Eligible manufacturers in Great Britain can cut electricity costs by up to 25% from April 2027 — applications close on 30 November

The government opened applications for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme on 1 October. Eligible manufacturers in Great Britain can cut electricity costs by up to 25% from April 2027, according to the Industrial Strategy quarterly update published on Friday 9 October. The window closes at 23:59 on 30 November 2026. There is no chance to amend an application once it is in.

The scheme sits inside the Modern Industrial Strategy. On Friday the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade said investment commitments into the strategy’s eight growth sectors had passed £6.5 billion, with more than 27,000 jobs tied to those commitments and to exports. For plant directors, the practical offer this month is cheaper grid power for sites that pass four tests and apply by the deadline.

What the money actually is

BICS does not send a cheque. It exempts eligible sites from the indirect costs of three existing electricity policy schemes: the Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariffs and the Capacity Market. The department’s scheme page puts the saving at up to £40 per megawatt-hour. Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariff relief is due to start in April 2027; Capacity Market relief follows in October 2027.

Great Britain only. Energy policy in Northern Ireland is largely devolved, so the scheme does not apply there. Businesses with Northern Ireland activity still have to declare it on the form, because of Windsor Framework subsidy rules.

Who can claim

Four tests, all of them. The business must be registered at Companies House. It must operate in an eligible sector, defined by four-digit SIC 2007 codes that clear an electricity-intensity threshold: more than 0.9% for manufacturing frontier industries inside the Industrial Strategy growth sectors, and more than 2.7% for manufacturing foundational industries that supply them. It must manufacture an eligible product at the site, defined by six-digit Harmonised System codes. And each manufacturing site must use at least 33 MWh of grid-supplied electricity a year.

Evidence of usage is the most recent six consecutive months available inside the last twelve. Sites need to show more than 16.5 MWh in that half-year as a proxy for the annual threshold. Only grid imports count. Behind-the-meter solar, CHP or wind is out of scope, because those kilowatt-hours never carried the levies BICS removes.

The department published final SIC and HS lists for 2027 and says it does not intend to change them for the first year. If a Companies House SIC code is wrong for the work done on site, it has to be fixed by confirmation statement before the application will proceed. Codes changed in the previous six months may attract extra scrutiny.

How much of the bill is covered

Relief is calculated per manufacturing site, not per company. A site that makes only eligible products normally gets a 100% exemption from the three levies, subject to verification. A mixed site is pro-rated. If 25% or less of grid electricity goes to eligible manufacturing and eligible supporting activities, the exemption is zero. Between 25% and 50%, it is half. At 50% or more, it is full.

Supporting activities that count when they serve eligible production include HVAC, chillers, compressed air, lighting, IT and controls, on-site material handling, quality control, R&D and corporate offices on the site. Inter-site transport and activity whose main purpose is not manufacturing on that site do not. Shared infrastructure with another party is out.

Sites confirmed as eligible in the first year will also get a one-off top-up, to make up for the scheme not starting sooner. Detail on that payment is still being filled in.

Supercharger, shared meters and private wire

Sites already on the British Industry Supercharger can still apply for BICS, but the same kilowatt-hour cannot be relieved twice. Supercharger usually pays more. Where both apply to different shares of a meter, BICS only covers the remainder. The department will confirm combined relief before April 2027 and will not exempt a meter beyond 100%.

Shared landlord or third-party meters need evidence of the applicant’s share. Shared machinery with another party is not eligible. Private-wire sites may qualify if they sit on the distribution network with settlement arrangements that let the levies be seen and verified; generator-import-meter arrangements are out for year one.

What to have ready before 30 November

The online form needs a GOV.UK One Login for businesses, a Companies House officer or an authorised agent with the six-digit company authentication code, Companies House number, site addresses and MPANs, six months of electricity bills, and six months of production evidence for eligible products. One application per legal entity can cover multiple sites. Paper forms are accepted if they arrive by the same deadline at the Old Admiralty Building address in the guidance.

The department’s eligibility checker gives an early read. Final decisions are due in early 2027. Successful exemptions last five years, with annual declarations and a full review in year two. There is no right of appeal where a firm simply fails the eligibility gates; appeals are limited to errors in assessing the evidence, the pro-rating calculation or the facts.

In the quarterly update, the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds urged every eligible manufacturer to apply, and presented the scheme as a cut to one of the biggest costs factories face. For most sites the deciding number is the 50% eligible-load line: above it the levy exemption is full, and below it the relief halves or disappears.

Sources: Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, Industrial Strategy quarterly update July–September 2026, 9 October 2026; GOV.UK, British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme collection, updated 1 October 2026; GOV.UK, British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme: guidance for applicants, updated 2 October 2026; GOV.UK, Eligibility for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme, updated 2 October 2026; GOV.UK, Apply for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme service.