ATLANTA -- Southern Company today announced that it has sold an additional 125 megawatts of wholesale power, demonstrating the company’s growing competitive presence in the Southeast. Southern Wholesale Energy, the marketing and trading arm representing Southern Company’s Southeast generating plants, recently signed a long-term contract for peaking power with North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1 (NCMPA1).

Power to supply the NCMPA1 contract will be generated from existing wholesale plant capacity that is owned and operated by Georgia Power, Southern Company’s electric utility subsidiary in Georgia. Because this power will serve the wholesale market, the new contract will not affect electric rates paid by Georgia Power customers.

“We are pleased to serve North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1 with reliable, competitively priced power,” said Doug Jones, vice president of Southern Wholesale Energy. “We’re in this business for the long term and our customers appreciate the fact that we have physical assets, experience and expertise to back up our obligations.”

NCMPA1, made up of 19 municipal electric systems in western North Carolina, notified Duke Power in January that it would no longer purchase supplemental energy and capacity from the company beginning January 1, 2001.

The Agency issued a Request for Proposals in March 1999 and chose Southern Company as its new supplemental supplier. Supplemental energy and capacity are purchased after the Agency has used its allotted power available from the Catawba and McGuire nuclear plants. The Agency has been purchasing supplemental power from Duke since 1983.

“By canceling our agreement with Duke, we were able to go out on the open wholesale market for our supplemental needs,” said Steve Shelton, NCMPA1 Director. “We look forward to our future relationship with Southern Company in that we will be able to lower supplemental costs for our cities in the future.”

Georgia Power is the largest subsidiary of Southern Company, the nation’s largest generator of electricity. The company is an investor-owned, tax-paying utility, serving customers in 57,000 of the state’s 59,000 square miles. Georgia Power’s rates are more than 15 percent below the national average and its 1.8 million customers are in all but six of Georgia’s 159 counties.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an international energy company that operates more than 48,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity worldwide. It is the largest producer of electricity in the United States and one of the world’s largest independent power producers. Southern Company subsidiaries and their affiliates serve 12 million retail customers worldwide and millions more through the wholesale market. Based in Atlanta, Southern Company is the parent firm of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Savannah Electric.