The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) could deliver significant electricity cost savings for eligible manufacturers. But with the first application window running for just two months, this is one application you do not want to start pulling together at the last minute.
Applications open on 1 October 2026 and close at 11:59pm on 30 November 2026.
That makes preparation important.
The application requires more than your company name and electricity bill. Businesses will need to demonstrate that they meet the scheme's eligibility criteria, identify the manufacturing sites and meters being claimed for, evidence eligible production and show how much grid electricity relates to qualifying activity.
So, what exactly should you have ready before you apply for BICS?
This guide breaks it down.
At a high level, businesses should expect to have the following ready:
Some applications will be relatively straightforward.
Others — particularly multi-site manufacturers, businesses producing both eligible and ineligible products, or companies operating with shared meters — will require considerably more analysis.
Here is what each part involves.
Before gathering documents, establish whether there is a realistic route to eligibility.
BICS is targeted at manufacturing businesses operating within eligible frontier and foundational industries in Great Britain.
The Government has now published its final lists of eligible Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and Harmonised System (HS) codes for the first year of the scheme.
This matters because BICS eligibility is not determined simply by whether your organisation considers itself a manufacturer.
You need to demonstrate that the relevant manufacturing activity and the products being produced fall within the eligible classifications.
The Government has also launched an online eligibility checker, which businesses are encouraged to use before applying.
For manufacturers, however, the more useful question is often not simply:
"Is our company eligible?"
It is:
"Which of our sites, products and electricity consumption could actually qualify for relief?"
That distinction becomes particularly important for diversified manufacturers and businesses operating multiple production lines or sites.
BICS support is assessed at the level of the individual manufacturing site.
That means a multi-site business cannot necessarily assume that one eligibility assessment applies across its entire estate.
For each site included in the application, you should be ready to provide information such as:
This is also where businesses should make sure that their internal definition of a "site" lines up with the evidence available.
If your manufacturing arrangements are complicated — for example, several operations occupy the same location, or one electricity supply covers multiple businesses — it is worth resolving that before the application window opens.
Your Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN) identifies the electricity supply point associated with a site.
BICS applicants will need to provide the relevant MPANs for the manufacturing sites included in the application.
You can usually find the MPAN on an electricity invoice.
For straightforward sites with their own supply and meter, this should be relatively simple.
Shared supply arrangements need more work.
If your business shares an electricity meter with another party, you will need to establish the proportion of the metered electricity that relates to your business and provide evidence to support it.
If you operate from a site where electricity is supplied through a landlord or another third party, you may therefore need information from them before you can complete your application.
Waiting until the deadline to ask for that information is unlikely to make anyone's November more enjoyable.
Electricity consumption is a central part of the BICS assessment.
Businesses should prepare electricity bills covering the most recent six consecutive months for which information is available within the 12 months before applying.
Those bills need to demonstrate the grid electricity supplied to each manufacturing site included in the claim.
Why six months?
The Government uses this evidence to assess whether a manufacturing site meets the scheme's minimum electricity-consumption requirements and to support the calculation of the site's BICS relief.
Each manufacturing site must meet the relevant minimum grid electricity threshold.
It also provides the starting point for determining what proportion of a site's electricity consumption relates to eligible manufacturing activity.
For businesses with several sites, now is a good time to check that you have a complete and consistent set of invoices for every MPAN you expect to include.
Missing bills in late November are the sort of small problem that can become a large one rather quickly.
BICS is about eligible manufacturing activity, not simply electricity consumption.
Applicants therefore need to identify the products manufactured at each site.
That includes eligible and ineligible products where both are manufactured at the same location.
For eligible products, you will need to demonstrate that they correspond to an eligible HS code.
Businesses that already export goods may be familiar with HS or commodity codes through customs processes. However, exporting is not a requirement for BICS.
A UK manufacturer that does not export can still qualify where it manufactures an eligible product.
The important point is being able to demonstrate what is actually being made at the site.
Naming the products is not enough.
Applicants need evidence demonstrating that eligible products have been manufactured at the relevant site.
Current Government guidance requires six consecutive months of evidence from the 12-month period immediately before the application, where available.
The precise evidence will depend on your business and production processes.
The key principles are that it should be clear, consistent and capable of linking:
the business → the site → the manufacturing activity → the eligible product.
This is one of the areas where preparing early pays off.
Manufacturers often have plenty of operational data, but it may sit across Finance, Operations, Procurement, Production and Energy teams.
The challenge is not always whether the evidence exists.
It is finding it, validating it and presenting it coherently.
This is where BICS can become more technical.
Support is calculated at individual manufacturing-site level and depends on the proportion of grid electricity associated with eligible production and relevant supporting activities.
A site that manufactures only eligible products may normally qualify for a full exemption, subject to the scheme rules and verification.
Where a site manufactures a combination of eligible and ineligible products, the relief is pro-rated.
That means businesses need a defensible way of showing how much grid electricity is used for eligible manufacturing.
If you have sub-metering or energy-monitoring data, that can help provide evidence.
Where you do not, the Government guidance allows for estimates in appropriate circumstances — but those estimates need a clear and credible rationale.
The principle is simple:
Don't just arrive at a percentage. Be ready to explain how you arrived at it.
For businesses with complex production processes, this calculation is likely to be one of the most important parts of application preparation.
The proportion of qualifying electricity use determines the level of relief available.
Broadly, the thresholds are:
This makes accurate electricity allocation commercially important.
Imagine a site where the initial assessment suggests 48% of grid electricity relates to eligible production.
That could mean 50% relief.
If better evidence demonstrates that eligible use is above the 50% threshold, the outcome could be very different.
Equally, an aggressive estimate unsupported by evidence is not a strategy.
The aim should be an accurate, evidence-backed assessment that gives the business confidence in the level of relief being claimed.
This is an important detail.
BICS is designed to exempt eligible businesses from policy costs applied to grid-supplied electricity.
Electricity generated onsite from sources such as:
is outside the scope of BICS where those sources are not subject to the electricity policy costs being relieved.
If you have substantial onsite generation, your application calculations therefore need to distinguish it from qualifying grid electricity.
This is particularly important for businesses that have invested heavily in onsite energy generation and may ordinarily look at total site consumption as a single figure.
For BICS purposes, the distinction matters.
Not every manufacturer contracts directly with a licensed electricity supplier.
You might:
Those arrangements do not necessarily prevent a BICS application, but they make the evidence requirements more involved.
Where a meter is shared, the applicant needs to establish and evidence its proportion of the total grid electricity supplied through that meter.
If your landlord or another third party controls the information you need, engage them early.
The responsibility for providing the evidence sits with the business applying for BICS.
"I couldn't get it from the landlord in time" is not an especially useful application strategy.
Businesses receiving support through the British Industry Supercharger can still potentially apply for BICS where they meet the relevant criteria.
However, the same electricity consumption cannot receive duplicate relief through both schemes.
Applicants therefore need to identify MPANs that are wholly or partly covered by existing British Industry Supercharger exemptions and the proportion already receiving support.
This allows the BICS exemption to be applied only to electricity that is not already relieved through the other scheme.
For manufacturers already benefiting from energy-cost support, reviewing the interaction between schemes before applying is essential.
The goal is not simply to "get BICS".
It is to understand the complete support position and make sure the business receives the relief it is entitled to without overlapping claims.
There are some practical administrative requirements that are easy to overlook.
Applicants will need access to GOV.UK One Login for Businesses.
If you do not already have the required account, identity verification may require a passport or driving licence.
The person dealing with the application also needs the appropriate authority.
Government guidance states that applicants should either be an officer registered at Companies House or be able to provide the email address of someone who can authorise them to complete the application on behalf of the business.
You will also need the company's Companies House registration number.
These are simple requirements compared with the electricity calculations — but they are exactly the kind of things worth sorting before the application window opens.
This point deserves more attention than it sounds.
Under the current guidance, there will be no opportunity to amend an application after it has been submitted.
That makes quality control particularly important.
Before submitting, check that:
Incomplete, inconsistent, unclear or insufficient evidence can result in an application being rejected.
This is not the place for "that'll probably do".
For the first year of the scheme, the application window closes at 11:59pm on 30 November 2026.
The Government expects businesses to receive confirmation of their eligibility decision in January 2027.
For approved businesses, exemption from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariffs begins in April 2027.
The Capacity Market exemption starts in October 2027.
Eligible businesses are also expected to receive additional Government-funded support relating to the earlier 2026–27 period.
BICS is therefore no longer something for manufacturers to simply "keep an eye on".
The focus has shifted from policy to implementation.
Because the application window is only two months long.
But more importantly, because much of the work can be done before it opens.
You can establish:
Doing that work now turns October into a submission exercise rather than an evidence hunt.
That's a considerably more comfortable place to be.
Don't panic.
Most businesses will not have a perfectly packaged "BICS evidence folder" sitting on the shared drive waiting for 1 October.
The first step is working out:
What do we already have?
What are we missing?
Who owns that information?
How long will it take to obtain?
The earlier you answer those questions, the easier the process becomes.
This is particularly important where evidence sits outside your immediate team — for example with Operations, landlords, electricity suppliers or third-party site operators.
Yes.
True Group provides end-to-end BICS support for manufacturers.
We can help you:
Confirm eligibility
We assess your sector, sites, manufacturing activity and electricity use to establish whether BICS could apply.
Quantify the opportunity
We model the potential electricity cost saving so you understand what BICS could be worth before investing time in the application.
Build the evidence
We identify the information required, help close any evidence gaps and support the calculations behind your claim.
Prepare the application
We bring the evidence, eligibility assessment and calculations together into a robust submission.
Navigate complexity
Multi-site portfolio? Shared meter? Mixed eligible and ineligible production? Existing electricity relief? We'll help you work through it.
And there is no upfront fee through our share-of-savings model.
Our success is tied to the savings we help you secure.
BICS could represent a significant electricity cost reduction for eligible UK manufacturers.
For some businesses, the potential saving runs into hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of pounds each year.
But accessing that relief depends on getting the detail right.
Applications open on 1 October 2026 and close on 30 November 2026.
You don't need to wait until then.
Confirm your eligibility, understand the opportunity and get your evidence ready now.
So when the window opens, you're ready to submit — not ready to start.
Want to know whether your business could qualify? Book a free BICS eligibility review with True Group.
The first BICS application window opens on 1 October 2026 and closes at 11:59pm on 30 November 2026.
Requirements depend on your business, but you should expect to provide company and site details, relevant MPANs, six consecutive months of electricity bills, information about the products manufactured and evidence demonstrating eligible production.
Businesses with shared meters, landlord-supplied electricity, private networks or existing electricity relief may require additional evidence.
The Government requires electricity bills covering the most recent six consecutive months for which information is available within the 12 months before the application.
Yes. Applicants need to provide the relevant Meter Point Administration Numbers for the manufacturing sites included in the application.
BICS eligibility uses eligible SIC and HS classifications. Businesses need to demonstrate that the relevant manufacturing activities and products fall within the scheme's qualifying criteria.
Onsite generation such as solar, CHP and wind is outside the scope of BICS where it is not subject to the policy costs the scheme is designed to relieve. The application calculations therefore focus on relevant grid-supplied electricity.
Potentially, yes. However, you will need to establish and evidence the proportion of the shared metered electricity that relates to your business and qualifying activity.
Current Government guidance states that applications cannot be amended after submission. Businesses should therefore check that their information and supporting evidence are complete and accurate before submitting.
True Group can support the application process end to end, including eligibility assessment, savings modelling, evidence preparation, electricity calculations and submission support.
Starting before the application window opens gives us more time to identify and resolve any evidence gaps.