Southern Company reported net income of $287 million or 43 cents a share for the three months ending June 30, 1996, compared with $268 million or 40 cents a share for the second quarter of 1995, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer A.W. Dahlberg announced today.

“Our higher earnings reflect warmer-than-usual weather during the late spring and early summer, which boosted demand for electricity across Southern Company’s four-state service area,” Dahlberg said. “The performance of South Western Electricity, our electricity distribution company in England, also helped increase earnings.”

Southern Company (NYSE: SO), the nation’s largest producer of electricity, is the parent firm of five electric utilities: Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Savannah Electric. Other subsidiaries include Southern Electric International, Southern Nuclear, Southern Development and Investment Group, Southern Communications Services and Southern Company Services. Southern Company`s common stock is one of the 20 most widely held corporate stocks in America.

Earnings for the 12 months ending June 30, 1996, were $1.15 billion or $1.72 a share, compared with $1.07 billion or $1.62 a share for the 12 months ending June 30, 1995.

Revenues for the second quarter of 1996 were $2.5 billion, compared with $2.2 billion in 1995’s second quarter. Revenues for the 12 months ending June 30, 1996, were $10 billion, compared with $8.4 billion for the previous 12-month period.

Reviewing operations, Dahlberg said electricity use by retail customers in Southern Company`s service area increased 6.3 percent to 64.1 billion kilowatt-hours during the first half of 1996. In-home electricity needs were up 10.3 percent to 19.4 billion kilowatt-hours. Electricity consumption by commercial customers — offices, stores and other non-manufacturing firms — gained 7.9 percent to 18.3 billion kilowatt-hours. Industrial energy use increased 2.5 percent to 26.0 billion kilowatt-hours.

Total sales of electricity to customers of Southern Company, including sales to other utilities, were up 7.7 percent to 74.1 billion kilowatt-hours for the first half of 1996.