scheme. That includes the Industrial Strategy's priority growth sectors (advanced manufacturing, clean energy technologies, digital, defence and life sciences) and the foundational industries that supply them, such as metals, chemicals, glass and ceramics.

2. Your codes match. Eligibility is set by SIC codes and product codes, not by how your business describes itself.

3. You're in Great Britain. The scheme covers England, Scotland and Wales.

4. You use enough grid electricity. Your site uses at least 33 MWh of grid electricity a year.

Then it comes down to how much of that electricity goes into making eligible products:

How to apply for BICS in 5 steps

1. Check you're eligible. Start with the eligibility checker.

2. Sort your login. You'll need a GOV.UK One Login, verified with a passport or driving licence.

3. Pick the right person. The application must be made by a company officer or an authorised person. If someone else takes over, they have to start a new application.

4. Get your company authentication code. This is the 6-digit code from Companies House. It's not the 11-digit personal verification code.

5. Apply online. Use the BICS application service. You can save your application and come back to it, but you can't make changes once it's submitted.

What you'll need to hand

Gather this before you start and the form goes much faster.

For your business:

• Your Companies House number

• Your SIC codes

For each site:

• The MPAN for each electricity meter

• Six months of electricity consumption evidence for each MPAN

• Six months of evidence that eligible manufacturing took place

• Which products are eligible and which aren't

• Sub-metering data, or an estimate of how much electricity goes into eligible production

• Details of any private wire supply or other relief schemes

Renting your premises, or sharing a meter with another business? You may need extra evidence from your landlord or the third party, so ask them early.

What happens after you apply?

Decisions are expected in early 2027. If you're approved, most of the relief is expected from April 2027, with the Capacity Market element following in October 2027. The government has also said approved businesses in this first window will get a lump sum worth around a year's relief.

Miss this window? The government hasn't published dates for a second round yet. Check GOV.UK for updates.

BICS helps. Your contract still matters.

BICS takes certain policy costs off your bill. It doesn't touch your unit rate, your standing charge or your network charges, and those are set by the contract you agree with your supplier.

So the smart move is to do both: apply for BICS, and make sure your electricity contract is up to date. Let a contract lapse, and you could end up on out-of-contract rates. Phil explains how to avoid them.

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