With significant electricity cost exemptions on the horizon through the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS), my colleagues and I joined the recent npower Business Solutions (nBS) webinar to help manufacturing businesses understand what the changes could mean for them.
Participants raised a wide range of questions about eligibility and preparing the information needed for applications when they open on 1 October 2026.
The volume and quality of questions highlighted just how much interest there is in the scheme, and to help, we've summarised our answers to some of the most common queries below. You can also watch the webinar on demand.
No – BICS relief will not be awarded to a finite number of organisations, nor will BICS be granted on a first-come, first-served basis. We also now estimate that there will be above 10,000 eligible businesses.
Everyone who applies by the 30 November deadline will be considered. However, we would suggest you look at our eligibility checker beforehand.
You can apply for as many sites as you need, as long as they meet the criteria and have a minimum annual grid consumption of 33 megawatt hours (MWh) per site.
If you do not have sub-metering or electricity monitoring data, you can evidence how much of your electricity is used for eligible activities in other ways – for example, by estimating machine electricity use or using production data. We aim to add more information to the guidance, including examples of what this might look like, shortly.
ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. This is a type of software system that many businesses use to manage their core business processes. If you use ERP records as evidence, then you also need to show what's produced at the site, such as a record of production orders issued and completed. Sales or purchase notes cannot be accepted as part of this, as they do not demonstrate production.
There is no requirement for a business to import or export goods to be eligible for BICS – just that you manufacture eligible products (via a Harmonised System (HS) code).
All evidence submitted will remain strictly confidential and will not be shared with any third parties or released into the public domain.
Yes, you can still apply.
We will accept new applications for BICS annually. The exact application period for year two of the scheme will be announced in due course.
The level of BICS exemption you qualify for will be deducted directly from your electricity invoice by your energy supplier.
You can check our eligibility checker or refer to a full list of eligible SIC and HS codes here. If you're unsure of your company's SIC code, you can check it on your Companies House record. HS codes can typically be found within your customs, import/export or product classification documentation.
Various support activities are included in eligible activities, including things like research and development. A full list of eligible support activities is in section 4.4 of the guidance.
Can a third party apply for BICS relief on behalf of an organisation?
A third party can submit an application on behalf of a business but will require confirmation from a Companies House-registered officer that they are authorised to act on the business’s behalf. An email will also be sent to the registered officer to ask them to verify this.
For more information on BICS, you can watch our BICS briefing in full or access our bite-size guides here.