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What is BICS?
The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) is a government scheme that reduces electricity costs for certain UK manufacturers by removing some policy-related charges from their power bills. It is aimed at helping energy-intensive manufacturers compete internationally.

The charges being removed are:

Renewables Obligation (RO)
Feed-in Tariffs (FIT)
Capacity Market (CM)
These savings are expected to be worth roughly £35–£40 per MWh for eligible businesses.

Who qualifies?
A business must pass two tests:

1. Be in an eligible manufacturing sector
The government has a list of approved industries based on SIC codes.

These include:

Advanced manufacturing
Clean energy manufacturing
Defence manufacturing
Life sciences manufacturing
Materials manufacturing
Certain "foundational" industries supplying those sectors
The exact SIC code list is in Annex A of the document.

2. Manufacture an eligible product
Even if you're in the right sector, you must also make products that appear on the government's approved HS code list.

So eligibility is:

✅ Right sector (SIC code)

AND

✅ Right product (HS code)

What about electricity usage?
Many people thought individual companies would have to prove they were energy intensive.

That is no longer the case.

The government decided not to apply an electricity-intensity test to individual businesses. Instead, it applies electricity intensity at the sector level only.

So your company doesn't need to prove:

electricity spend as % of turnover
electricity spend as % of GVA
energy intensity compared with competitors

How much discount do you get?
The discount depends on how much of a site's electricity is used making eligible products.

Less than 25%
If under 25% of site electricity relates to eligible manufacturing:

❌ No exemption

Between 25% and 50%
If 25%–50% of electricity is used for eligible products:

✅ 50% exemption

Over 50%
If more than 50% of site electricity is used for eligible products:

✅ 100% exemption

Example
Factory electricity use:

Eligible manufacturing = 60%
Warehousing = 20%
Offices = 20%
Because eligible manufacturing exceeds 50%:

➡️ The entire site gets the full exemption.

Does company size matter?
No.

The scheme is open to:

Small businesses
Medium businesses
Large businesses
The government specifically states support is not prioritised by business size.

When does it start?
RO and FIT exemptions: April 2027
Capacity Market exemption: October 2027
The government also plans a catch-up payment when the scheme launches, calculated as if support had existed from April 2026

Contact 01432378690 for more information