From David Ratcliffe

Our stakeholders have a variety of backgrounds and views. Many offer suggestions on how to make our company better. Balancing things out takes common sense. Making it all work requires innovation.

Common sense tells us reliable and affordable electricity is imperative. Innovation helps us produce that electricity while conserving resources, being a good corporate citizen, and continuing to lower our impact on the environment.

Innovation at Southern Company is particularly evident in three areas: energy efficiency, renewable energy, and environmental technology research.

Our energy efficiency initiatives have already been successful in cutting the need to add more plants by 3,000 megawatts. EarthCents offers many new and standing energy efficiency programs to save customers money. And Smart Meters offer the potential to move consumption to off-peak hours to take advantage of lower rates.

On the renewable front, we've applied to convert coal-fueled Plant Mitchell to one of the nation's largest renewable wood-biomass facilities. We've co-fired switchgrass with coal since 2001, opening the way for the increased use of biofuel. And now, in Alabama, we are exploring, with the federal government, woody biomass as a fuel for electricity.

We also offer alternative energy sourced from landfill gas to customers in Georgia. We encourage the development of lower-speed and more hurricane-tolerant wind turbine designs to take advantage of coastal winds, consistent with our study with Georgia Tech on off-shore wind potential. And we're testing photovoltaic solar panels on the Georgia Power rooftop.

In environmental technology research, innovation extends to clean coal and carbon sequestration technology under development in the National Carbon Capture Center, carbon storage testing going on now at our Plant Daniel in Mississippi, and advanced coal generation also in Mississippi.

These actions balance reliable, affordable electricity generation and find new ways for resource conservation, emission reduction, and citizenship.

You can help, too. We don't have all the answers; we encourage your suggestions and comments. I also urge you to practice sound energy conservation measures, educate yourself on energy issues, and support green energy initiatives where you can. With all our stakeholders, I think we can improve our performance every year.

On behalf of the employees across Southern Company, I thank you for your interest in our work and welcome your questions and suggestions.

David M. Ratcliffe