Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made on the potential merits of the use of heat batteries in decarbonising homes.

Heat batteries are one of the most promising alternative electric heating technologies: they utilise time of use tariffs, do not require outside space and are cheaper to install than heat pumps in some circumstances.

However, they are less efficient than heat pumps and use more energy to meet the same heating demand. Although they can generally be charged off-peak, if a battery does not have sufficient storage capacity to meet heat demand it could draw electricity at peak times and add to the burden on the electricity network.

The government will continue to assess the evidence base as it develops.