Energy Security

Energy security means ensuring that households and productive sectors receive adequate energy continuously and at affordable prices. In an import-dependent economy, it also requires protection against external supply disruptions, international price volatility and foreign-exchange pressures. It does not necessarily mean complete energy self-sufficiency, but dependable access through a balanced mix of domestic production, imports, infrastructure and reserves.

Core dimensions

• Availability and reliability require sufficient energy supplies, dependable generation and uninterrupted transmission, transport and distribution.
• Accessibility requires energy to reach all regions, households and firms through adequate physical networks and effective market access.
• Affordability concerns prices that consumers and producers can bear without undermining competitiveness, while avoiding unsustainable fiscal burdens.
• Environmental acceptability requires the energy system to limit pollution and emissions so that present supply does not weaken long-term ecological and economic security.

Risks created by import dependence

Import dependence converts international developments into domestic economic vulnerabilities.

• Supply can be disrupted by geopolitical conflict, export restrictions, shipping bottlenecks or concentration of imports in a few countries and routes.
• Global price increases and currency depreciation can raise inflation, production costs, subsidy pressures and the import bill, thereby affecting the balance of payments.
• Dependence may shift from fossil fuels to imported equipment, minerals or technologies during the energy transition, creating new forms of strategic vulnerability.

Building resilience

Security therefore rests on managing risks rather than merely maximising domestic production.

• Diversification across fuels, suppliers, contracts and transport routes reduces concentration risk.
• Domestic exploration, renewable energy, storage and energy efficiency reduce exposure where they are economically and environmentally viable.
• Strategic reserves, commercial inventories and emergency arrangements provide temporary buffers against disruptions.
• Robust grids, pipelines, ports and distribution systems, supported by predictable regulation, strengthen the system's capacity to absorb and recover from shocks.

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