The analogy is wrong. You can have voltage with no flow. The correct analogy is that of the "head" of water. A water tank full of water at the top of a building even though the tank has no holes still has the potential to deliver energy as does a battery that has no wires, the potential is there and not tapped.

As I stated there are direct comparisons of equivalents across all energy delivery systems, tehy are more than analogies the are different versions of the same thing.

Maybe some diagrams will help you understand:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu...c/watcir2.html