ATLANTA – Southern Company ranked Highest in Overall Customer Satisfaction for electric service to residential customers in the southern United States, according to the latest J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study SM.

The study results were based on customer responses from more than 25,000 telephone interviews conducted from March 25, 2004 through June 5, 2004 among residential customers of the 78 largest electric utilities within the United States. Overall customer satisfaction was based on five performance factors: power quality and reliability, company image, price and value, billing and payment, and customer service.

The Southern Region had the highest average overall satisfaction index score of any region in the study. Southern Company also ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction in the 2001 J.D. Power electric utility residential survey.

“Our customers are our business,” said Leonard Haynes, chief marketing officer for Southern Company. “Therefore it is truly an honor for us to once again receive this recognition which shows that we’re on the right track in servicing the needs of our residential customers.” Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is an ISO 9001-registered global marketing information services firm operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, consulting, training and customer satisfaction. The firm’s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually.

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.

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