ATLANTA – Southern Company today said it is increasing its annual dividend rate by 3 cents to $1.43 per share.

The quarterly dividend, payable Sept. 4, 2004, to shareholders of record Aug. 2, 2004, will increase three-quarters of a cent to 35? cents per share. This is the third consecutive year that Southern Company has raised its dividend, and this marks the 227th consecutive quarter – dating back to 1948 – that Southern Company will have paid a dividend to its shareholders.

Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO David M. Ratcliffe said the dividend increase reflects the company’s ongoing success at meeting its business goals.

“We are focused on continuing to execute our strategy to deliver earnings growth and a solid dividend to Southern Company shareholders,” Ratcliffe said. “We have a good strategy and a good implementation plan -- and the right people to get it done.”

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.

Forward Looking Statements Note: All of the information contained in this release is forward-looking information based on current expectations and plans that involve risks and uncertainties. Southern Company cautions that there are certain factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information that has been provided. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of Southern Company; accordingly, there can be no assurance that such indicated results will be realized.

The following factors, in addition to those discussed in Southern Company`s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2003, and subsequent securities filings, could cause results to differ materially from management expectations as suggested by such forward-looking information: the impact of recent and future federal and state regulatory change, including legislative and regulatory initiatives regarding deregulation and restructuring of the electric utility industry, and also changes in environmental, tax and other laws and regulations to which Southern Company and its subsidiaries are subject, as well as changes in application of existing laws and regulations; current and future litigation, regulatory investigations, proceedings or inquiries, including the pending EPA civil actions against certain Southern Company subsidiaries and current IRS audits; the effects, extent and timing of the entry of additional competition in the markets in which Southern Company’s subsidiaries operate; the impact of fluctuations in commodity prices, interest rates and customer demand; available sources and costs of fuels; ability to control costs; investment performance of Southern Company’s employee benefit plans; advances in technology; state and federal rate regulations and pending and future rate cases and negotiations; effects of, and changes in, political, legal and economic conditions and developments in the United States, including the current state of the economy; the performance of projects undertaken by the non-traditional business and the success of efforts to invest in and develop new opportunities; internal restructuring or other restructuring options that may be pursued; potential business strategies, including acquisitions or dispositions of assets or businesses, which cannot be assured to be completed or beneficial to Southern Company or its subsidiaries; the ability of counterparties of Southern Company and its subsidiaries to make payments as and when due; the direct or indirect effect on Southern Company’s business resulting from the terrorist incidents on Sept. 11, 2001, or any similar incidents or responses to such incidents; financial market conditions and the results of financing efforts, including Southern Company’s and its subsidiaries’ credit ratings; the ability of Southern Company and its subsidiaries to obtain additional generating capacity at competitive prices; weather and other natural phenomena; the direct and indirect effects on Southern Company’s business resulting from the August 2003 power outage in the Northeast, or any similar incidents; and the effect of accounting pronouncements issued periodically by standard-setting bodies.

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