British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme: who qualifies, what it saves and the 30 November deadline

What is the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme?

BICS is a flagship measure of the government's Modern Industrial Strategy. It targets two groups of manufacturers: frontier industries in the strategy's eight growth sectors (the "IS-8", such as advanced manufacturing and defence), and foundational industries that supply them with key inputs, such as metals, chemicals, plastics and glass.

It isn't a grant. Eligible businesses stop paying the indirect costs of three policy schemes that are normally added to every unit of grid electricity:

Your electricity supplier applies the exemption to your bills once the department confirms it. GOV.UK warns that some bills group these levies into one line, or fold them into the overall bill with no separate line, so you may not see the saving as its own line.

How much BICS is worth

• Up to £40 per MWh of grid electricity (up to 4p per kWh), according to GOV.UK.
• The government estimates the scheme at around £600 million a year on average, with over 10,000 businesses eligible for around £35 to £40 per MWh.
• It says this is up to 25% off manufacturers' electricity costs, and that the percentage each firm gets depends on the price it pays. The Budget on 28 October 2026 described it as a 20-25% discount.
• First-year applicants also get a one-off lump sum worth around a year's relief, paid through a bill credit. GOV.UK says only businesses applying this year can get it.

Approved exemptions last five years, subject to an annual declaration and a full review in year two.

BICS: key facts

BICS eligibility: the four tests every site must pass

GOV.UK says a business must meet all four criteria. Without a Companies House registration you can't proceed with an application at all.

Which sectors are on the list?

The final list has 84 four-digit SIC codes: 44 frontier and 40 foundational. A sector only made the list if its electricity use is over 0.9% (frontier) or 2.7% (foundational) of its gross value added, measured across the whole sector. There's no electricity-intensity test for your individual business. Examples on the list:

• Metals: basic iron and steel, aluminium, copper, casting, forging and stamping, treatment and coating of metals, machining, other fabricated metal products.
• Chemicals, plastics and pharma: industrial gases, basic chemicals, plastics in primary forms, plastic sheets, tubes and profiles, other plastic products, pharmaceuticals.
• Glass, ceramics and minerals: flat and hollow glass, glass fibres, technical ceramics, cement, lime and plaster, ready-mixed concrete, mortars.
• Advanced manufacturing: electronic components and boards, batteries, electric motors and transformers, cables, pumps, valves and bearings, machine tools, motor vehicles and parts, aerospace, shipbuilding, medical instruments.
• Others: manufacture of gas, non-hazardous waste treatment, recovery of sorted materials, and three food codes (oils and fats, starches, sugar).

Check your own codes against the GOV.UK eligibility list and the government's online eligibility checker. GOV.UK says the code lists won't change for 2027.

Who doesn't qualify for BICS

BICS is targeted. The government estimates over 10,000 businesses are eligible, so be realistic before you build it into a budget. You're out if any of these apply:

• You don't manufacture. Offices, shops, hotels, care homes, farms, schools and logistics firms aren't eligible. A site that only does storage, sorting, distribution or administration isn't a manufacturing site, even if the company makes things elsewhere.
• Your sector isn't on the list. On our reading of the list, there are no codes for drinks, textiles and clothing, wood products, paper, printing or furniture, and food manufacturing is limited to oils and fats, starches and sugar.
• Your site is in Northern Ireland. BICS covers Great Britain only.
• The site uses under 33MWh of grid electricity a year.
• Most of the site's power goes on other things. If 25% or less of the site's grid electricity is used to make eligible products, the exemption is 0%.
• You're not on Companies House. GOV.UK suggests getting professional advice on whether to incorporate.
• You get power through a private network with a generator import meter. Those arrangements aren't eligible in the first year. Other private networks may qualify if the levies can be verified, so ask your supplier.
• You miss 30 November 2026. GOV.UK refers to later application windows but hasn't published dates, and the extra lump-sum payment is only for this year's applicants.

How much of your site's electricity gets the BICS exemption

Relief is worked out site by site. A site that makes only eligible products normally gets a 100% exemption, subject to checks. A site that makes eligible and ineligible products is put in a band, based on the share of its grid electricity used for eligible manufacturing:

Supporting activities count if they serve eligible production. GOV.UK lists heating, ventilation and air conditioning, chillers and process cooling, compressed air, lighting, IT and controls, forklifts and on-site logistics, quality control, EV charging for vehicles used in production, offices, repairs, interim storage and R&D. Inter-site transport doesn't count.

You'll need the MPANs for each site, six consecutive months of electricity bills from the last 12 months, evidence of the products you make, and sub-meter data where you have it. If you don't sub-meter, you can estimate from machine loads or production data and explain your method.

How to apply

1. Check your codes with the GOV.UK eligibility checker (it's indicative only).
2. Gather your evidence: Companies House number and authentication code, MPANs, six months of bills, product evidence.
3. Apply directly through GOV.UK with a GOV.UK One Login business account, by 11:59pm on 30 November 2026. You can't amend an application after you submit it.
4. Wait for the decision in early 2027. Your supplier then applies the exemption from April 2027.

BICS vs the British Industry Supercharger and energy intensive industries schemes

BICS sits alongside the older support for energy intensive industries (EIIs). The British Industry Supercharger goes deeper, but it has a far stricter test for each business.

BICS doesn't include a network charging discount. That 90% compensation is only for Supercharger businesses.

Can you have both? You can hold an EII certificate and apply for BICS, but not for the same activity. BICS only applies to the share of a meter that the Supercharger doesn't already cover. GOV.UK says the Supercharger generally gives more support, and switching between the two is likely to leave a gap in support.

BICS and on-site solar: cheaper units vs fewer units

BICS and solar don't overlap. GOV.UK is explicit: "behind-the-meter solar generation", CHP and on-site wind aren't subject to the levies BICS removes, so they're outside the scheme. Its own example: a site uses 1,000MWh a year, 700MWh from the grid and 300MWh from rooftop solar. Only the 700MWh counts for BICS.

What this means for a factory weighing up solar

• If you don't qualify for BICS (most businesses don't), nothing changes: every unit of solar you use on site replaces a full-price grid unit.
• If you do qualify, your grid units get cheaper by up to £40/MWh, so each solar unit saves a little less than before. Ask the installer to model payback on your post-BICS tariff, not today's.
• Keep the 33MWh in mind. The threshold is grid electricity. A site that makes most of its own power must still import at least 33MWh a year to stay eligible. That's a low bar: GOV.UK notes it is below Ofgem's 100MWh-a-year definition of a microbusiness.
• Cheaper grid power helps electrification. If you're replacing gas-fired heat with industrial heat pumps, BICS lowers their running cost, and solar lowers it again.

Sizing, costs and roof checks for production sites are on our factory solar panels guide. Large manufacturers in scope of ESOS Phase 4 can use the audit to price solar, batteries and LED at the same time.

The money that's open to every business: tax and rates

BICS cuts levies. These cut the cost of the kit that cuts your grid imports, and they don't depend on your SIC code:

• Capital allowances: Solar panels are special-rate plant for tax. The Annual Investment Allowance (£1 million a year) can write off the cost in year one. Above that, companies can claim the 50% first-year allowance. See solar panels and capital allowances.
• Business rates: In England, on-site solar, and battery storage that mainly stores renewable power, are left out of your rateable value until 1 April 2035, so adding panels doesn't push up your business rates. Wales and Scotland have similar exemptions to 2035.
• Export: The Smart Export Guarantee pays for solar you export, on systems up to 5MW in Great Britain. Suppliers set their own rates; the law only says the rate must be above zero, so shop around.
• Wales: The Development Bank of Wales Green Business Loan Scheme lends £1,000 to £1.5 million over up to 15 years, at a discounted rate and with no arrangement fee, for projects including solar PV and heat pumps. It also offers an energy audit grant of up to £10,000.
• Scotland: Business Energy Scotland's SME Loan lends £1,000 to £130,000 interest-free, with cashback of up to £20,000 on energy-efficiency work and £10,000 on heat pumps. It is not taking new applications for solar PV.

Your accountant should confirm how the allowances apply to your business.

How we help (we don't run BICS)

To be clear: we don't administer BICS, assess eligibility or apply on your behalf. Apply directly to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade through GOV.UK. What we do is the other half: cutting the grid units you buy. We pass your enquiry to one suitable installer that does commercial and industrial work, for a site survey and a quote.

What to send the installer

• Twelve months of half-hourly grid import data for each site.
• Whether you've applied for BICS or hold an EII certificate, so they can model the right tariff.
• Roof plans, roof age and who owns or leases the building.
• Your production hours, and any plans to electrify heat or add EV charging.

Next steps

1. Send us the basics using the form. It takes two minutes.
2. One installer contacts you to arrange a survey. You won't be passed round a list.
3. Survey and quote, with generation, self-use and payback set out against your actual tariff.
4. Install and start cutting imports, with or without BICS.