British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme

British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme

Applications are open. Eligible manufacturers in England, Scotland and Wales can apply for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme from 1 October 2026 until 11:59pm on 30 November 2026. The government says the scheme will cut electricity bills by up to 25% for more than 10,000 manufacturing businesses, with support from April 2027. In the applicant guidance, the exemption from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation and the Feed-in Tariffs starts in April 2027, and the Capacity Market exemption starts in October 2027.

You apply to government, not to an energy broker. The news release links the application to Apply for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme on GOV.​UK. SwitchSquid does not assess eligibility, does not submit the form, and does not pay the relief.

The 25% figure is a ceiling described by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, not a promise that every bill falls by a quarter. The same news release says the percentage depends on the electricity price each firm pays, and that this will differ between businesses and over time. A separate GOV.​UK collection page says that from 2027 the scheme will reduce electricity costs by up to £40 per megawatt hour for eligible manufacturing. Those are two different official descriptions. Neither is a quote you can print on a single site’s bill until the department confirms that site.

The dates that matter

First-year dates for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme, as set out in the applicant guidance updated on 2 October 2026, unless a row says otherwise.

These dates are for the first year of the scheme. The guidance says so in terms. A firm that misses 30 November 2026 is not described as being able to slip in during December and still catch the first-year lump sum.

The guidance also says the government intends to amend the secondary legislation for the Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariffs and Capacity Market, with those changes expected by autumn 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. It says the guidance itself is subject to that legislation coming into force. Applications are open. The legal step the department describes is not something a supplier can waive.

Official pages checked on 4 October 2026:

• News release, 1 October 2026: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/applications-open-for-scheme-to-slash-electricity-bills-for-over-10000-manufacturers

• Applicant guidance, updated 2 October 2026: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/british-industrial-competitiveness-scheme-business-guidance/british-industrial-competitiveness-scheme-guidance-for-applicants

• Collection page, last updated 1 October 2026, for the “up to £40 per megawatt hour” line: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/british-industrial-competitiveness-scheme

The news release says: “Applications open to more than 10,000 manufacturing businesses today for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS).” It says government action will slash electricity bills by up to 25%, and that Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has urged eligible manufacturers to sign up before registrations close on 30 November to receive support from April 2027. The apply link in that release points at https://apply-for-bics.service.gov.uk/start.

Who the scheme is for

The scheme covers Great Britain. The guidance says it applies in England, Scotland and Wales, because energy policy is largely devolved in Northern Ireland. The news release says the Northern Ireland Executive will receive funding for an equivalent scheme, subject to a business case. A Northern Ireland factory should not fill in the Great Britain form and hope.

BICS is aimed at manufacturing frontier industries in the Industrial Strategy’s growth-driving sectors, often called the IS-8, and at the foundational manufacturing industries that supply them. The news release says support is targeted where around 98% of firms are small businesses. The editor’s note is tighter than the headline: the impact assessment estimates small and micro businesses account for 98% of businesses in the frontier sectors and 99% in the foundational sectors. “Small” here is the department’s description of the sector mix. It is not a rule that a large manufacturer is barred, and it is not a rule that every small workshop qualifies.

You have to meet all four tests in the guidance. The online form will not let you carry on if you do not.

1. The business is registered at Companies House. If it is not, you cannot proceed. The guidance says a company registered in the previous six months may face extra scrutiny. If Companies House shows the company as dissolved, wait until restoration is finished. Updates there can take 5 to 15 working days, and the application still has to be in by 11:59pm on 30 November 2026. Dormant companies, and companies in a CVA, administration, receivership or liquidation, are not automatically thrown out, but the guidance asks for more evidence that they are still manufacturing. A company in liquidation needs a signed letter from the liquidator, dated no more than 28 days before the application, giving permission to apply.

2. The business operates in an eligible sector, using SIC 2007 codes. For a private or public limited company, at least one SIC code registered at Companies House must be an eligible one. Frontier manufacturing codes need electricity intensity over 0.9%. Foundational manufacturing codes need electricity intensity over 2.7%. The department says that list is final for 2027 and that it does not intend to change the SIC or HS lists for that year. If your real work is eligible but the code on the register is wrong, file a confirmation statement and wait until Companies House shows the new code. The guidance says that usually takes 24 to 48 hours, and that a code changed in the previous six months may be looked at more closely. Filing a code that is not true can be challenged by Companies House. Do not pick a code because it would unlock the scheme.

3. The site manufactures an eligible product, classified with a 6-digit HS code. You do not have to export. The code is how the product is identified, including for goods sold in Britain. The guidance points businesses that do not export to the UK Trade Tariff look-up. Evidence is six consecutive months, from within the 12 months before you apply, showing that eligible products are made at the site. A decision the department makes about an HS code is for this scheme only. It does not set the customs code.

4. The manufacturing site uses at least 33 megawatt-hours of grid-supplied electricity a year. The evidence they ask for is the latest six consecutive months available within the last 12 months, and the site must show more than 16.5 MWh in that half year, as a proxy for the annual 33 MWh. The guidance notes that 33 MWh is below Ofgem’s 100 MWh microbusiness line, so the floor is meant to include smaller factories, not only heavy industry. Only electricity from the grid counts. On-site solar, wind or combined heat and power is outside the scheme, because those units are not carrying the policy costs BICS removes.

The collection page lists the same four ideas in short form: Companies House, an eligible SIC code, an eligible HS product, and a minimum level of electricity use. The detail sits in the applicant guidance. There is an eligibility checker. The guidance is plain that the checker is an indication, that what you type is not saved into the application, and that the decision comes only after a full application.

What you are actually exempted from

You are not being given a discount code off the unit rate. Eligible businesses are exempted from the indirect costs of three schemes that suppliers already fold into electricity bills:

• the Renewables Obligation

• Feed-in Tariffs

• the Capacity Market

The first two are due to come off from April 2027. The Capacity Market is due to come off from October 2027. Until October 2027, a successful applicant is not exempt from all three.

How the relief shows on the bill depends on the supplier. The guidance says the levies might be separate lines, a single “government levies” line, or buried in the unit rate. The exemption might show as a lower charge, a zero, a percentage, or as two volumes, one exempt and one not. If you cannot see it, the guidance says speak to the supplier first. Smaller firms, defined there as fewer than 50 employees and either turnover under £6.5 million or a balance sheet under £5 million, and using under 200 MWh a year, can also go to the Energy Ombudsman about pass-through. Other firms that cannot sort it with the supplier are told to contact the department.

If the site makes only eligible products, the guidance says it will normally get a 100% exemption from those in-scope costs, subject to checks and to shared meters. If it makes a mix, the share of grid electricity used for eligible manufacturing sets the rate:

How the applicant guidance converts the share of grid electricity used for eligible manufacturing into an exemption. This is not the “up to 25%” bill cut. That 25% is the department’s description of the saving from removing the levies.

There is a similar split for supporting activities such as lighting, compressed air, heating and on-site offices, when those activities serve both eligible and ineligible production. At 25% or less they count as nothing, between 25% and 50% they count as half, and at 50% or more they count in full. The guidance’s worked example is a site using 1,000 MWh of grid electricity in six months, with 300 MWh on the eligible production line and a further slice of the support load, landing on a 50% exemption because the eligible portion was 40%. Use the guidance’s steps for your own meters. Do not copy the example onto your bill.

Electricity already covered by the British Industry Supercharger cannot also be exempted under BICS for the same activity. The schemes overlap on some of the same policy costs, and the guidance says the same exemption cannot be applied twice. You can still apply if you meet the tests, but the BICS slice only covers the electricity the Supercharger does not. The guidance says the Supercharger is generally worth more where both could apply to the same activity, and that switching from one scheme to the other means ending the old support first, with a likely gap. The news release describes the Supercharger separately, as extended support for energy-intensive industries including steel, chemicals, glass, paper and ceramics.

A site on a private wire may still be in scope if it pays the relevant levies and the settlement bodies can see them. The guidance says supply through a generator import meter will not be eligible in the first year, because settlement bodies cannot process the exemption that way yet. Ask the supplier before you spend a week on the form. The checklist includes a confirmation from the supplier where a private network is involved.

What to have ready before you start

The guidance tells you to read it in full first, because you cannot amend an application after it is submitted. You can save and return, according to the application service, but you get one application per legal entity in the year. That one application can cover more than one site. If a different person has to submit it, you start again. A consultant can file it, if a Companies House officer confirms by email that they may. The company remains responsible for the truth of it.

Have these to hand:

• A GOV.​UK One Login for the person submitting. A first-time account typically needs a passport or driving licence.

• Companies House number, and the company authentication code. That is the 6-digit code used to file accounts, not the 11-digit personal verification code.

• An officer on the register, or the email of an officer who will authorise you.

• Every Great Britain manufacturing site you want relief for, with the MPAN for each. A site connected straight to the transmission network can use Balancing Mechanism Units instead.

• Electricity bills for the latest six consecutive months available in the last 12 months, for each site.

• What is manufactured there, eligible and not, with evidence for six months.

• Any Supercharger certificate, and any private-wire paperwork.

The manufacturing site is defined tightly. Adjoining buildings under the same control count as one site. A factory in Manchester and a factory in Leeds are two sites. A unit you merely rent inside a landlord’s estate is only the part you control. Storage, offices or a warehouse with no manufacturing do not qualify on their own. Shared meters need evidence of your share, and the department will not force a landlord to pass the exemption on. That conversation has to happen before April 2027, not after the bill arrives.

If the digital service is down in working hours, the guidance says the department will try to restore it within two hours. A paper form exists for firms that cannot use the online service. It has to be received, not just posted, by 11:59pm on 30 November 2026, at British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme, Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, Old Admiralty Building, Admiralty Place, London SW1A 2DY. Post it with time to spare. The evidence rules are the same as online.

False or incomplete information can mean a rejected application, a revoked exemption, recovery of support, and further enforcement. The guidance cites the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025. Guessing an HS code, or inflating the eligible share of the meter, is not a paperwork slip the department has promised to overlook.

After a yes

A successful exemption lasts five years, with an annual declaration and a fuller review in year two. For a firm starting in 2027, that year-two review falls between April and November 2028. Miss the declaration, or file something the department finds knowingly wrong, and the exemption can be revoked. You have to tell the department about material changes: meters, a move, a change in what the site makes, insolvency, a new activity in Northern Ireland.

There is no change-of-circumstances route before April 2027, except that supplier details must be right or the exemption will not land on the bill. The guidance says eligible firms will be asked to confirm the supplier before the exemption goes live, and that a late notice may miss 1 April. A site that relocates is treated as a new site and needs six months of bills at the new address. The exemption does not follow you down the road in the same delivery year.

Some refusals cannot be appealed. The guidance’s list includes failing the eligibility tests, not manufacturing in Great Britain, not making an eligible product, MPANs that do not match the site, a domestic meter, and not having six months of electricity evidence. Where an appeal is allowed, you have 10 working days from the decision email. The department says it will pause issuing decisions from 21 December 2026 to 4 January 2027. Appeals are on the papers. You cannot appeal the list of sectors or the design of the scheme.

Keep the records for at least six years. Awards over £100,000 go on the UK subsidy database, with the firm’s name, amount, date, region and size band. The department also intends to publish the names of all beneficiaries, without the amounts, from February 2027.

What this is not

It is not a grant you spend on a new line. It is not a cut to the wholesale price, and it is not a business-rates relief. It does not replace the British Industry Supercharger, and it does not stack on top of it for the same unit of electricity. It does not apply to a shop, an office block, or a warehouse that does not manufacture. It does not apply to Northern Ireland through this form.

It is also not something SwitchSquid administers. A price comparison or a switch of supplier changes who bills you and what unit rate and standing charge you pay. BICS, if you are accepted, changes certain levy costs on eligible manufacturing electricity from 2027, through a government decision and then through your supplier. One does not complete the other. A firm can need both: the right supply contract for the electricity it will use between now and April 2027, and a BICS application if the site meets the tests. Leaving the application to a broker, or assuming a new supply contract “includes the scheme”, is how the 30 November deadline gets missed.

If you want a quote for the business electricity supply, that is separate from the scheme. The quote does not submit a scheme application, and it does not reserve a place.

Get a business electricity quote

To apply for the scheme, use the government service: Apply for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme on GOV.​UK. Read the applicant guidance before you open it. The checker is only a first look.

Frequently asked questions

When do British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme applications close?

They close at 11:59pm on 30 November 2026. That time is in the applicant guidance. The window opened on 1 October 2026. The news release tells manufacturers to apply by 30 November if they want support from April 2027.

Is the saving 25% off the whole electricity bill?

The 1 October 2026 news release says bills will be cut by up to 25%, and that the percentage depends on the price each business pays. The GOV.​UK collection page says costs will be reduced by up to £40 per megawatt hour. The mechanism in the guidance is an exemption from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariffs and the Capacity Market, not a flat 25% off every line of the bill. Capacity Market relief starts in October 2027, later than the other two.

Who can apply?

A business registered at Companies House, manufacturing an eligible product at a site in England, Scotland or Wales, in an eligible SIC code, and using at least 33 MWh of grid electricity a year at that site. The news release talks about more than 10,000 manufacturers. That is the size of the group the department is addressing, not an automatic entitlement for every factory.

Does Northern Ireland qualify on this form?

No. The guidance says the scheme applies in Great Britain only. The news release says the Northern Ireland Executive will receive funding for an equivalent scheme, subject to a business case.

Can I get this and the British Industry Supercharger?

You can apply for BICS if you already have Supercharger support and you meet the BICS tests. You cannot have both reliefs on the same electricity. BICS would apply only to the share the Supercharger does not already cover. The guidance says that where the same activity could use either scheme, the Supercharger is generally the larger support, and moving across means ending one before the other starts.

Will SwitchSquid apply for the scheme for me?

No. SwitchSquid can take a business energy quote through its own form at https://www.switchsquid.com/business-energy/. The scheme application is the GOV.​UK service at https://apply-for-bics.service.gov.uk/start. A supply quote does not reserve a place in the scheme, and the scheme does not switch your supplier.

What if I get the form wrong?

The guidance says you cannot amend an application after submission, and that you should complete it carefully. Incomplete or misleading evidence can lead to rejection. Some refusals have no appeal. Where an appeal is allowed, the guidance gives 10 working days from the email telling you the decision.

When will the money show on the bill?

Not this autumn. Eligibility decisions are described as early 2027, with Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariff exemptions due from April 2027 and the Capacity Market exemption from October 2027. Section 6.1 says January for each delivery year, and the start can slip if the supplier does not have the right MPAN and the right supplier on the department’s records.