It's far less useful than a battery, though, because heat is only good for heating things, which means you also need to provide fuel to convert it into electrical or motive applications. like computers and cars.
You can also use the same principle to store cold in summer: Cool down a vat of coolant (though water likely won’t do) at times when you have electricity surplus and use it later.
Certainly, that not solving all problems, but it can kill battery usage for some cases.
If heating loads are a significant amount of the total load, then this would help reduce the need for peaker plants or battery energy storage. And, if done properly, it provides a cost savings to the utility user too.