Guidance

Annex A: British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme evidence requirements

Updated 12 October 2026

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

The following sections explain the information and evidence you may be asked to provide as part of a BICS application. Use this information to understand what you may need before starting an application.

Your business identity

You will need to confirm the legal identity of the business applying for British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS).

Information and evidence you will be asked to provide	Recommended upload format
Companies House number	Application form (free-text fields)
Company authorisation code (this is a 6-digit authentication code used for filing accounts at Companies House and is different to the 11-digit personal verification code that Companies House will have also issued).	Application form (free-text fields)
Registered business name	Application form (free-text fields)
Contact in the business (if not the same as the applicant)	Application form (free-text fields)
Where relevant, a statement relating to which SIC code is appropriate for your business.	Application form (free-text fields)

Your applicant details

You will need to provide details of the person submitting the application and confirm they are authorised to act on behalf of the business.

Information and evidence you will be asked to provide	Recommended upload format
Applicant name	Application form (free-text fields)
Contact address	Application form (free-text fields)
Email address	Application form (free-text fields)
OneLogin account	Application form (free-text fields)

Your manufacturing sites

You will need to identify the manufacturing site or sites for which you are applying and what activities take place on the site.

Information and evidence you will be asked to provide	Recommended upload format
Site name and address (this should be set out in your electricity bill if you pay the electricity supplier directly).	Application form (free-text fields)
Statement on what is on the site and the eligible and non-eligible activities. Example statements are provided in Annex B.	Application form (free-text field, 2000 character limit)
There will also be an option to upload supporting documents, such as site maps, process diagrams or site layouts, to help explain the site and its activities. This is separate to the requirement for production evidence.	PDF, scanned document or Word document

Any shared meter or third-party arrangements

If you do not pay the grid supplier directly you will need to confirm the role that the landlord, or other third party, such as letting agent, has in this. Read the guidance for third parties.

If you pay the grid electricity and share the meter with other users you will need to confirm these arrangements.

You must provide evidence of the arrangement between the site and the organisation providing or billing for electricity. Provide at least one of the following:

• tenancy or lease agreements
• energy supply agreements
• recharge agreement or contracts between parties
• landlord or third-party electricity invoices
• intercompany charge, expense allocation and cost recharge
• correspondence or supporting documentation explaining the arrangement

The evidence should show:

• the site address
• the parties involved
• the period covered
• how electricity is allocated by the landlord to tenants

Recommended upload formats are PDF, scanned document or Word document.

Your electricity consumption or grid arrangements

You will need to explain how electricity is supplied to the manufacturing site, including the relevant MPANs (or BMUs where the site connects directly to the transmission network), who pays for the electricity, and who supplies it.

You must provide evidence of the amount of grid electricity used at the site. If the site uses a shared meter, you must also provide evidence of the total electricity consumption recorded by that meter.

If you pay the electricity supplier directly and do not share the meter.

Provide an electricity bills for the most recent 6 consecutive months that the bill is available, within the last 12 months. This should show:

• the supply address
• MPAN details
• supplier name
• billing period
• amount of grid electricity used
• bill payer

Recommended upload formats are PDF, scanned document or supplier system export.

If you pay a third party for your electricity (for example, a landlord)

Provide a copy of the bill you pay the third party for this electricity for the most recent 6 consecutive months that the bill is available, within the last 12 months.

If the amount of grid electricity you use is not set out in the bill, an invoice from your landlord should be obtained to confirm the amount of grid electricity you have used at your site in this period and the MPANs that this relates to.

If possible, confirm with the third party that the relevant electricity levies (Renewables Obligations, Capacity Market and Feed-in-Tariff) have been paid in this period.

Recommended upload formats are PDF, scanned document or supplier system export.

If you share the meters with another business or premises

Provide evidence of the amount of grid electricity used by your business. This should include electricity bills for the most recent 6 consecutive months that the bill is available, within the last 12 months. This should show:

• the supply address
• MPAN details
• supplier name
• billing period
• amount of grid electricity used
• bill payer

You will also be asked to provide the total amount of electricity consumed by the whole meter.

Recommended upload formats are PDF, scanned document or supplier system export.

If you connect directly to the transmission network

Provide an electricity bills for the most recent 6 consecutive months that the bill is available, within the last 12 months. This should show:

• the supply address
• Balancing Meter Unit details
• supplier name
• billing period
• amount of electricity used
• bill payer

Recommended upload formats are PDF, scanned document or supplier system export.

If you cannot obtain an original supplier electricity bill, for example because there are other nonstandard billing arrangements (such as energy brokerage groups, purchasing arrangements, supply-chain purchasing agreements and hedged arrangements)

Provide 6 consecutive months of recharge invoices or equivalent billing statements, together with evidence sufficient to demonstrate:

• the legal or contractual relationship between the applicant and bill payer
• the manufacturing site and relevant MPAN or other meter identifier
• electricity consumption for the required 6-month period
• the amount charged or paid by the applicant
• evidence that the relevant electricity levies are paid.

There will be a free text box (2000 characters) to explain the electricity evidence provided. If the information on your bill does not contain the stated required data points, or that information differs to information provided elsewhere in the application, explain why and provide any relevant supporting evidence.

The alternative evidence is not a waiver of the evidence requirement. The overall evidence picture must still be sufficient and satisfactory to verify eligible grid consumption.

Recommended upload formats are PDF, scanned document or supplier system export.

Private wire

Your supplier will need to show that you are in scope of BICS exemptions.

Information and evidence you will be asked to provide	Recommended upload format
Statement from your supplier to confirm you are in scope	PDF or scanned document
An electricity bill (or alternative) covering 6 months that shows you pay the relevant electricity levies.	PDF or scanned document

Eligible manufacturing activity

You will need to show that eligible manufacturing activity takes place at the site. We will be considering how electricity links to this.

Information and evidence you will be asked to provide	Recommended upload format
For the most recent 6 consecutive months that evidence is available 12 months before the application. One or more of the following to demonstrate eligible production takes place at the site: • Enterprise Resource Planning Record, for example, SAP record to demonstrate the production orders were issued and completed. We will not accept sales or purchase notes as part of this as they do not demonstrate production • production logs showing products manufactured, production dates and quantities produced • quality control records linked to production batches to evidence that products were manufactured and assessed	PDF, Word document, Excel spreadsheet, ERP system export or scanned document
Statement to explain the production evidence provided. Examples are included in Annex B.	Free-text field, 2000 character limit

Production evidence should be aggregated to a monthly level and show how the scale of eligible production relates to total production on the site. Where a business manufactures a large number of different products (for example, 20 or more), you do not need to provide separate evidence for every product. You may group products or production lines within your evidence, provided it contains enough information for the department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) to validate your overall eligible production.

Pro-rating tier

You will need to explain how you have calculated the proportion of electricity used for eligible manufacturing.

Information and evidence you will be asked to provide	Recommended upload format
Statement setting out the methodology and calculations used to determine: • the pro-rating tier • if relevant, the proportion of the meter if shared or British Industry Supercharger (BIS) exemption is included Examples are included in Annex B.	Free-text field, 2000 character limit
AND (only if you have it): Sub-metering (or other electricity monitoring) data for the most recent 6 consecutive months within 12 months of your application covering eligible production. For the purposes of BICS, this includes traditional sub-meters as well as other electricity monitoring systems that measure electricity consumption. This may include energy management platforms, monitoring dashboards, machine mounted sensors and similar monitoring technologies. This should be in form of monthly totals. You do not need to provide every individual meter reading or raw data export. You should provide sufficient information to explain how the electricity consumption figure used in your application has been calculated.	PDF, Word document or Excel spreadsheet

Any existing British Industry Supercharger exemption

You will need to confirm whether your business already receives support through the British Industry Supercharger scheme, so that BICS does not duplicate support for the same electricity consumption.

Information and evidence you will be asked to provide	Recommended upload format
Copy of an Energy Intensive Industries (EII) scheme certificate	PDF
% of MPAN that already receives BIS exemption	Application form field
Confirmation of prodcom codes that the EII certificate relates to at each meter.	Application form field
A declaration confirming that the electricity consumption claimed for BICS is separate from any electricity consumption claimed under EII.	Application form field

Applicant declaration

An officer or agent duly authorised so to declare on behalf of the BICS applicant will need to confirm, through the applicant, that the information and evidence provided in the application is accurate and complete.

This can be provided by completing the declaration section of the application form.

Companies with special Companies House statuses

Where Companies House records indicate that your company is dormant or subject to insolvency or restructuring procedures, additional information may be required to enable BIST to assess your application. The information required will depend on your company’s circumstances. See Section 2.2 of the guidance for further information.

Depending on your circumstances, this may include:

• for dormant companies, statement as to how the company is actively operating while it is dormant
• details of a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), including the insolvency practitioner, repayment schedule and any operational restructuring
• confirmation that a company in administration, insolvency proceedings or receivership continues to operate
• for companies in administration, evidence that an application is being made by, or with the authority of, an appointed administrator
• for companies in liquidation, a signed letter from a liquidator confirming that the company continues to operate and has permission to apply for BICS

Recommended upload formats are PDF or scanned document.