As a large, frequently centralised activity producing an output that is fundamentally important to human well-being, industrial development and economic growth, electricity production is also the most broadly studied sector in this respect. The risks stemming from nuclear accidents and the disposal of spent nuclear fuel have also always loomed large in public perception. Traditionally, concerns about social costs have focused on electricity production at the plant level. In recent years, however, the advent of significant amounts of wind and solar PV capacity has required, for the reasons explained above, a shift from a plant-level perspective to a systems perspective. Consistent with a general shift of focus in the energy sector, this is also why the present effort aims at providing a policyrelevant synthesis of the full costs of electricity provision at the level of the consumer rather than just at the level of the costs of electricity generation at the individual plant. Its input (coal) and its marketed output (electricity) are paid for in monetary units.