Energy · Profile from Energy Research Companion
Southern Company
The Atlanta holding company for Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, a wholesale generator (Southern Power), four gas utilities (Southern Company Gas) and the operator of the only new US nuclear reactors finished in a generation. Southern serves ~9 million electric and gas customers (company, verify) and is the case study in this knowledge base for the full cost of first-of-a-kind build, and who paid. It lost ~$7.5bn of cost on Kemper County, a "clean coal" gasification plant in Mississippi budgeted at ~$2.4bn and abandoned as a gasifier in June 2017 (reported), and it finished Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Georgia — ~2.2 GW of Westinghouse AP1000s — on 31 July 2023 and 29 April 2024, about seven years late, for a total of more than ~$35bn across all owners including financing, against ~$14bn originally (Georgia PSC data, AJC; section 09 says ">$30bn, basis varies"). Georgia's customers paid financing costs during construction and most of the rest afterward. In 2025–26 the same rate base became the engine of the Southeast's data-centre build: the Georgia PSC certified ~9,885 MW of new capacity for Georgia Power on 19 December 2025, two-thirds of it gas, and Southern reported >17 GW of contracted large load by the mid-2030s against a pipeline of >75 GW (Q2 2026, reported).
At a glance
- Founded
- 1945–47 as the Southern Company holding company, created from the Commonwealth & Southern system broken up under PUHCA 1935; Alabama Power (1906) and Georgia Power (roots 1902; formed 1926–27) are older (company history, verify)
- Headquarters
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Ownership / structure
- Public (NYSE: SO), widely held; subsidiaries Georgia Power (~2.7m customers), Alabama Power (~1.5m), Mississippi Power (~190,000), Southern Power (wholesale), Southern Company Gas (Nicor Gas, Atlanta Gas Light, Virginia Natural Gas, Chattanooga Gas; ~4.4m customers), Southern Nuclear, PowerSecure (company, verify counts); Southern owns 45.7% of Vogtle 3 and 4 through Georgia Power (Oglethorpe Power 30%, MEAG Power 22.7%, Dalton 1.6%)
- Leadership (2026)
- Chris Womack (CEO from May 2023; chairman from 2024, verify); Tom Fanning (CEO Dec 2010–May 2023)
- Assets
- ~45–50 GW of generating capacity (verify), including Vogtle 1–4, Hatch and Farley nuclear plants (Southern Nuclear operates ~8 GW, verify); a 50% stake in Southern Natural Gas (SNG) pipeline bought from Kinder Morgan (2016)
- Scale
- Large-load contracts >17 GW by the mid-2030s, ~8 GW more in late stages, pipeline >75 GW (Q2 2026, reported); Georgia Power base rates frozen through at least 2028 (PSC, 1 Jul 2025)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Mirant spin-off (2001); Vogtle 3 and 4 certification (2009); Kemper County IGCC (2010–17); AGL Resources (2016); Westinghouse's bankruptcy and the Vogtle decision (2017); Gulf Power sale to NextEra (2019); Vogtle in service (2023–24); Georgia data-centre load and new gas (2024–26)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2001
Mirant Spin Off
Spin-off or IPO
2009
Vogtle 3 and 4 Certification
Project final investment decision / technology bet
2010
Kemper County IGCC
Technology bet / construction — failure
2016
AGL Resources Acquisition
Acquisition
2017
Westinghouse Bankruptcy and the Vogtle Decision
Restructuring or bankruptcy (vendor) / construction crisis
2019
Gulf Power Sale
Divestment
2023
Vogtle Units Enter Service
Construction or commissioning / cost recovery
2025
Georgia Data Centre Load and New Gas
Strategy pivot / build-out (generation for large loads)