Should we be in a different tariff the. If we have a storage heater?

Thanks for the plan page - that makes a bit more sense now.
    

You’ll have to make some observations, take notes and do your sums to work out the best option. 

Electric heating at single- or peak-rate is the most expensive you can get. Storage heaters at a decent offpeak rate may be more manageable. Is your shower fed from the hot water tank, or is it an electric on-demand unit on the wall? When showers are heated by electricity, they can get very expensive.

If your storage heater is running all the time, it may be consuming most of your offpeak usage along with the water heater. Depending on how much hot water you use and how big the tank is, it may not be necessary to have the immersion heater switched on all the time, even if it is only heating up during the night. A normal-size tank, well insulated, should be able to store enough hot water for more than a day’s use, but you’d have to test this by switching the immersion heater off when you get up, then wait until there’s no hot water left. 

Towel rails don’t usually have a high rating - perhaps 0.1-0.2 kW - but that will quickly mount up if it’s on all the time (0.1 * 24 = 2.4 kWh = 60p a day = £18 a month). Do you need it to be on all the time?

Depending again on its rating in kW, the bedroom radiator only needs to be on for a period before bedtime and before getting-up-time. You’ll have to experiment to see how long it takes the radiator to get the bedroom up to a comfortable temperature, and remember that it will continue to heat the room up for a while after it’s switched off. It might be an idea to use a programmable time switch to do this. For example, if it takes an hour after switching it on for the room to get warm, try turning it on an hour before bedtime and off again half an hour later. Similarly, on an hour before the alarm goes off and off again half an hour later. This morning session with the bedroom radiator might fit nicely into the offpeak period. This could easily be organized with a £10 Tapo 110P smart plug that you can control from your phone (other smart plugs are available!).

If you can get most of your space and water heating into the offpeak period (midnight - 07:00) and limit daytime usage as far as possible, you should be able to get your usage pattern into the zone where Economy 7 would work for you. The plan you’re currently on is 2 Year Fixed - 05/12/2024 with peak and offpeak charged at the same rate. You may be able to switch to Economy 7 rates even though OVO still says it isn’t possible … you can only ask. The difference would be significant. Had you been put on Economy 7 when you moved in, your rates would have been peak: 26.00 p/kWh, offpeak 17.59 p/kWh and standing charge 61.24 p/day. Those rates have gone up a bit since then, but you would only need to be using at least 45% of your total usage during offpeak hours. That should be possible with a bit of adjustment. 

Hey ​@Bearclaire 

Welcome to the OVO Online Community.

I can see our community members have already given some helpful advice here.

Just wanted to add the following:
 

How do I tell my day and night readings apart?

If you’re unsure which reading is which sometimes the readings will be labelled - high and low or day and night. If not you might be able to check the current reading against your reading history on the ‘Meter Readings’ page of your online account.

If you can’t work it out using these methods the next step is to carry out a Load Test​. This involves taking two sets of readings at midday and during the afternoon. Only one reading should change between these times which will be your daytime register. 

How do I perform a Creep Test on my electricity meter?

If you’ve been unable to get to the bottom of an increase in our usage by locating a greedy appliance, the next step would be to carry out an initial check on the accuracy of the meter with a ‘Creep Test’. To carry this out: turn off the power to your fuse box and check if the meter continues to clock. If the meter clocks (more than 1 - 2 units which could be down to residual power in the wires)  then it's either faulty, or clocking someone else’s usage.

If your meter is in a communal meter cupboard, sometimes the meter details can get mixed up. Firstly it’s worth checking the meter serial number on the meter matches the serial number registered on your account. You can see this on the ‘Meter readings’ page of your online account.