Businessweek

Southern Company, an electric utility company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity through coal, nuclear, oil and gas, and hydro resources. The company is a parent company of four traditional operating companies, Southern Power Company (Southern Power), Southern Company Services, Inc. (SCS), Southern Communications Services, Inc. (SouthernLINC Wireless), Southern Company Holdings, Inc. (Southern Holdings), Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. (Southern Nuclear), and other direct and indirect subsidiaries. The traditional operating companies include Alabama Power Company (Alabama Power), Georgia Power Company (Georgia Power), Gulf Power Company (Gulf Power), and Mississippi Power Company (Mississippi Power) are vertically integrated utilities providing electric service in four southeastern states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi. The Southern Company System Traditional Operating Companies The traditional operating companies own generation, transmission, and distribution facilities. Each company’s transmission facilities are connected to the respective company’s own generating plants and other sources of power (including certain generating plants owned by Southern Power) and are interconnected with the transmission facilities of the other traditional operating companies and Southern Electric Generating Company (SEGCO). The utility assets of the traditional operating companies and certain utility assets of Southern Power are operated as a single integrated electric system, or power pool, pursuant to the IIC. Alabama Power and Georgia Power each have a contract with Southern Nuclear to operate Plant Farley and Plants Hatch and Vogtle, respectively. In addition, Georgia Power has a contract with Southern Nuclear to develop, license, construct, and operate Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4. Southern Power Southern Power is an electric wholesale generation subsidiary with market-based rate authority from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Southern Power and its subsidiaries constructs, acquires, owns, and manages generation assets, including renewable energy projects, and sells electricity at market-based prices in the wholesale market. In June 2012, Southern Power constructed Plant Nacogdoches, a biomass generating plant near Sacul, Texas with a nameplate capacity of approximately 116 megawatts (MWs). Nacogdoches Power, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Power, has a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) covering the entire output of the plant from 2012 through 2032. In December 2012, Southern Power constructed Plant Cleveland Units 1 through 4, a combustion turbine natural gas generating plant, in Cleveland county, North Carolina. The plant has a nameplate capacity of 720 MWs. Southern Power has long-term PPAs for 540 MWs of the generating capacity of the plant. In 2012, Southern Power and Turner Renewable Energy, Inc. (TRE), through Southern Turner Renewable Energy LLC (STR), a jointly-owned subsidiary owned 90% by Southern Power, acquired all of the outstanding membership interests of Apex Nevada Solar, LLC (Apex), Spectrum Nevada Solar, LLC (Spectrum), and Granville Solar, LLC (Granville). Apex owns a 20-MW solar photovoltaic facility in North Las Vegas, Nevada. As of December 31, 2012, Southern Power had 8,764 MWs of nameplate capacity in commercial operation. Other Businesses Southern Holdings is an intermediate holding subsidiary primarily for Southern Company’s investments in leveraged leases. SouthernLINC Wireless provides digital wireless communications for use by Southern Company and its subsidiary companies and markets its services to non-affiliates within the Southeast. SouthernLINC Wireless delivers multiple wireless communication options, including push to talk, cellular service, text messaging, wireless internet access, and wireless data. Its system covers approximately 127,000 square miles in the Southeast. SouthernLINC Wireless also provides wholesale fiber optic solutions to telecommunication providers in the Southeast under the name ‘Southern Telecom’. Construction Programs The subsidiary companies of