Denmark, Britain, Germany and Spain have high coal shares in electricity generation, Denmark with no indigenous coal has the cheapest coal and electricity, Germany has the largest coal industry, one of the most protected, pays the highest price for coal and has high electricity prices. The paper examines the possible impacts on electricity prices of dismantling coal subsidies, and argues that much depends on the form of the subsidies and their method of finance. Removing subsidies in Germany and Spain might lower prices by 10%, but in the UK, where remaining subsidies are small, by a negligible amount.