No legislated pathway to move legacy policy levies off electricity bills for everyone outside BICS

UK industrial electricity prices are among the highest in the developed world: roughly 50% above France/Germany and up to four times US levels. From April 2027 the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme exempts ~7,000–10,000 manufacturers from Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariff and Capacity Market levies (bills cut up to 25%). But SMEs, commercial users, data centres and households keep carrying legacy levy costs, penalising exactly the electrification growth depends on. No statute schedules rebalancing these costs to general taxation or gas.

Energy cost is the top stated business concern and a first-order cause of industrial decline and datacentre offshoring. BICS is a carve-out, not a fix: it entrenches a two-tier price and leaves the electrification penalty for the rest of the economy untouched.

A statutory levy-rebalancing schedule moving legacy renewables costs (RO/FiT) to the Exchequer or onto gas over a fixed timetable, extending BICS-scale relief economy-wide, a fundable Treasury/DESNZ legislative project with published fiscal costings.

// State-led: Instrument: statute scheduling RO/FiT levy transfer to Exchequer or gas over fixed timetable.

Sky-high industrial power drives offshoring, yet BICS only shields large manufacturers from April 2027, leaving SMEs, data centres and households on legacy levies with no legislated rebalancing timetable.