Southern Company GAS to outsource services to Accenture

ATLANTA - Southern Company GAS, a subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), and Accenture (NYSE: ACN) have signed a seven-year business process outsourcing agreement under which Accenture will provide customer-care and revenue-cycle activities – including billing, contract management and collections – to Southern Company GAS.

The agreement, which could be valued as much as $80 million, is designed to improve the quality and lower the cost of the customer care and billing services that Southern Company GAS provides to its more than 200,000 natural gas customers. The services covered under the agreement include call center, billing, correspondence management, transaction management, revenue management, collections and exception processing operations.

Accenture will provide the services through Accenture Business Services for Utilities, a wholly owned Accenture subsidiary that provides back-office management services to the utilities industry across North America. Accenture Business Services for Utilities will also provide Southern Company GAS with all customer care-related IT services and key marketing services, such as outbound and inbound customer acquisition processing.

Southern Company GAS will retain ownership of all customer-related data and the underlying IT systems and expects its current management team to continue to play an active role with operations. Accenture will have a local presence as some employees will work from Southern Company GAS headquarters in Atlanta. Current Southern Company GAS exception processing employees will join Accenture Business Services for Utilities.

“As a leading natural gas marketer in Georgia, customer service is among our top priorities,” said Phil Saunders, President of Southern Company GAS. “This agreement will enable us to enhance all aspects of service to our valued customers.”

“North American utilities, both regulated and unregulated, are under significant pressure to reduce costs while improving customer service,” said Keith Mueller, managing partner of Accenture’s Utility industry group in North America. “We look forward to working with a market leader like Southern Company, which is the first U.S. client of Accenture Business Services for Utilities.”

About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting and technology services company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them realize their visions and create tangible value. With deep industry expertise, broad global resources and proven experience in consulting and outsourcing, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills alliances and technologies. With more than 80,000 people in 47 countries, the company generated net revenues of $11.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2002. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

About Southern Company GAS Southern Company GAS is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company. With 4 million customers and more than 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Southern Company 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, 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 two consecutive years No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s “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.