ATLANTA – Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Allen Franklin today announced the selection of C. Philip Saunders as President and CEO of Southern Company Gas.

As head of the newly formed subsidiary, Saunders will oversee Southern Company’s entry into the natural gas business. This will include spearheading the acquisition of the Georgia customers currently being served by The New Power Company and ensuring a smooth transition for those customers to Southern Company Gas.

On June 19, Southern Company signed an asset purchase agreement with New Power Holdings to acquire the company’s approximately 210,000 customers in Georgia. That agreement was recently approved by the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia, which is reviewing New Power’s recent Chapter 11 reorganization filing.

“Phil’s vast experience in so many aspects of the energy industry – including natural gas -- will be an invaluable asset as we move forward with the development of our new business,” says Franklin. “Under Phil’s leadership, we are confident that Southern Company Gas will become a successful participant in the southeastern gas industry.”

Saunders, 50, most recently served as senior vice president of Southern Company Services and chief information officer for Southern Company. Prior to that, he served as chief commercial officer of Mirant Europe, where he was responsible for Mirant’s energy trading operations in Amsterdam. Southern Company spun off its Mirant subsidiary in April 2001.

Saunders also provided executive direction for the competitive natural gas business at South Western Electricity in Bristol, England (also formerly owned by Southern Company). He has extensive management experience in power marketing, engineering, planning and systems analysis.

Saunders joined Southern Company in 1974 after completing undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at Auburn University. He currently serves on the Board of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service and on the Advisory Board of Georgia Southern University.

With 4 million customers and nearly 37,000 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 fast-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 No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s 2002 “America’s Most Admired Companies” list in the Electric and Gas Utility industry. Southern Company has more than 500,000 shareholders, making its common stock one of the most widely held in the United States.