The European Commission believes that the EU’s future security of energy supply framework should better coordinate security of supply in the electricity and gas sectors, as revealed in a “fitness check” published on Monday 5 January. This analysis takes place against a backdrop of accelerating decarbonisation and electrification of the European economy.
The document assesses the main European regulations on security of gas supply and electricity risk preparedness, adopted in 2017 and 2019 respectively, ahead of the 2022 energy crisis.
This assessment is “a first step” towards the revision of the legislative framework for energy security, expected in the first half of this year.
While the report recognises the coherence between the regulations on gas security of supply on the one hand and electricity security of supply on the other, a “more coordinated” approach is needed.
This approach should take greater account of “spillover effects from one sector to the other” and future cross-sectoral crises.
Furthermore, in its analysis, the Commission deplores the fact that the concept of “protected customers” is not aligned between gas and electricity, “leading potentially to lower overall protection of critical or vulnerable consumers”.
New geopolitical risks. The analysis also highlights that the increased electrification of end-use sectors and newly emerging geopolitical risks could warrant the implementation of additional sectoral measures.
“Cybersecurity risks, physical and hybrid threats to infrastructure and environmental threats due to climate change will be increasingly important for a future energy security framework”, writes the Commission.
The report also recognises “clear weaknesses” in the framework for preparing for the energy crisis of 2021-2023, revealed by the need to adopt additional emergency regulations to tackle this crisis.
In addition, the analysis shows that there is scope for improving and simplifying the various reporting obligations of Member States, such as risk assessments and risk management plans, as well as administrative procedures.
To consult the report: https://aeur.eu/f/k69 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)