To start with you lose about 30% of any power generated in losses between generation and delivering it to the consumer, so at a minimum you have to add 30% to t

To start with you lose about 30% of any power generated in losses between generation and delivering it to the consumer, so at a minimum you have to add 30% to the prices utility companies are paying for power to contrast it correctly with consumer prices. From there you have to run and then maintain, something like hundreds of thousands of miles of lines, that are dangerous to work on, twenty four hours a day. You need teams of workers, parking lots full of bucket trucks, and millions of dollars of specialized equipment and spare parts. Pulling some coal out of a mine in Appalachia, putting it on a train and throwing it into a furnace, while difficult is a lot simpler in comparison.