Atlanta – Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning today announced that subsidiary Southern Power’s natural gas-fueled West Georgia Generating Facility has been named the Edward L. Addison Generating Plant in honor of the former Southern Company chairman, president and CEO.

Addison, who joined Fanning and a number of other company and local leaders for a dedication ceremony at the plant, served as Southern Company’s chief executive from 1983 to 1995. At a time when the energy industry drew increased attention in the political arena, Addison positioned the Southeastern utility as a thoughtful voice offering an informed perspective on national issues. Noteworthy accomplishments during his tenure included the construction of the first nuclear units at Plant Vogtle and the acquisition of Savannah Electric.

Over his more than 40-year career with Southern Company, Addison served in a number of leadership positions across the system, including executive vice president of Gulf Power, executive vice president of Southern Company Services, and president and CEO of Gulf Power.

The Edward L. Addison Generating Plant, which already provides millions of dollars in economic benefits to the city of Thomaston, Upson County, and the state of Georgia, is a natural gas-fueled electric generating plant. The plant’s four combustion turbine units went online in June 2000 with a combined capacity of 600 megawatts. The plant, which is owned and operated by Southern Power – a subsidiary of Southern Company that acquires, builds, manages and owns wholesale generation assets – helps serve the electricity needs of customers in the Southeast.

Southern Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, is among the largest wholesale energy providers in the Southeast, meeting the electricity needs of municipalities, electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities. Southern Power and its subsidiaries own and operate more than 8,600 MW of generating capacity with facilities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Texas and New Mexico, and with an additional 30 MW under construction in Nevada.

With 4.4 million customers and nearly 46,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast through its subsidiaries. A leading U.S. producer of clean, safe, reliable and affordable electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for energy innovation, excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are below the national average. Southern Company and its subsidiaries are leading the nation’s nuclear renaissance through the construction of the first new nuclear units to be built in a generation of Americans and are demonstrating their commitment to energy innovation through the development of a state-of-the-art coal gasification plant. Southern Company has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Defense and G.I. Jobs magazine as a top military employer and listed by DiversityInc as a top company for Blacks. The company received the 2012 Edison Award from the Edison Electric Institute for its leadership in new nuclear development, was named Electric Light & Power magazine's Utility of the Year for 2012 and is continually ranked among the top utilities in Fortune’s annual World’s Most Admired Electric and Gas Utility rankings. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.

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