Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are asking for a full accounting of how much the federal government spends through direct subsidies and tax benefits to the energy sector, arguing that not enough is known about how such efforts affect energy markets.

Four committee members, including Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), wrote to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro today asking for a Government Accountability Office study of energy subsidies. The lawmakers point to estimates that energy subsidies have increased dramatically in recent years, including an Energy Information Administration estimate that federal financial interventions more than doubled between 2007 and 2010.

"Despite the expansion and extension of federal support for energy technologies, there is not a thorough understanding of how such federal interventions and subsidies are impacting -- either positively or negatively -- the energy sector and corresponding energy markets," wrote Upton and Reps. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.).

The letter comes amid increasing attention to tax breaks and subsidies for energy, including fossil fuels and renewables.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has often said he would eliminate renewable energy subsidies, such as the wind production tax credit, and last week he opened the door to eliminating at least some oil and gas tax breaks as part of a tax reform deal (E&ENews PM, Oct. 4). And during a debate with his Democratic challenger earlier this week, Upton also said oil and gas tax breaks could be eliminated, according to media reports.

In the letter, the lawmakers urge GAO to deliver a report on subsidies offered to energy companies between fiscal 2003 and this year, including those for electricity, transportation fuels, research and development, and manufacturing. The requested study should account for how much such subsidies cost taxpayers and how they affect energy security, prices and competition with unsubsidized energy sources, they added.