Southern Company reported net income of $215 million or 31 cents a share for the three months ending June 30, 1997, compared with $287 million or 43 cents a share for the second quarter of 1996, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer A.W. Dahlberg announced today.

“The unusually cool weather throughout our southeastern territory caused a decrease in demand responsible for the vast majority of the decline in earnings,” Dahlberg said.

Earnings for the 12 months ending June 30, 1997, were $1.0 billion or $1.49 a share, compared with $1.15 billion or $1.72 a share for the 12 months ending June 30, 1996.

Revenues for the second quarter of 1997 were $2.7 billion, compared with $2.6 billion in 1996’s second quarter. Revenues for the 12 months ending June 30, 1997, were $10.7 billion, compared with $10.1 billion for the previous 12-month period.

Reviewing operations, Dahlberg said electricity use by retail customers in Southern Company`s service area decreased 3.2 percent to 62.1 billion kilowatt-hours during the first half of 1997. In-home electricity needs were down 12.3 percent to 17.0 billion kilowatt-hours. Electricity consumption by commercial customers — offices, stores and other non-manufacturing firms — dropped 1.1 percent to 18.1 billion kilowatt-hours.

Industrial energy use increased 2.1 percent to 26.5 billion kilowatt-hours.

Total sales of electricity to customers of Southern Company, including sales to other utilities, were down 3.1 percent to 71.8 billion kilowatt-hours for the first half of 1997.

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.