ATLANTA, July 27--The Georgia Power Board of Directors today elected Paul Bowers chief operating officer, effective Aug. 13, 2010.

In this role, Bowers, 53, currently chief financial officer of Southern Company, will be responsible for the company’s overall operations, including the generation, transmission and distribution, customer service, external affairs, legal, financial and nuclear development functions.  He will remain an executive vice president of Southern Company and continue to serve on the Southern Company management council.

“Paul and I have worked together for many years and he has a track record of excellence across our business,” said Georgia Power President and CEO Mike Garrett. “He joins the company in the midst of the largest construction program in Georgia Power history, including the nation’s first new nuclear units in more than three decades. His experience and leadership will be invaluable to our success.”

Bowers joined Southern Company in 1979 at Gulf Power and progressed through roles of increasing responsibility across a wide variety of functional areas.

From 1990 to 1998, he led Georgia Power’s marketing and sales organizations, rising to senior vice president in 1995.  In 1998, he was named president and CEO of South Western Electricity, plc, the former United Kingdom subsidiary of Southern Company.

From 2001 to 2008, Bowers was president of Southern Company Generation where he oversaw fossil and hydro generation, fleet operations, research and environmental affairs, engineering and construction services, and the company’s competitive generation subsidiary, Southern Power.

Bowers was named Southern Company’s chief financial officer in 2008, where he directed accounting, finance, tax, investor relations, treasury and risk management functions and also served as the chief risk officer. Earlier this year, he, along with Southern Company CEO David Ratcliffe, was named to the 2010 All-America Executive Team by Institutional Investor magazine.

Bowers serves on the boards of Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited and e3 Partners Ministry as well as the University of Alabama School of Engineering Board of Advisors. He also is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s energy policy council.

A Pensacola, Fla., native, Bowers graduated from the University of West Florida in 1978 and holds a master’s degree in management from Troy University. In 1993, he completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

He and his wife, Karen, have two children.

Georgia Power is the largest subsidiary of Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest generators of electricity. The company is an investor-owned, tax-paying utility with rates well below the national average. Georgia Power serves 2.3 million customers in all but four of Georgia’s 159 counties.

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