Consultation on scheme eligibility and approach.
Last week, Government opened up its consultation: British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme: consultation on scheme eligibility and approach.
This consultation seeks views on the proposed approach to, and eligibility for, the new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS).
The scheme aims to reduce electricity costs for manufacturing frontier industries within the Industrial Strategy’s growth sectors (the ‘IS-8’), and manufacturing foundational industries which provide important inputs to the frontier industries, who meet a certain threshold of electricity intensity.
We are pleased to see the 3832 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code recovery of sorted materials listed in Annex A’s manufacturing frontier industries initial SIC code list. This means many metal recyclers will meet the first test for the scheme.
There are some initial concerns, however. These include: the eligibility of metal recyclers who do not have 3832 code listed on Companies House; and whether metal recyclers meet the definition of 'manufacture' - the second test for the scheme's eligibility.
Eligible businesses are to be exempt from paying the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation (RO), Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) and the Capacity Market (CM). This consultation seeks views on the proposed approach and how businesses eligible for the scheme should be selected.
Government expects this exemption to reduce costs for eligible businesses by between £35 per MWh and £40 per MWh.
This consultation is targeted at potentially eligible businesses, and this includes metal recyclers, so we implore you to respond. BMRA will also be responding to this consultation separately. If you have any supporting information to inform BMRA’s response, please get in touch via E: [email protected] or T: 07487 545037.
The consultation will close on 19 January 2026.
You can access the consultation here or with the button below.