Introducing Essential Critical Infrastructure Services: Electricity Supply

Electricity supply within the structure of the energy sector

To aid orientation, we set out the position of this essential service in the energy sector as defined in Annex No. 1 to Act No. 367/2025 Coll. on Critical Infrastructure:

Sector:  1. Energy

Subsector: a) Electricity

Category of Entities: Electricity enterprises under a special regulation

Essential Services: Electricity supply

Central Authority: Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic

Electricity supply is a essential service in the energy sector, subsector electricity. It is one of the services whose disruption or interruption has an immediate impact on all other critical infrastructure sectors — transport, healthcare, finance, water, postal services and digital infrastructure. Without electricity, hospitals, filling stations, postal sorting centres, data centres, payment systems and water-pumping stations stop operating.

Why this matters

Because electricity is not merely a commodity; it is the prerequisite for the functioning of virtually everything else. A one-hour outage in one region is an inconvenience. An outage across the whole country for a day is a state crisis. And when an outage lasts longer, it becomes a threat to life and health, disrupts public order and undermines the state's ability to perform its basic functions. For this reason the legislator pays special attention to electricity supply and imposes stricter requirements on critical infrastructure entities in this sector regarding security, continuity and resilience.

Central state authority

The central state authority for the energy sector and, within it, for the electric power subsector is the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic. The Ministry determines critical infrastructure entities in the sector, assesses operators' risk analyses and security plans, and coordinates the sector with other state bodies in addressing extraordinary events. Regulatory competencies in the field of electric power are performed by the Regulatory Office for Network Industries.

Entities providing electricity supply

According to Annex No. 1 to Act No. 367/2025 Coll., the basic service electricity supply is provided by electric-power enterprises under the special regulation, which is Act No. 251/2012 Coll. on Energy, as amended, specifically §3(b) point five of the Act. An electric-power enterprise means a person that carries out at least one of the activities: electricity generation, electricity transmission, electricity distribution, aggregation, provision of flexibility, electricity storage, electricity supply or purchase of electricity for the purpose of resale, and who in relation to these activities is responsible for commercial tasks, technical tasks or maintenance; a final electricity customer is not an electric-power enterprise.

In practice this mainly includes:

- electricity suppliers — commercial companies authorised to supply electricity that deliver electricity to households, businesses, public administration and other customers on the basis of a supply contract or a bundled supply contract;
- suppliers performing the universal service for households and small businesses under the Energy Act.

On the Slovak market several entities operate in this category; among the largest are, for example, Slovenské elektrárne, Slovenský plynárenský priemysel, Stredoslovenská energetika and Západoslovenská energetika within their commercial divisions, as well as several alternative suppliers. The Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic decides on classifying a particular supplier as a critical infrastructure entity based on criteria set by law and implementing regulations, primarily according to the number of customers, the volume of electricity supplied and the significance for the operation of the system.

Specific characteristics and risks of electricity supply

Electricity supply has several characteristics that make it particularly sensitive. Electricity cannot be stored in large quantities; it must be produced and consumed in real time while maintaining the balance between production and consumption in the system. Certain storage capacities are provided by pumped-storage hydroelectric plants, battery energy storage systems, flywheel storage and sector-integration technologies such as Power-to-X. However, their installed output and energy capacity are by far insufficient to cover the system needs of the transmission and distribution network.

The system is geographically extensive, technologically complex and increasingly dependent on digital control systems. The economy is interconnected with the European market and the system operates synchronously with other countries. This means that a fault in one part of Europe can also have an impact on Slovakia.

The main risks faced by entities are cyber-attacks on control and dispatch systems, physical attacks on transmission and distribution components, fuel and primary source outages, extreme weather, lack of qualified personnel, dependence on external technology suppliers and, in crisis scenarios, targeted sabotage or hybrid operations.

The Critical Infrastructure Association of the Slovak Republic as a partner for electricity-supply providers

Electricity suppliers today face a combination of regulatory pressure, security threats and technological changes. The Critical Infrastructure Act brings new obligations for preparing risk analyses, security plans, appointing responsible persons, communication with the state and incident handling. The Critical Infrastructure Association of the Slovak Republic was created to ensure that electricity-supply providers are not left alone in this process.

The Critical Infrastructure Association of the Slovak Republic brings together critical entities, technology suppliers, experts and professional organisations into a single platform that provides methodological support in fulfilling obligations under the Critical Infrastructure Act, exchange of experience among entities in the subsector and across sectors, expert opinions on draft legislation, contact with state authorities and regulators, and practical solutions for incident preparedness and crisis situations.

If you are an electricity supplier or a supplier of technologies and services for electricity-supply providers, membership in the Critical Infrastructure Association of the Slovak Republic gives you access to information, contacts and know-how directly focused on the needs of critical infrastructure entities, which are otherwise difficult to obtain in such a consolidated and practical form.

In further articles of the series we will gradually present the other essential services of critical infrastructure, from the supply of gas and heat through drinking water, transport and financial services to digital infrastructure and healthcare.