ATLANTA – Southern Company Energy Marketing today announced an alliance with Washington Gas Energy Services to supply the leading regional natural gas retailer with wholesale electricity and power scheduling services.

“This alliance allows us to use our outstanding trading, risk management and product structuring capabilities to enter an important retail energy market behind a leading regional player,” said Gary Morsches, president of Southern Company Energy Marketing.

Southern Company Energy Marketing will support Washington Gas Energy Services’ entry into the competitive electricity market in Maryland, which opens July 1. Southern Company Energy Marketing also will provide load forecasting services to make sure Washington Gas Energy Services and its customers have the most competitively priced energy available to meet demand.

“We want to provide the best pricing and the most reliable energy supply to our customers, and that requires the backing of an outstanding wholesale energy supply partner like Southern Company Energy Marketing,” said Harry Warren, president of Washington Gas Energy Services.

Southern Company Energy Marketing is jointly owned by Southern Energy Inc. and Vastar Resources Inc. One of the largest energy marketing operations in the United States, Southern Company Energy Marketing provides energy risk management, marketing and financial services and other energy-related commodities, products and services to customers in North America.

Southern Company Energy Marketing optimizes the value of nationwide electricity generation assets belonging to Southern Energy, the majority owner of Southern Company Energy Marketing and a unit of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), the largest producer of electricity in the United States.

Southern Energy has operations in 12 countries on five continents. Southern Energy develops, builds, owns and operates power production and delivery facilities and provides a broad range of services to utilities and industrial companies around the world. Southern Energy has U.S. power stations in Massachusetts, New York, Texas, California, Virginia and Indiana, with others under construction.

Washington Gas Energy Services (WGES) serves more than 115,000 customers throughout Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia and is the leading non-regulated energy supplier to the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. With offices serving the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore markets, WGES serves a broad range of governmental, commercial and residential customers. WGES is a wholly owned subsidiary of Washington Gas and is one of the first companies licensed by the Maryland Public Service Commission as a competitive electric supplier. For additional information about WGES, its products and services, please visit the company’s Web site at http://www.wges.com