Southern Company's principal business is to make and sell electricity.

With nearly 43,000 megawatts of electricity generating capacity, our kilowatt-hour sales constitute about 4.7 percent of the U.S. electricity market—a market shared by about 3,275 utilities plus 1,738 non-utility producers.*

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, operations include generation plants, high-voltage transmission lines, low-voltage distribution lines, and customer sales and service. Our competitive generation company also constructs, acquires, and manages generation assets and sells electricity on the wholesale market.

Retail Service

Southern Company subsidiaries provide retail electric service as regulated by the public service commissions in the states we serve and by federal energy agencies. Public service commissions determine fair electric rates, oversee what project costs can be recovered (for environmental controls, plant construction, and other energy programs), and define the profit margin utilities can make in retail markets. Our four electric utilities—Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, and Mississippi Power—serve 4.4 million retail customers (through 2010). See Retail Customers breakout »

Independent customer satisfaction surveys are the key performance indicator for electric service. See the American Customer Service Satisfaction Index and the JD Power & Associates Electric Utility Rankings where we consistently rank above average and in the top quartile.

Wholesale Service

Our subsidiaries also sell power in the wholesale market and transmit wholesale power for other providers. Our competitive generation business, Southern Power, comprises more than 7,500 megawatts and serves about 75 investor-owned utilities, electric cooperatives, and municipalities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, with an additional 820 megawatts under construction in Texas.

Transmission

We plan, design, build, operate, and maintain a transmission grid to meet growing demand, including 26,729 miles of transmission lines, 3,393 substations, and 315,385 acres of right of way. Meeting peak demand is a critical indication of transmission performance. The record peak of 48,008 megawatts occurred in 2007 with no emergencies or alerts. See Peak Demand »

The transmission system meets North American Electric Reliability Council standards for safety and reliability. Frequency and duration of interruptions are the two key performance indicators for transmission reliability. In 2010 we exceeded goals for frequency and duration of interruptions. See SAIFI and SAIDI »

Other Businesses

Other major subsidiaries and business units include Southern Nuclear, the licensed operator of Southern Company's three nuclear generating plants in Alabama and Georgia; Southern Telecom, a fiber optic wholesaler in the Southeast; and SouthernLINC Wireless, a regional wireless carrier with network coverage in Alabama, Georgia, southeast Mississippi and northwest Florida plus nationwide access through roaming agreements in more than 540 cities throughout the U.S.

Governance

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an investor-owned public company managed by a chief executive officer accountable to a board of directors. A management council made up of senior executives at Southern Company and its subsidiaries reports to the CEO. We perform succession planning to identify and develop employees for leadership roles. Visit our investor relations website for our current directors and management council members.

The Board of Directors oversees the management of the company's business. To fulfill its responsibilities and to discharge its duty to shareholders, the Board of Directors follows the procedures and standards that are set forth in our governance guidelines. Guidelines include:

• Southern Company must have a majority of independent directors. (Currently, only CEO Tom Fanning is an officer of the company.)
• The board establishes committees to help accomplish its responsibilities. All committees—audit, compensation and management succession, finance, governance and nuclear/operations—are comprised entirely of independent directors.
• The audit committee oversees environmental compliance. Broader environmental policy is discussed by the entire board.
• The governance committee evaluates the expertise and needs of the board at least annually to determine its proper membership and size.

^{* (Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration; Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics; Data through Dec. 2009; released March 15, 2010.)}