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The second-largest utility company in the U.S. by consumers services over 9 million customers with gas and electric power across six states in the Southeastern U.S.

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F500-2020-153-Southern-Company

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The Atlanta-based Southern Co. stays true to its name as the dominant power and utility player in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi with a mix of gas-fired, coal, nuclear, and renewable power generation. Southern also distributes natural gas in Tennessee, Virginia, and elsewhere. But Southern’s power business of wholesale gas and renewables operates in 15 states from California to Maine, showcasing the company’s growth well outside of the legacy Deep South. And its expanding PowerSecure business offers microgrid services nationwide. Likewise, the Southern Linc and Telecom businesses offer telecommunications and fiber-optics services to meet increasing demand.

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Southern (SO): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

legacy

Southern

southern

Good afternoon. My name is Kevin, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to The Southern Company Second Quarter twenty twenty five Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Greg McLeod, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon, and welcome to Southern Company's second quarter twenty twenty five earnings call. Joining me today are Chris Womack, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Company and David Parokh, Chief Financial Officer. In addition, Dan Tucker, who recently announced his retirement as CFO of Southern Company after nearly three decades with the company, is also joining us for the call today. Let me remind you that we will make forward looking statements today in addition to providing historical information. Various important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward looking statements, including those discussed in the Form 10 ks, Form 10 Q and subsequent securities filings.

In addition, we will present non GAAP financial information on this call. Reconciliations to the applicable GAAP measure are included in the financial information we released this morning as well as the slides for this conference call, which both are available on our Investor Relations website at investor.southerncompany.com. At this time, I'll turn the call over to Chris.

Thank you, Greg. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on today's call. As you can see from the materials that we released this morning, we reported strong adjusted earnings results for the second quarter, meaningfully above the estimate provided last quarter, and we remain on track to meet our financial objectives for 02/2025. These results reflect the combined efforts of many employees across the Southern Company system who consistently work to deliver clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy to our customers. Our operations team, generation fleet, and power delivery system have demonstrated exceptional performance throughout the first half of the year.

Just this week, during an extreme heat wave, our system, with the support of our dedicated team, met the year to date peak load of nearly 39 gigawatts with no major issues. Our success is an estimate to our vertically integrated state regulated business model with long range integrated resource planning processes, which continue to deliver substantial value to our customers and the communities we are privileged to serve. Providing outstanding reliability and affordable service to our customers is fundamental and just one example of why Southern Company truly is a great company and continues to find ways to improve and get better. Dan, I'll now turn the call over to you for an update on our financial performance.

Thanks, Chris, and good afternoon, everyone. For the 2025, our adjusted earnings per share was $0.92 per share, 0.7 above our estimate and $0.18 lower than the 2024. Our performance for the current quarter included increased earnings from investments in our state regulated utilities, along with higher usage and customer growth, which added $06 year over year compared to the 2024. These positive drivers were offset by milder weather, prior year gains on transmission asset sales and current year state tax credit adjustments along with higher operating costs, interest expense and depreciation and amortization. A complete reconciliation of year over year earnings is included in the materials we released this morning.

Our adjusted EPS estimate for the third quarter is 1.5 per share. Turning now to our retail electricity sales. Year to date, weather normal retail electricity sales were 1.3 higher than the 2024. Year over year retail electricity sales growth increased modestly across all customer classes in the second quarter, growing 3% from the 2024. Weather normal residential sales were up 2.8%, higher than in the 2024, bolstered by the addition of over 15,000 new electric customers in the quarter and higher overall use per customer.

Weather adjusted commercial sales and industrial sales, which were 3.52.8% higher respectively in the quarter compared to the prior year, were driven by the combination of increased existing customer usage and new large load customers coming online. Notably, data center usage was 13% higher compared to the 2024. Industrial sales to our largest customer segments also saw robust growth in the quarter, including transportation and primary metals, which were both up 6% year over year and paper, which was up 16%. I'll now turn the call back over to Chris for further insights into our economic activity and to highlight recent constructive outcomes for some of our regulatory processes.

Thank you, Dan. While we can continue to monitor macroeconomic trends, the economy in the Southeast remains well positioned with unemployment rates and recent population growth in our service territories better than national averages. Economic development activities in the second quarter continued with announcements totaling nearly 2,000,000,000 of capital investment and more than 6,000 new jobs announced in our electric service territories. Of note, in Alabama, there were several economic development announcements led by continued expansion in the aerospace and automotive sectors. Industrial manufacturing developments in Mississippi included the announcement of an expansion by a domestic manufacturer specializing in electric transformers, which is expected to create 400 local jobs.

The large load pipeline across Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, which includes data centers and large manufacturers, remains well above 50 gigawatts of potential incremental load by the mid 2030s. With project commitments totaling 10 gigawatts and ongoing advanced discussions for even more, interest from large load customers in all of our electric service territories continue to be strong and growing, and we're increasingly well positioned to serve this robust projected growth in a sustainable fashion. As we have consistently communicated, our disciplined approach includes pricing and contract terms designed to protect existing customers and our investments while also generating economic benefits for all customers. In May, Georgia Power and the Georgia Public Service Commission public interest advocacy staff, along with several other interveners, reached a settlement that demonstrated the reality of these economic benefits for customers. The stipulated agreement, which was unanimously approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission, extend Georgia Power's 2022 alternate rate plan, ultimately precluding the need for a 2025 base rate case filing and keeping base rates stable and predictable over the next three years through 2028 with the exception of any future recovery of storm related costs, including those related to hurricane Helene.

Overall, this outcome demonstrates our commitment to capturing the benefits of this robust projected economic growth and prioritizing customer affordability. We believe this outcome, which preserves the existing regulatory framework in Georgia, benefits all stakeholders. Our vertically integrated market and constructive orderly regulatory processes continue to help ensure we have the critical resources necessary to reliably and affordably serve our growing states. Earlier this month, the Georgia Public Service Commission unanimously approved a stipulated agreement between Georgia Power and the Georgia PSC public interest advocacy staff regarding Georgia Power's 2025 integrated resource plan or IRP. This approval provided for continued investment in existing fleet with plant life extensions at multiple steam units, up rates for more capacity at existing nuclear and natural gas facility, and the modernization of hydro facilities to increase out to increase output and extend life.

The 2025 RRP outcome also further highlighted and confirmed the need for new generation resources previously approved in our prior RRPs as we build to serve projected growth. Under the approved IRP, Georgia Power received authorization to provide generation procurement options for at least six gigawatts to meet increasing Georgia Power system demand. In accordance with the IRP process, yesterday, Georgia Power filed to certify eight gigawatts of new generation resources resulting from the all source request for proposals or RFPs. This competitive process, which was overseen by an independent evaluator, resulted in a mix of purchase power agreements or PPAs and multiple Georgia Power owned resources being selected as the best choice for customers to meet the projected incremental capacity need by 02/1931. Of these, approximately 1.2 gigawatts of the awards were for third party PPAs, including 732 megawatts from existing Southern Power capacity.

The remaining 6.8 gigawatts is a mix of Georgia Power on resources from a variety of technology types, including new combined cycle natural gas facilities, stand alone battery energy storage systems are best and solar power best options. Further, to meet the total capacity need identified as a part of Georgia Power's 2025 RIP load forecast, Georgia Power also requested certification for approximately two gigawatts of additional generation capacity through a supplemental filing. This includes 1.6 gigawatts from third party PPAs with the remainder consisting of Georgia Power owned resources to address near term projected generation needs. In summary, Georgia Power has filed request to certify approximately 10 gigawatts of new generation, which includes seven gigawatts of Georgia Power owned resources. These requests will be reviewed by the Georgia PSC with the final determination by the commission expected later this year.

I'll now turn the call over to David to share more about the capital investment and financing implications associated with these orderly regulatory processes.

Thanks, Chris. Good afternoon, everyone. Earlier this year, in addition to our $63,000,000,000 five year base capital plan, we highlighted $10,000,000,000 to $15,000,000,000 of projected potential incremental regulated capital investment through 2029. With the approval of Georgia Power's 2025 IRP, along with the certification filings for new resources, we now have improved line of sight on our expected capital opportunities and are adding $12,000,000,000 of state regulated capital into our five year base capital plan. This represents the capital investment associated with the low end of the six to 10 gigawatt range for new resources from the certification processes Chris mentioned earlier, along with investments associated with upgrades and modernization of existing resources approved in the 2025 IRP.

Should the Georgia PSC confirm the need for and ultimately certify the entire 10 gigawatts of new generation, there could be up to an additional $4,000,000,000 of new state regulated generation capital through 2029. Separately, Southern Power, our competitive power business has commenced repowering at three additional wind facilities in our existing portfolio, all of which have begun construction and are projected to be in service by the 2027. These projects represent approximately $800,000,000 of additional investment, which is now included in our base capital plan. In total, our five year base capital plan has increased $13,000,000,000 from $63,000,000,000 to $76,000,000,000 with potential upside of approximately $5,000,000,000 still pending tied to the generation procurement certifications in Georgia and potential FERC regulated gas pipeline expansions at Southern Company Gas. We remain committed to funding our capital plan in a credit supportive banner that supports our strong investment grade credit ratings.

As we highlighted in our May earnings call, our financing activity through the first quarter along with our internal equity plans projected through 2029 resulted in a clear path to fully address the $4,000,000,000 equity needs in our original $63,000,000,000 base capital plan. The increase in our base capital plan of $13,000,000,000 is projected to be funded with approximately 40% of additional equity or equity equivalents, which represents an incremental $5,000,000,000 through 2029. This level of equity content supports our credit quality and our progress toward our credit metric target of approximately 17% FFO to debt in the latter part of our forecast horizon. In fact, we've continued to be proactive in addressing our equity needs, pricing an additional $1,200,000,000 of equity through forward sales under our at the market or ATM program since our last earnings call, leaving less than $4,000,000,000 of the incremental need remaining to be addressed through 2029. These remaining equity needs are easily manageable for a company our size, considering just in the last six months, we've addressed well over $3,000,000,000 of equity and equity equivalents through our ATM program, internal equity plans and issuances of junior subordinated notes.

As we've highlighted today, we continue to make great progress in solidifying our plan and remain increasingly encouraged about the strength of our long term outlook and ultimately, the potential to reassess the base for our 5% to 7% long term EPS growth rate as early as 2027. And I'll turn the call back over to you, Chris.

Thank you, David. As you can see, we are building for growth in the Southeast, and our vertically integrated markets with constructive regulation and transparent orderly regulatory processes proving foundational to meet this predicted growth in a disciplined fashion that benefits the states in which we operate and the customers we are privileged to serve. This is an exciting time at Southern Company. We have accomplished a lot so far in 02/2025, and our future has never looked brighter. Before we turn to questions, I'd like to highlight our commitment to investing in and developing our people at Southern Company.

We are where we are thanks to our dedicated leadership team and our thousands of customer focused committed teammates across the enterprise. Collectively, they help each and every day to ensure we're making the right investments, running our business efficient our business efficiently and effectively, and keeping customers at the center of everything we do. Sustained long term success is a function of investing in our people and building a deeply talented bench. Our recently announced CFO transition along with the other leadership announcements we've made in recent weeks is a great example. While we have Dan around for a period of time advising and helping with the smooth transition, I'm very pleased to have someone as experienced and talented as David stepping into the CFO role to continue with our mission to deliver regular, predictable, and sustainable results.

I do wanna congratulate Dan on an incredible career with Southern Company, and I want to thank him for everything he has done to support our company's success. For three decades, his counsel, his strategic advice, his leadership, and his friendship have been foundational in helping our team seize the bright future ahead of us. One of the things I've always admired about Dan is his passion for developing our future leaders, and that's a legacy he'll certainly leave behind. I'm honored to call Dan my respected friend. And while his presence will be greatly missed, we wish he and Chelsea the very best as he embarks on a well deserved retirement. Operator, we're now ready to take questions.

Certainly. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. Our first question is coming from Carlyle Davenport from Goldman Sachs. Your line is now live.

Hey, Chris. Thanks so much for taking the time. Just maybe to start on the capital plan update and the shift in the rate base growth to 8% from 7% through 29%. Just any shifts potentially in the timeline as we think about the rebasing in '27 or the views on the long term growth rate there? And then just tactically, would you expect to give another full financial plan update on the 4Q call as well?

Sure. Hey, good afternoon. Thanks for your question. Let me take the second question first. And yes, we will expect to continue with our normal cadence of doing annual updates, so we'll address all that in the fourth quarter.

As it relates to the rate base growth and the timing, we continue to be increasingly encouraged about what we're seeing in the marketplace. The momentum that we've seen with these large load customers is growing, and we're attracting many of them and having very good conversations about those. I think that we're gonna stick to the plan of sustainability over the long term. We need to see how this plays out. We need to see it be in a sustainable pattern over the long term, and then we're going to be revisiting that set point within the 5% to 7%.

Great. Thank you for that. And then just on the RFP update, you know, some combined cycle capacity filed certification there as part of the plan. Can you just refresh us on your procurement status in terms of turbines and also gas supply for those units to come into service in the twenty nine, twenty thirty time frame?

Yeah. Carly, we have we have reservations. We've made made payments for the we paid the fees. And because of our size and activity that we've had for the past number of years, we have good relationships with with OEMs, also the EPCs in terms of how this work will be carried out. So we feel real good about where we are and making sure that we're positioning ourselves to be very efficient, but also making sure we have the ability to execute.

Great. Appreciate that. And and, Dan, congratulations on on your retirement, and thanks so much for all the insights over the last couple of years.

Thank you. Next question is coming from Steve Fleishman from Wolfe Research. Your line is now live.

Hey, Chris. Dan, man, you're leaving me one of the old ones here. But congrats, and David, congrats to you as well. So a couple of questions. First, just maybe I think on a couple of the prior Q and A calls, you've talked about the kind of rebase in twenty seven million maybe toward the top end of the 7,000,005 to 7,000,000 going back to, I don't know, '25 and then kinda high end of five to seven from there. Is that still what you're thinking, or is that shifted a little bit?

Yeah. I think where we've come out on that, and I think we've been pretty consistent. Dan's been pretty consistent with that in the last several calls about rethinking that base upon which we set the 5% to 7% growth. And, you know, as I mentioned earlier, as as we see that momentum growing and we get a better line of sight in a sustainable fashion, we'll recalibrate that and and be within the five to 7% and and and work toward that. You know, it could happen as early as 2027, but there's a lot of variables at play.

And and we like what we're seeing at the moment, but we really don't see that happening before 2027.

Yeah. Steve, we are where we were. And I think as David described earlier, we're we're gaining better line of sight on the things that we were looking for, but we are where we are.

Okay. And then on the FFO to debt improvement, could you maybe give us a sense of how kind of the year by year rough pace of getting to the 17%? Like where do you expect to be in 2025, 2026? And then when do you get to the 17%?

Well, we expect to get to the approximately the 17 near the back end of the of the planning horizon. And with the capital that we've we see coming down the line, you know, that that path is gonna be up and down a little bit. And the the pace and the and the shape of that may change over time, but we're gonna continue to be very proactive and take advantage of opportunities as we see them as we grow into that 17% FFO to debt.

Do you have a rough number where you are, like, right now at the end of the quarter? Or yeah.

Yeah. For the twelve months ended, Steven, remember when we were talking about this before, we kinda gave a here here's the unadjusted number. Here's the number adjusted for Helene. Right now, we're in the kind of fourteen three, fourteen four unadjusted, more like fifteen three adjusted for the Helene. And but I think what's important, and and David hit this, is how proactive we're being with this equity plan.

You know, we we hinted, as we talked about this before, that increased capital could kind of change the shape of the trajectory for this path to 17%, and I think that's what you'll see play out. But having the equity issued now kind of if you adjusted for the equity we've committed to, that's that's another 70 basis points or so on on today's number. So we we feel good about the progress and the commitment and how we're executing against that.

Okay, great. One last question. Just how much are you maybe looking also at asset sales? And I think there have been some stories out about PowerSecure on that regard. Could you just talk to asset sales?

Steve, I know you you wouldn't be disappointed if I said we're gonna comment on any rumors or anything specific. You know? But as you know, we're always evaluating. I mean, if there's a better owner and they're willing to pay, we'll be a great seller in those circumstances. But I think it'd be very premature for us to to comment and speculate on anything that you may heard or maybe consider talked about in the marketplace today.

Thank you. Next question is coming from Julien Dumoulin Smith from Jefferies. Your line is now live.

Hey, Chris. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Dan, David, truly, congratulations to both of you. Wish you the best of luck there, Dan. Thank you. Thanks very in your retirement. Absolutely. Guys, nicely done today, I got to say. Just a couple of details here. Can we talk firstly about load and the load update?

I think you guys are going to refine that here later this year. Can we talk about what you're seeing? You guys have been very diligent in providing commentary about the pipeline. We certainly heard that from peers so far with the earnings. How are you guys thinking, at least as it stands today with respect to what you would anticipate, I think in October? And then related, I suppose, you've got this, further affirmation from the PSC on a couple more gig bots. So I think that was the $4,000,000,000 number you guys threw out there as as further potential in the commentary.

Yeah. And on the on that number, I think we'll expect to hear from the commission later this year, I think, by the before end of the year on on that filing. As we've, you know, as we've said, I mean, we still see that fifty fifty gigawatt pipeline continuing to grow, and we continue to see just incredible amounts of activity. And as you see, hyperscaler capital budgets continuing to grow. I mean, we just keep seeing these huge numbers.

We see corresponding activity. And so we're in conversations with all of the majors, all the hyperscalers, and having what I would call very advanced discussions. And so, you know, we still got work to do. I mean, our focus is making sure we price them right, that there are benefits to to existing customers. And so but we I I would say very optimistic about what the future holds in these conversations and opportunities that we see available all across our electrics.

Okay. Fair enough. We shall see what happens in fall. And then maybe related here as you think about that rate base versus earnings translation here. Any other factors that you could point to here, especially as you think about it?

And I heard your comments about repowering at Southern Power, but especially as you roll forward the plan here, any updated thoughts about where those contracts could land and or maybe on the pipeline side, any updates there as to opportunities in terms of size and scale? Again, I'm just thinking through the rate base commentary here and subsequent implications to earnings, right? What are the other factors?

Sure. So the conversations that we're having with the large load customers are going well, Very interested in all of our service territories. A lot of attraction. Obviously, we talked a lot about Georgia, but Alabama and Mississippi having great conversations there as well. So as we get more clarity to that, you know, like I mentioned earlier, we're gonna get to a place where we feel comfortable over the long term that that momentum is sustainable, and that's gonna bring us to a place where we see the possibility of being able to reset that anchor point, if you will, within the 5% to 7%. Now, Julian, you also asked about Southern Power and some of those repowering projects that we've got going on there.

You know, that is just that's a great company. And we've got a lot of opportunities that we're thinking about in the marketplace with all that's going on with the large load customers. But, you know, as we see them, we evaluate them. You know, keep in mind, as we've talked about probably for years, that we do not get a hold of or get in front of ourselves. We don't put placeholders in our capital plan.

Whatever projects that we find that we wanna go explore, they're gonna have to meet some pretty strict stringent risk return parameters that we follow and have historically followed. But one interesting thing to think about is you look into the next decade as we get into the early 2030s, there's several contracts that will come up for renewal at Southern Power. And what we see in the marketplace, there should be we expect the possibility of some really good opportunities to reprice a lot of that capacity in the early part of the next decade.

Right. So maybe more right by the time you get to '27 with that that longer term roll forward in the rebase.

That's right. That's kind of the plan that we've been set on for a while.

Absolutely. I'll leave it there guys. All the best. Speak soon.

You. Next question today is coming from Nick Campanella from Barclays. Your line is now live.

Hey, Nick. Hey, afternoon. Thanks for all the updates. Congrats again on your retirement and congrats to David. Looking forward to work with you.

So hey, I just had a follow-up actually on on Southern Power. You know, I was just wondering, you know, now that you're kinda committing more capital there, just how would you frame the returns compared to your core regulated, business? And you know, I know it's just a much, you know, smaller part of the business, but just in, a post OBB world, how are you kind of framing the returns for, you know, contracted renewables? Thank you.

Sure. Yeah. Great to hear from you. You know, we talked about we have a pretty stringent risk return parameter. We try to set these things up with long term creditworthy counterparties, try not to take fuel risk.

And and that usually plays out for us to be a little bit higher than our state regulated returns historically, and we see these opportunities giving rise to perhaps expanding that in the future. But like I said, we there's a there's a thin knee a needle to get through when we work through these things. The risk reward has to be right, and the credit metrics have to be right for the counterparty, but we do explore opportunities all the time there.

Okay. No. Thank you. And I guess in the IRP, you know, there were nuclear upgrades contemplated here. Just wondering where the conversation now kind of stands on new nuclear overall.

Have those discussions picked up with the recent momentum we've seen in the industry and the executive orders? Just I guess, you know, we talked about this before, but where where do you guys kinda stand now and your your position on that? Thanks.

Yeah, Nick. Yeah, Nick. We've been very clear about the need for new nuclear in this country. And so talks with the administration, talk with hyperscalers. All across this country, we speak the virtues of the importance of new nuclear as we the success that we had with Bogota three and four in terms of bringing those two units online.

I mean, I still think we've gotta we've gotta complete the risk mitigation, the financial concerns that are there on the back end. We've gotta make sure there's there's financial certainty as those projects are pursued. And so we continue to have those kind of conversations amongst ourselves but throughout the industry. But we continue to believe that for this country to respond to the incredible demand we see, new nuclear has gotta be a part of the part of the solution set going forward. And we'll continue to talk about it and continue to to advance ideas to to to try to make it happen and to get it done.

Okay. Great. And and just one last one if I could follow-up on Julian's question, but you still expect a large load update filing in August and and would that would that would be higher than kind of the 52 that we talked about in the past?

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we will give updates.

And as we seek success and as we see these projects advance, we'll make sure that we have updates. We'll continue to keep keep you abreast of where we are and what's occurring and also letting you know what we see in the marketplace. We think the intelligence and market analysis about what's occurring as this as this market continues to advance, we'll continue to share.

Yeah. Growing in the pipeline, Nick, but just remember, our disciplined approach is going to risk adjust that, and that's what you'll see us planning for and working with the commissioner.

Yeah. And just to just to clarify, we'll we'll make that filing in the mid August time frame with the Georgia Public Service Commission, and then we'll follow on in September through the RFP and the certification process that will provide an updated load forecast that will reflect what we see in the marketplace as well.

All right. That's great. Always interesting to see those filings. So thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Next question today is coming from Andrew Weisel from Scotiabank. Your line is now live.

Hi, everybody. Congrats to everyone echoing that sentiment. First question is on the gas plants. I see you're planning to build some new units by 2029 or 02/1930, but you're also planning to add combined cycle plants under PPA as early as 2028. How confident are you in those counterparties' ability to execute on timing?

It seems a little aggressive from an EPC and turbine delivery perspective. What assurances or protections do you have in place?

Yeah. That's existing capacity, Andrew. So that those are just that's available capacity in the marketplace that's rolling off of a PPA that's serving some either already serving Georgia Power and expiring or serving someone else.

Perfect. Okay. Great. And then the other question is, obviously, three years ago, you had an IRP and then demand was so robust, you needed to do the 2023 update. Now that the 2025 process is complete, how are you feeling about the outlook for demand and it's sticking for at least the next three years?

Obviously, it's a moving target. I think you said you'll share a refreshed load growth target with us in six months. Maybe just high level thoughts on how much buffer or excess reserve margin or just how are you thinking about it now that this year's process was settled?

Sure. Yeah. Great question. I mean, if you look at the result of the 2025 IRP approval, we've got an incremental generation need that was that was acknowledged and agreed to in the in the stipulation and approved by the Public Service Commission. And then we're gonna be in this pattern of repeatedly updating what our large load pipeline looks like.

That will, at least in September, but perhaps more often, come with updates of our load forecast. And, you know, we've got this structure that is gonna exist at the Georgia Public Service Commission that is orderly, is thoughtful. There's good deliberation of of what what is submitted, and it but it also has a degree of flexibility to it as well. So, you know, we we filed the 2025 IRP, but we are not at all precluded if circumstances warrant from doing an update to that as well.

Okay. Sounds good. Nicely done. Turning what was supposed to be a very noisy year into a pretty smooth one so far. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next question today is coming from Jeremy Tonet from JPMorgan. Your line is now live.

Good, thanks. Congrats, Dan and David as well. And we will miss you. First, I want to start with, Alabama, Mississippi a little bit here. You touched on the economic momentum there.

And I was just wondering if you could speak to when these tailwinds could possibly translate into incremental investment opportunities there.

I I think it's gonna be very difficult to speak exactly when all that exactly shows up. I can just say to you that we're in the midst of advanced discussions on a number of projects. And so, I mean, there's work being done there. And so as as it advances, we'll we'll advise you and let you know, but good conversations, good activity, good strong pipeline. I mean, we've talked about some of the economic projects, the Airbuses, and some others that that have announced economic development expansions.

I think we've spoken to some of those, but there's just a a good strong solid pipeline of activity that's occurring there that I think is moving to some advanced discussions.

Yeah. And some of that investment that you're asking about is already occurring. Certainly, I think we spoke in a prior quarter about over 1,000 megawatts of data center projects across those two states. There's the transmission and distribution investments that are already happening there. You've seen Alabama Power acquire and have other pending acquisitions on generation resources to serve their growing load.

Southern (SO) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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