Water heating solution for electric only flat

NSteele92

Looking for help as my head's spinning...

I live in a 1 bed flat run by an economy 7 meter with 1 storage heater (used in living space in winter) and 3x standalone electric heaters which are nearly never used.
I have a huge immersion tank for heating water which I never use as it seems mad to me to heat that amount of water... I have an electric shower so the heated water would really just be for the purposes of washing my hands and doing dishes. I've been doing both of those things with no hot water for some months now while I try to figure out what's best to do, as I'll be looking to rent this flat in the near(ish) future. 

As far as I can see, I've a few options:
-install hot taps in kitchen and bathroom sinks 
-install some sort of electric boiler 
-stick with the immersion tank 

I really can't get my head around which will be most efficient for the low water use of my flat. 

Any guidance on best option much appreciated! 

Gerry1

The bad news is that you're doing everything wrong.  The good news is that it's easy to make big savings.

You need to get rid of the electric shower unless you use it only in the middle of the night.  It uses peak rate electricity, and lots of it.  It's even more expensive than single rate.

Your hot water needs to come from the immersion heater, which needs to be switched by the E7 meter.  Make sure that any Boost switch for a second immersion heater in the middle of the tank is always left off.

Don't even think of an electric boiler !

Ectophile

If the tank is a modern foam insulated one, it should stay hot all day on one burst of heating from the immersion.  You probably won't find anything more efficient without spending money.

If the pipes from the tank aren't lagged, bet some pipe insulation.  It will help a bit.

In continental Europe, they often prefer under-the-counter water heaters.  They are mostly seen in village halls and the like here.  Each stores about a sinkful of hot water.

Instant hot water heaters are likely to be disappointing.

MovingForwards

Wash your hands in cold water.
Maybe even boil a kettle once in the morning, once in the afternoon and use a bit to wash your hands.
Boil a kettle to do the washing up. 

A_Lert

Also hot water rises to the top of the cylinder and is taken from the top. So if you normally only need half a cylinder in a day, you could run the heater in the night for the needed time to heat half a cylinder. Will take some trial and error.