East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds stood in a family kitchen in Petersfield on Tuesday to inspect the first privately installed tepeo Zero Emission Boiler, a heat battery that charges overnight with cheap, renewable electricity and releases heat on demand. The device replaces a conventional gas boiler without structural changes, offering what its makers call a ‘drop-in’ retrofit. Hinds, who secured an adjournment debate on domestic heating decarbonisation last month, described the technology as a ‘practical bridge’ while heat pumps remain expensive and disruptive for many properties.

The MP told residents that heat batteries could plug gaps in the government’s strategy, particularly for older homes unsuitable for air-source heat pumps. Official figures show 80 per cent of current UK boilers are over ten years old and 85 per cent burn natural gas. tepeo’s first residential installation in Hampshire replaces a 15-year-old combi boiler, cutting the household’s annual gas consumption by an estimated 70 per cent and slashing heating bills by £600.

Property owners Mark and Sarah Whitmore, who live in a 1930s semi, said installation took under four hours. ‘We didn’t touch the radiators or walls,’ Mark said. ‘The only change was swapping the old boiler for the new unit. The app gives us daily usage reports, and we’ve already seen the difference on our bill.’ Southern Water, which operates across Hampshire, has ordered 12 tepeo units for staff accommodation blocks as part of its net-zero roadmap.

Industry analysts at Delta-EE calculate that 1.8 million UK homes could adopt heat batteries by 2028 if current subsidies and awareness campaigns ramp up. Hampshire County Council has pledged £1.8 million to buy 60 electric buses next year, arguing that decarbonising transport and heat must run in parallel. ‘We can’t electrify one sector while leaving the other burning fossil fuels,’ said council leader Rob Humby.

The tepeo device uses a phase-change material to store heat at 58°C, releasing it through a standard wet-radiator system. It operates at 100% efficiency, unlike heat pumps which drop to 250–350% efficiency in freezing weather. The company, spun out of Imperial College London in 2017, secured £21 million in Series B funding last autumn and plans to open a £12 million factory in North Wales next spring, creating 150 jobs.