Summary

Southern Company is an electric and gas utility and wholesaler with nine million customers and 41,000 megawatts of generating capacity. Its gas subsidiary also provides distribution and wholesale gas services. In 2023, retail electricity accounted for about 65% of total revenue, while natural gas sales accounted for just under 20%. Southern’s electrical customer base is evenly balanced, with commercial, industrial, and residential customers each representing about one-third of retail sales. The company is based in Atlanta and provides natural gas to customers in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee. SO owns regulated electric utilities in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Its largest utility, Georgia Power, accounted for about 40% of 2023 revenue. The company also offers digital wireless and fiber-optic services.

SO’s 2023 fuel mix is 52% gas, 17% coal, 17% nuclear, and 14% renewables. It is working to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050, later than peers without coal generation. The fuel mix will change once the company adds the last of its new nuclear reactors to its three existing nuclear units at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia. The company has faced rising costs and pandemic delays with these reactors – the first U.S. nuclear units built in the last 30 years. Vogtle 3 became o