A sustainable housing development promising "zero energy bills" should be the blueprint for new homes across the country, the government's housing secretary has said.

The site at Carpenters Yard in Epping, Essex, has 113 homes in a "pioneering microgrid community" where every house has a heat pump, solar panels and a centralised battery system to reduce energy bills to zero.

The development was built by private developer gs8 and was financed by Octopus Capital.

Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Housing, said the Labour government was consulting on the "future homes standard" and asking "how we can make more homes capable of generating their own energy in the way that this development is?". "If you move into one of the homes on this development, you'll have no energy bills for at least five years, possibly as long as 10 years," he said.

"It's going to be such a welcome change for people."

BBC News Article