British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme
The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) exempts eligible manufacturers from three indirect policy costs loaded onto electricity bills: the Renewables Obligation (RO), Feed-in Tariffs (FiT), and the Capacity Market (CM). DBT estimates the saving at £35 to £40 per MWh — equivalent to bill reductions of up to 25% for qualifying sites.
Application window: 1 October to 30 November 2026
A strict two-month window. A successful Year 1 application also unlocks a one-off retrospective credit in 2027, covering support backdated to April 2026. Miss the window and that credit is permanently gone. Applications require six consecutive months of billing data and a defensible calculation of eligible electricity use. That evidence cannot be assembled in November - businesses intending to apply should be gathering data now.
Key Dates
Applications open
Year 1 window opens. Apply early.
Applications close
Strict two-month window. Hard deadline.
Assessments confirmed
DBT confirms eligible businesses. Extended to end of January for complex cases.
How the scheme works
DBT issues a certificate to eligible businesses. Your supplier then applies the exemption at source, reducing levy charges on your bills directly. The relief can stack with other bill-relief schemes.
What BICS removes
- Renewables Obligation (RO) - funds large-scale renewable energy
- Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) - funds small-scale renewable generation
- Capacity Market (CM) - funds peak-demand electricity availability
Rollout schedule
- RO and FiT exemptions begin 1 April 2027
- Capacity Market exemption begins 1 October 2027
- One-off retrospective credit paid in 2027, backdated to April 2026 — Year 1 applicants only
Eligibility criteria
|
01 Codes
SIC and HS code test |
02 Intensity
Electricity intensity |
|
Your SIC code and the HS codes of the products you manufacture must both appear in Annex A. The test is conjunctive - both must be satisfied. Annex A is confirmed final for 2027. |
The intensity test is applied at sector level only. There is no business-level intensity test for individual applicants. |
03 Consumption - The site must draw at least 33 MWh a year of grid-supplied electricity.
Pro-rating bands
Relief is banded on the proportion of site electricity used in eligible manufacturing. For most sites this is the calculation that carries the most value.
|
01 Below 25%
0% relief |
02 25% to below 50%
50% relief |
03 50% or above
100% relief |
|
Eligible use below 25% does not qualify at this site — no relief is available. |
Eligible use between 25% and 50% qualifies for half the available reduction. |
Eligible use of 50% or above qualifies for the full reduction on eligible use. |
WHY BANDING MATTERS
The difference between the 25-to-50% band and the 50%-and-above band is the difference between half the relief and all of it. Sub-metering or a properly evidenced production-based calculation usually determines which band applies.
How Pro Enviro can help
We provide end-to-end BICS support from initial eligibility check through to supplier hand-off and ongoing annual declarations. Half-hourly analysis and micro metering surveys are carried out in-house - typically what makes a banding claim defensible under DBT scrutiny.
Eligibility and code mapping - SIC and HS code assessment against Annex A.
Band assessment and eligible proportion calculation.
Sub-metering design and installation where required.
Evidence pack preparation - billing data, MPAN verification, production records, entity structure
Application submission and DBT liaison
Supplier hand-off and annual declarations to keep the exemption live year on year
Support for complex cases including subcontract processors and group structures where the applicant entity and MPANs sit in different companies
Secure your BICS energy relief
Our consultants will confirm whether your SIC code and products qualify, calculate your eligible-use proportion, and help you build a defensible evidence pack in time for the 30 November deadline.