BICS opens for manufacturers facing high power bills

If you have ever wondered why making things in Britain can be so expensive, electricity is a big part of the answer. A new government scheme called the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme, or BICS, has now opened for applications, and ministers say it could cut electricity bills by up to 25% for more than 10,000 businesses across Great Britain. According to the Department for Business and Trade, eligible firms need to apply by 30 November 2026 if they want support from April 2027. The government is presenting this as one of the headline moves in its Modern Industrial Strategy, with the wider claim that lower power costs could help factories invest, expand and protect skilled jobs.

Here is the plain-English version. BICS does not erase a company’s full energy bill. The gov.uk guidance says eligible businesses in England, Scotland and Wales will be exempt from certain indirect electricity policy costs, including the Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariffs and Capacity Market charges. Those names sound technical, but they matter because they still end up in the price manufacturers pay. **What this means:** the promised saving depends on the electricity price a business is already paying, so the headline figure of up to 25% is a maximum rather than a flat discount for everyone. If you are trying to make sense of that, you are not alone. This is exactly the sort of policy detail that can change whether a scheme feels transformational or just moderately helpful.

The government says BICS is aimed at the UK’s frontier and foundational industries. In practice, that means both advanced sectors such as aerospace and defence, and the firms further down the chain that make materials, parts and other industrial inputs those sectors rely on. That second group matters more than it may first appear. In the scheme’s impact assessment, the government says 98% of businesses in frontier sectors and 99% in foundational sectors are small and micro firms. So while the language is about national industrial strategy, many of the businesses affected are smaller manufacturers trying to stay competitive while power costs remain high.

There is another detail worth slowing down for. Businesses confirmed as eligible will also be in line for a one-off lump-sum payment worth roughly a year of relief under the scheme. The government says only firms that apply for BICS this year will be able to access that extra payment. **Why the deadline matters:** if a business qualifies but misses 30 November 2026, it may not just lose time. It could lose an additional year-style chunk of support. For owners, finance teams and advisers, that makes the application window something practical and urgent rather than a symbolic launch date.

BICS does not sit on its own. The government says it is part of a broader push to cut industrial electricity costs, alongside the British Industry Supercharger, which supports energy-intensive sectors such as steel, chemicals, glass, paper and ceramics. Ministers say that existing support cuts electricity costs for those industries by more than £400 million a year. There is also targeted funding behind the message. The government release points to £350 million for chemicals and £120 million for ceramics, framed as support for sectors seen as important to Britain’s economic resilience. If you are reading this as a politics or economics story, this is a clear example of the state choosing to back particular industries rather than leaving everything to market pressure.

Ministers are also using this announcement to make a wider political case. Jonathan Reynolds said the policy would help reindustrialise Britain, while Miatta Fahnbulleh argued that breaking the link with fossil fuels, upgrading the network and speeding up grid connections are the only lasting ways to bring bills down properly. It helps to separate those claims. **What the government is offering now:** relief on selected parts of the electricity bill. **What it is arguing for later:** a bigger shift in how Britain generates and moves power. Those two ideas are connected, but they are not the same, and readers should keep that difference in view.

There are limits to the scheme, and those limits matter. BICS is targeted, not universal. It applies to eligible businesses in Great Britain, while Northern Ireland is due to receive funding for an equivalent approach subject to a separate business case. And because the size of the discount depends on the underlying electricity price each company pays, firms will still need to check the sums rather than assume the maximum saving. For the rest of us, the bigger lesson is simple. Industrial strategy can sound distant and bureaucratic, but it often comes down to everyday questions: can a factory afford to run, can a supplier keep staff on, and can a country still make things competitively? BICS will matter most if it turns a technical policy promise into real breathing space for manufacturers, not just another announcement that sounds generous until you read the small print.