Subsidies are often in the form of tax credits - they cannot be really used to pay for things. I'm not sure if "energy subsidies" may be about providing energy

Subsidies are often in the form of tax credits - they cannot be really used to pay for things. I'm not sure if "energy subsidies" may be about providing energy below the cost of production but it's true that the "true" cost of production is not clear when a political decision to close nuclear plants, for example, introduces a distortion on their useful life and their amortised cost.