Southern Company reaches wholesale power agreement

Southern Company announced today that it has signed a contract to provide additional wholesale power to North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1 (NCMPA1). NCMPA1 is managed by ElectriCities of North Carolina, headquartered in Raleigh, and is comprised of 19 municipalities located in piedmont and western North Carolina. Under the agreement, Southern Company will provide NCMPA1 with 50 megawatts of wholesale power during 2007-2010 to help the municipal power agency meet its peak summer power demand.

Power to supply the NCMPA1 contract will be generated from Southern Company’s existing wholesale plant capacity. The wholesale power is marketed by Southern Company Generation and Energy Marketing, the competitive wholesale business unit of Southern Company. The contract follows two previous wholesale power agreements that have been reached during the past four years between Southern Company and NCMPA1.

“North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1 is a valued customer and we are pleased to have the opportunity to continue our business relationship with them,” said Paul Bowers, president of Southern Company Generation and Energy Marketing. “The customer’s third contract with us demonstrates we’re the premier energy partner of choice for the long term, meeting customers’ needs now and in the future. By providing wholesale customers with reliable, competitively priced power, we are continuing to expand our presence in the Southeast, beyond our traditional service territory. Southern Company’s growing competitive generation business in the Southeast is a major component of the company’s total energy business in the region.”

ElectriCities provides management services to North Carolina’s two municipal power agencies: NCMPA1 and its counterpart in eastern North Carolina, North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency. More than 70 North Carolina public power communities serve nearly one million residential, commercial and industrial customers. ElectriCities’ member municipalities both own and operate their electric systems, and most have been providing electric service for 100 years or more. ElectriCities provides customer service and safety training, emergency and technical assistance, communications, government affairs and legal services to public power cities. More information about ElectriCities may be found at www.electricities.com.

With more than 4 million customers and nearly 39,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier super-regional energy company in the Southeast and a leading U.S. producer of electricity. Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states, a growing competitive generation company, an energy services business and a competitive retail natural gas business, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are 15 percent below the national average. Southern Company has been named three consecutive years No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s “America’s Most Admired Companies” list in the Electric and Gas Utility industry. Southern Company has been ranked the nation’s top energy utility in the American Customer Satisfaction Index five years in a row. Southern Company has more than 500,000 shareholders, making its common stock one of the most widely held in the United States. Visit the Southern Company Web site at www.southerncompany.com.