The Southern Company (SO)

Southern Company's board amended and restated the company's by-laws on 20 October 2026, changing what a stockholder must show to call a special meeting or nominate directors 3.

Georgia Power said on 5 October 2026 that an unauthorized party reached limited information on about 300,000 customer accounts through its online portal 67. The broader incident affected roughly 400,000 accounts 6.

The company said it found no evidence of continued unauthorized access to customer accounts 6. It is offering free credit monitoring to affected customers 7.

The newest results are for the second quarter, when Southern Company earned $1.2 billion, or $1.03 per share, against $0.9 billion, or $0.80 per share, a year earlier 2. For adjusted earnings, the company named investment in state-regulated utilities, customer usage and growth, equity-method earnings and lower income taxes as drivers 2.

Southern Company plans to release third-quarter results by 7:30 Eastern time on 5 November 2026 4. On 20 October it announced a regular quarterly dividend of 76 cents per share, payable 7 December to shareholders of record on 16 November 5.

Contracts for data centers keep growing: the quarterly report counts about 16 gigawatts of new large-load contracts, and about five gigawatts of them still await review by state commissions 1.

Southern Company owns three electric utilities (Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power), a wholesale power company, Southern Power, and a gas distributor, Southern Company Gas 9.

Revenue was $25.25 billion in 2023 9. Georgia Power's first new reactor at Plant Vogtle, Unit 3, entered service on 31 July 2023, and Unit 4 followed on 29 April 2024 9.

Georgia Power's share of each new unit is 553 megawatts, based on 45.7 percent ownership 9. Revenue rose to $26.72 billion in 2024, while natural gas revenues slipped to $4.46 billion from $4.70 billion 9.

In 2025 revenue reached $29.55 billion, up 10.6 percent (computed) 9. Retail electric revenues alone rose 8.7 percent, with rates and pricing adding 5.0 points, sales growth 1.2 and fuel and other cost recovery 2.7, while weather took off 0.2 9.

Rates and pricing rose mainly through base tariff increases at Georgia Power and the inclusion of Plant Vogtle Unit 4 in retail rates 9.

Net income attributable to Southern Company was $4.3 billion, down $60 million, or 1.4 percent, because depreciation, maintenance and interest costs largely outran the revenue gains 9. Basic earnings per share were $3.94 in 2025 and $4.02 in 2024 9.

Southern Company Gas, the gas distributor, earned $732 million in 2025, $8 million less than in 2024, even as natural gas revenues rose $588 million to $5.04 billion 9.

At the end of 2025 Alabama Power's sales contract with AMEA expired, ending wholesale sales to 11 municipally owned electric systems 9.

On 1 July 2025 the Georgia PSC approved extending Georgia Power's rate plan through 2028 9. Under the extension, base rates stay fixed in 2026, 2027 and 2028 apart from storm damage costs 9.

On 19 December 2025 the Georgia PSC approved Georgia Power's request to certify new resources totaling 9,885 megawatts 1.

On 18 February 2026 Southern raised its five-year spending plan to about $81 billion for 2026 through 2030, from $76 billion, Reuters reported 10. It said it had contracted 10 gigawatts of large-load customers across Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, including Google, Meta, Microsoft and Compass Datacenters 10.

Revenue for the first six months of 2026 was $15.4 billion, up 4.2 percent from the same period of 2025 2.

On 6 August 2026 it issued $833.75 million of 2.125 percent convertible senior notes due 2027 and $1.9 billion of 3.50 percent convertible senior notes due 2029 15. It also repurchased about $369 million of an earlier series of 4.50 percent convertible notes due 2027 11.

Electric utilities: Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Mississippi Power

The three utilities generate, carry and deliver electricity across most of Alabama and Georgia and southeastern Mississippi, a territory of about 116,000 square miles and about 17 million people 9.

They served 4.59 million retail customers at the end of 2025: 1,563 thousand for Alabama Power, 2,834 thousand for Georgia Power and 193 thousand for Mississippi Power 9.

Georgia Power is building combined-cycle gas plants at Bowen (Units 7 and 8, 741 megawatts each), Wansley (Units 10 and 11, 727 each) and McIntosh (Unit 12, 757) 1. The last is projected for the fourth quarter of 2030 1.

Battery storage under construction includes 265 megawatts at McGrau Ford Phase 2, due in the third quarter of 2026 1.

On 12 June 2026 the NRC approved Southern Nuclear's renewal of the operating licenses for Plant Hatch Units 1 and 2 for another 20 years 1. On 28 May 2026 the Georgia PSC approved a stipulation cutting annual fuel billings by 12.9 percent 1.

On 7 July 2026 the Mississippi PSC approved Mississippi Power's request to convert either Plant Daniel Unit 1 or Unit 2 from coal to natural gas, projected for completion in 2029 1.

Alabama Power's retail rates under its Rate RSE plan remain unchanged for 2026 9. In Georgia, a 1973 law assigns nearly all land to one electric supplier, though a new customer with a load of at least 900 kilowatts may choose a supplier once 9.

Data center customers

The quarterly report counts about 11 gigawatts of data center and other large-load contracts already reviewed by state commissions, since 2023 1. Each is for a load above 100 megawatts 1.

All of these contracts carry minimum bill provisions, and contracts totaling about 13 gigawatts also require minimum terms, termination payments and financial security 1.

Georgia Power's statement, reported by Georgia Public Broadcasting, called its agreement to serve OpenAI's Effingham County campus among the largest single-facility commitments in the country 8. The campus is projected to use 3.2 gigawatts from 2028 to 2032, a third of the 10-gigawatt expansion the commission granted Georgia Power in December 8.

OpenAI said the agreement runs 25 years and includes up to 1,000 megawatts of flexible demand response, and that it is to pay the full infrastructure and electric-service costs 14.

Southern Power

Southern Power builds, owns and runs power plants, including batteries, and sells the electricity at market-based rates in the wholesale market 9. On 2 June 2026 the FERC approved two affiliate power purchase agreements with it, which began in June at 638 and 74 megawatts 1.

Accelerated depreciation from repowering was $143 million in the second quarter of 2026, and the company leaves it out of its adjusted earnings 2.

Southern Company Gas

Southern Company Gas runs about 77,900 miles of gas pipe and 14 storage sites, and its distribution business serves about 4.4 million customers in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee 9.

Its utilities are Nicor Gas, Atlanta Gas Light, Virginia Natural Gas and Chattanooga Gas 1. On 16 June 2026 the Illinois Appellate Court found the state commission had not supported its disallowance of $43 million of Nicor Gas's planned investments, and the matter returns to the commission 1.

Other businesses and the workforce

Southern Linc supplies wireless communications to the group and the public, and fiber services through Southern Telecom, over about 122,000 square miles 9. Southern Nuclear operates the system's nuclear plants, and PowerSecure builds distributed energy and microgrid systems 9.

The system had about 29,800 employees at the end of 2025, among them 3,700 at Southern Nuclear and 4,800 at the service company SCS 9.

People

Christopher Womack, aged 67 in the annual report, has been chairman since December 2023, chief executive since May 2023 and president since March 2023 9. David Poroch is chief financial officer 2.

Current problems

In March 2026 Georgia Interfaith Power & Light, the Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and others petitioned a Georgia court to reverse the commission's December 2025 approval of 9,885 megawatts 1. They ask for at least 757 megawatts to be decertified 1.

Georgia Power believes the appeal has no merit, and it and the commission have moved to dismiss it 1. The customer portal breach reported in October is the other open problem 6.

The umbrella, in words

The company's customer-facing names are its operating companies: Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Mississippi Power and Southern Company Gas, which in turn runs Nicor Gas, Atlanta Gas Light, Virginia Natural Gas and Chattanooga Gas 91.

Southern Company also owns the service company SCS, the telecom firm Southern Linc, the investing arm Southern Holdings, Southern Nuclear and PowerSecure 9. Alabama Power and Georgia Power each own 50 percent of the generating company SEGCO 1.

Southern Company Gas owns 50 percent of Southern Natural Gas, which owns a 7,000-mile pipeline, and carries a $1,148 million equity investment in it at 31 December 2025 9. It also owns 50 percent of the 115-mile Dalton Pipeline with The Williams Companies 9.

Georgia Power owns undivided interests in Plants Hatch, Vogtle and Scherer jointly with other owners, among them MEAG Power and Jacksonville Electric Authority 9.

The 2026 proxy statement lists BlackRock with 6.9 percent and State Street with 5.7 percent of the common stock, from filings made in January 2024 13. It measures them against shares outstanding on 31 January 2026 13.

Vanguard reported 8.9 percent on 13 February 2024, then reported on 27 March 2026 that after an internal realignment it no longer has beneficial ownership, with its units to report separately 13.

The company plans to release third-quarter results on 5 November 2026, with its chief executive and finance chief to discuss them on a call for analysts at 1 pm Eastern 4.

The annual report projects capital spending of $15.9 billion in 2026, $18.5 billion in 2027, $17.1 billion in 2028, $14.6 billion in 2029 and $12.0 billion in 2030 9. Georgia Power's share is $10.1 billion in 2026 and $12.7 billion in 2027 9.

For 2026 through 2028 the filing expects dividends, capital spending and debt maturities to exceed operating cash flows 9. The company plans to cover the gap with borrowings, debt, equity or hybrid securities 9.

Service under the remaining large-load contracts is expected to begin through 2028 1. Georgia Power's OpenAI supply is projected over four years from 2028 to 2032 8.

On 9 June 2026 Georgia Power asked for proposals for 2,000 to 6,000 megawatts of capacity resources with start dates in 2032 and 2033 1.

Plant Yates Units 8, 9 and 10, 442 megawatts each, are projected for the fourth quarter of 2026, the second quarter of 2027 and the third quarter of 2027 1.

Reuters reported in February that Southern could redirect about 1,000 megawatts of gas-fired capacity to new customers by 2030 and was in late-stage talks to add 700 megawatts from its existing gas fleet 10.

Executives said data centers with combined demand of around 75 gigawatts had expressed interest in connecting to the system 10.

Southern Natural Gas is developing a roughly $3 billion project adding about 1.3 billion cubic feet a day of capacity, which its operator anticipates finishing in 2029 9. Southern Company Gas would bear 50 percent of the cost 9.

The Plant Hatch licenses now run through 2054 for Unit 1 and 2058 for Unit 2 1. Southern Company Gas expects an Illinois Supreme Court ruling on its petition regarding Nicor Gas's capital structure, which the report said was expected on 30 September 2026 1.