ATLANTA – For the sixth consecutive year, Southern Company rated highest in customer satisfaction among electric service providers in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey of residential customers representing 30 gas and electric utilities across the United States. Overall, Southern Company tied for the fourth highest ranking among all companies in the 2005 first quarter survey. The ACSI survey is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. The recent first quarter survey results reported customer satisfaction scores for thirteen industries: parcel delivery & express mail, U.S. Postal Service, airlines, telecommunications/fixed line, telecommunications/wireless service, cell phones, broadcasting/TV network news, telecommunications/cable & satellite TV, energy utilities, publishing/newspapers, hotels, hospitals and motion pictures. “Customer satisfaction in our business is imperative,” said Leonard Haynes, Southern Company’s chief marketing officer. “Our financial success as a company depends on the satisfaction of our customers. We’re constantly working to improve our relationships with our customers while simultaneously providing outstanding service, high reliability and competitive prices they’ve come to expect from our company.”

With more than 4 million customers and nearly 39,000 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 growing competitive generation company 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 ranked the nation’s top electric utility in the American Customer Satisfaction Index six years in a row. Southern Company has more than 500,000 shareholders, making its common stock one of the most widely held in the United States. Visit the Southern Company Web site at www.southerncompany.com

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