Last year, in hopes to continue strengthening the UK economy, the Chancellor implemented a new strategy called the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS). The Scheme, endorsed by the Confederation of British Industry and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, was so highly praised that they have decided to expand it by 40%.
This expansion is shown through an increase in eligibility for cuts in energy bills, with 7,000 businesses being eligible before and now over 10,000 being eligible by 2027. Additionally, this has no increase to household and business energy bills and due to the delay in the scheme to 2027, they are offering a one-off paymentto backdate and cover the savings businesses missed out on during 2026.
Funded through a mixture of treasury funding, exemptions and the phase-out of Carbon Price Support, it all sounds too good to be true. So, what’s the catch?
Just as you find with any framework or scheme, there an eligibility requirements. So what are they?
You can only apply for this electricity cut if you meet the following three criteria;
The Department for Business & Trade are clear that they must have a system that clearly identifies whether the business is within scope; it isn’t as simple as just stating the above. Manufacturers must provide Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes AND produce eligible Harmonised System (HS) products. This specifically targets manufacturers even within industries like Clean Energy or Digital Technologies such as Turbine Blade Manufacturers or physical Hardware Manufacturers.
Secondly, manufacturing activity is filtered at a sectoral level. BICS first assesses eligibility at the sectoral level by measuring the entire industry’s average electricity intensity. If approved, it then verifies the specific manufacturing activities and product outputs at the business level. Consequently, if an industry sector’s average fails to clear the initial sectoral-level test, an individual business within that sector cannot apply, even if their specific factory happens to use a massive amount of power.
If your business satisfies the following criteria, you can progress to make an application. If successful, you can receive discounts on up to three electricity levies: Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariffs, & Capacity Market.
For a full overview of eligibility requirements for BICS please see this link as well as this one.