How many customers does Southern Company serve?
Southern Company serves 9 million gas and electric utility customers across 6 states. As of 2021, it ranked as the second largest utility company in the United States by customer base.
Questions about Southern Company
Short answers, pulled from the story.
When was Southern Company founded and where is it headquartered?
Southern Company was incorporated in Delaware on the 9th of November 1945 and began operations in 1949. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with executive offices in Birmingham, Alabama.
What happened with the Plant Vogtle nuclear reactors?
Southern Company's subsidiary Georgia Power oversaw the construction of two new 1,154 MW reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Georgia. Unit 3 began commercial operations in July 2023 and Unit 4 in April 2024, representing the first new nuclear units in the U.S. in roughly 30 years. The project was originally budgeted at $14 billion with a 2022 completion target, but was significantly delayed after contractor Westinghouse Electric Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2017.
What was the Kemper Project and why did it become controversial?
The Kemper County Energy Facility was a clean coal plant operated by Southern Company's subsidiary Mississippi Power in Mississippi, designed to convert low-grade lignite coal into synthetic gas using TRIG gasification technology. Construction costs ballooned from $2.88 billion to $6.58 billion. The project prompted a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation in 2016, a Mississippi Supreme Court order to refund $377 million to ratepayers, and allegations from engineers of fraud and mismanagement.
How much did Southern Company spend funding climate change denial?
Between 1993 and 2004, Southern Company paid over $62 million to organizations spreading disinformation about climate change. From 2010 to 2020, the company spent more than $135 million on federal lobbying. Southern Company was also the largest donor to climate scientist Willie Soon, contributing $469,560 of the $1.25 million he received from fossil fuel interests over 14 years.
What is the largest loan the U.S. Department of Energy has ever made?
In February 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Southern Company a $26.54 billion loan, described as the largest in the agency's history. The loan is split between Georgia Power receiving $22.4 billion and Alabama Power receiving $4.1 billion, financing 16 gigawatts of power including nuclear upgrades, natural gas generation, hydropower modernization, battery storage, and 1,300 miles of new transmission infrastructure.