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British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS)

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Check if your manufacturing site(s) should be eligible for an electricity discount

The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) helps some manufacturing companies reduce their electricity costs.

You can read the guidance for full details about the scheme and how it works.

BICS is applied on a site-by-site basis

Electricity discounts are worked out separately for each manufacturing site. If a site is eligible, it should get a discount on the electricity used to manufacture certain products at the site.

Legislation is required for BICS. No decisions on eligibility will be made until that legislation comes into force, which is expected in Autumn 2026. This eligibility checker can help you decide whether you should apply and will not result in a decision.

Before you start

To use this eligibility checker, you'll need:

  • your Companies House company number
  • the postcode of each of your manufacturing sites
  • the types of products manufactured at each site, including their Harmonised System (HS) codes if you know them
  • the total electricity purchased from the 'grid' at each site per year in megawatt hours (MWh) (if you have a private network or private wire arrangement, read the guidance as different eligibility rules apply)
  • the approximate amount of electricity used to manufacture each type of product at each site per year; this can be from measurements or estimates