Southern Company has been selected to provide 100 megawatts of winter wholesale electric power capacity through 2002 to East Kentucky Power Cooperative.

Southern Company was one of four companies selected by the cooperative, which received 28 proposals from 17 bidders. East Kentucky Power Cooperative, based in Winchester, Ky., provides wholesale electricity to nearly 385,000 businesses and homes through its member cooperatives.

"This is another example of our ability to compete in an emerging market that is outside Southern Company`s traditional service area," said Fred Williams, the company`s senior vice president of wholesale power marketing. "Because East Kentucky is a winter-peaking utility, this agreement will help us make more efficient use of Southern Company`s generating assets."

In its southeast U.S. operations, Southern Company experiences the greatest demand for electricity in the summer, when homes and businesses rely heavily on air conditioning. Equipment used to supply that summer demand is more readily available for wholesale power markets in the winter.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO), the largest producer of electricity in the United States, is the parent firm of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Savannah Electric. Based in Atlanta, Southern Company supplies electricity in eight countries on four continents and provides energy-related marketing, trading and technical services and wireless telecommunications. Southern Company`s common stock is one of the 20 most widely held corporate stocks in America.