British Industrial Competiveness Scheme
Discussion
Just got a letter from the Dept for Business etc. telling us we might be eligible for the above scheme and thought others might be interested.
It appears to be for manufacturing companies in a range of sectors and will reduce electricity costs next year by differing percentages depending on your products and electricity usage.
The guidance, as expected, is unnecessarily complicated however cutting through it does look easy enough to apply and might actually be a tiny amount of help. We will have from October 1st to November 30th to apply.
There are already hordes of consultants' websites on google "helping" you to claim but it looks easy enough to do oneself:
https://check-eligibility-for-bics.service.gov.uk/...
It appears to be for manufacturing companies in a range of sectors and will reduce electricity costs next year by differing percentages depending on your products and electricity usage.
The guidance, as expected, is unnecessarily complicated however cutting through it does look easy enough to apply and might actually be a tiny amount of help. We will have from October 1st to November 30th to apply.
There are already hordes of consultants' websites on google "helping" you to claim but it looks easy enough to do oneself:
https://check-eligibility-for-bics.service.gov.uk/...
Yep 100's of consultants bolting it on to their service. Us included. Bit yes you can do it yourself. There's only a 2 month window to apply.
I did a linked in post summarising it:
If you're a Finance Director, here's what BICS actually means for you.
The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) is a government scheme starting in 2027 that will cut electricity bills for eligible manufacturers.
It does this by exempting eligible businesses from certain electricity policy costs — specifically the Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariffs from April 2027, followed by the Capacity Market from October 2027.
Government estimates suggest electricity bills could fall by up to 25% for qualifying businesses.
DO YOU QUALIFY?
Four main boxes to tick:
• Your business is registered at Companies House - usually a given for GB Manufacturers
• You operate in an eligible manufacturing sector
• You manufacture products on the eligible product list at the site claiming support
• That each site uses at least 33MWh of grid electricity per year i.e. excluding solar, wind etc
The sector and product tests are based on specific SIC and HS codes
You don't need to import or export anything to qualify. What matters is that you manufacture an eligible product in Great Britain.
If a site makes a mixture of eligible and non-eligible products, the amount of relief depends on how much of its grid electricity relates to eligible manufacturing and supporting activities.
The current rules use 0%, 50% and 100% exemption bands.
You can potentially receive both BICS and British Industry Supercharger support at the same site but you cannot receive both reliefs on the same electricity consumption.
Where the same activity qualifies for both, the Supercharger generally provides the greater level of support.
The first application window opens 1st October and more importantly closes 30th November!
So if electricity is a big cost in your manufacturing business, it's worth checking the SIC code, product HS codes and site electricity consumption now.
I did a linked in post summarising it:
If you're a Finance Director, here's what BICS actually means for you.
The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) is a government scheme starting in 2027 that will cut electricity bills for eligible manufacturers.
It does this by exempting eligible businesses from certain electricity policy costs — specifically the Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariffs from April 2027, followed by the Capacity Market from October 2027.
Government estimates suggest electricity bills could fall by up to 25% for qualifying businesses.
DO YOU QUALIFY?
Four main boxes to tick:
• Your business is registered at Companies House - usually a given for GB Manufacturers
• You operate in an eligible manufacturing sector
• You manufacture products on the eligible product list at the site claiming support
• That each site uses at least 33MWh of grid electricity per year i.e. excluding solar, wind etc
The sector and product tests are based on specific SIC and HS codes
You don't need to import or export anything to qualify. What matters is that you manufacture an eligible product in Great Britain.
If a site makes a mixture of eligible and non-eligible products, the amount of relief depends on how much of its grid electricity relates to eligible manufacturing and supporting activities.
The current rules use 0%, 50% and 100% exemption bands.
You can potentially receive both BICS and British Industry Supercharger support at the same site but you cannot receive both reliefs on the same electricity consumption.
Where the same activity qualifies for both, the Supercharger generally provides the greater level of support.
The first application window opens 1st October and more importantly closes 30th November!
So if electricity is a big cost in your manufacturing business, it's worth checking the SIC code, product HS codes and site electricity consumption now.
Just looked at the stats. One of our firms runs four CNC machine tools, two robots, six 400A weld bays and we don't qualify. For an SME we're not small, but at 15-20kWh a month, way under the 33MWh annual requirement.
So yet another great bit of anti-SME legislation from the party that clearly hates enterprise.
So yet another great bit of anti-SME legislation from the party that clearly hates enterprise.
Digga said:
Just looked at the stats. One of our firms runs four CNC machine tools, two robots, six 400A weld bays and we don't qualify. For an SME we're not small, but at 15-20kWh a month, way under the 33MWh annual requirement.
There's something wrong with your figures there I suspect. 33MWh is 33,000kWh which is pretty small, a 4 bed house for example uses 4000kWh per year. With that machinery I would expect well over 100,000kWh and Google AI reckons 190,000kWh. Though presumptions it makes are pretty big on shift patterns, usage hours, size of CNC's and Robot types etc.Per AI:
Presuming 2000 working hours per year
Technical Assumptions Explained
CNC Machine Tools: Typical machine shops feature medium-sized Vertical Machining Centers (VMCs) rated between 7.5 kW and 25 kW. Assuming an average active draw of 15 kW and a 60% utilization duty cycle (accounting for setup, part loading, and code checks where the spindle is idling), each machine consumes roughly 9 kWh per hour.
Industrial Robots: Standard 6-axis articulation arms (e.g., 60–120kg payload) feature peak transformer capabilities higher than their actual draw. They average a modest continuous draw of 3 kW during continuous path movement.
400A Weld Bays: While weld power supplies are capable of a 400A output, manual or semi-automated structural welding rarely pushes past 250A–300A (requiring roughly 9–11 kW at the arc). Factoring in inverter efficiency and a standard 30% arc-on duty cycle (time spent actually striking an arc versus fitting, grinding, and changing parts), each bay averages roughly 3.3 to 5 kW of continuous hourly draw over a shift.
Digga said:
Just looked at the stats. One of our firms runs four CNC machine tools, two robots, six 400A weld bays and we don't qualify. For an SME we're not small, but at 15-20kWh a month, way under the 33MWh annual requirement.
I would question your figures too. We have 11 CNC machines plus a robot, but only work 4 1/2 day weeks and we easily use 90-100,000 kwh pa. So thats 90-100 MWh and I reckon at least 80-90% of that is eligible.Ean218 said:
Digga said:
Just looked at the stats. One of our firms runs four CNC machine tools, two robots, six 400A weld bays and we don't qualify. For an SME we're not small, but at 15-20kWh a month, way under the 33MWh annual requirement.
I would question your figures too. We have 11 CNC machines plus a robot, but only work 4 1/2 day weeks and we easily use 90-100,000 kwh pa. So thats 90-100 MWh and I reckon at least 80-90% of that is eligible.However, checked all of the SIC code bulls
t and we are not covered in that anyway. So, never mind. Seems they want manufacturing jobs, just not all of them. Utter morons.
Digga said:
Yes, it's not 15kh it's 15,000 kWh or 15MWh.
However, checked all of the SIC code bullst and we are not covered in that anyway. So, never mind. Seems they want manufacturing jobs, just not all of them. Utter morons.
Worth writing to your MP? Probably not, but it should be raised.However, checked all of the SIC code bulls
t and we are not covered in that anyway. So, never mind. Seems they want manufacturing jobs, just not all of them. Utter morons.
We’ve an eligible consumption and HS/SIC code so looking forward to seeing how straight forward the form filling is.
It really angers me being aggressively pursued by one particular consultancy who specialise in the R&D tax credits but now the BICs scheme. I have politely declined three times but they keep ringing me and now my co-directors. Wish these parasites would f£&k off.
It really angers me being aggressively pursued by one particular consultancy who specialise in the R&D tax credits but now the BICs scheme. I have politely declined three times but they keep ringing me and now my co-directors. Wish these parasites would f£&k off.
alfabeat said:
Digga said:
Yes, it's not 15kh it's 15,000 kWh or 15MWh.
However, checked all of the SIC code bullst and we are not covered in that anyway. So, never mind. Seems they want manufacturing jobs, just not all of them. Utter morons.
Worth writing to your MP? Probably not, but it should be raised.However, checked all of the SIC code bulls
t and we are not covered in that anyway. So, never mind. Seems they want manufacturing jobs, just not all of them. Utter morons.We are a wholesale business that added manufacturing along the way. Our SIC codes need adding to at Companies House. Sorted.
JonPH said:
Design one of the most expensive energy systems in the world. Then realise it impacts business. Then design a mechanism to reduce the cost for certain industries, whilst creating an army of form fillers.
The UK is a horror show for private sector businesses.
This, they haven’t got a clue….The UK is a horror show for private sector businesses.
jonamv8 said:
JonPH said:
Design one of the most expensive energy systems in the world. Then realise it impacts business. Then design a mechanism to reduce the cost for certain industries, whilst creating an army of form fillers.
The UK is a horror show for private sector businesses.
This, they haven t got a clue .The UK is a horror show for private sector businesses.
They’ve put tariffs on non-EU produced steel, but done f
k all about imported goods made from that same steel. Utter wksocks. When you talk to the Trade Remedies people, you begin to understand how Whitehall ties them in knots of illogical strategy.Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff