Our Business

As the agent for Alabama Power, Georgia Power, and Mississippi Power, Southern Wholesale Energy markets the retail operating companies' surplus generating capacity to the wholesale market.

SWE currently manages and fulfills the energy needs of municipalities, electric membership cooperatives and investor-owned utilities throughout the Southeast. SWE offers its customers:

• High levels of reliability from a diverse mix of resources.
• Competitively priced products.
• Flexibility in our product offerings.
• Financial stability through the strength of the operating companies.
• A long-term view of and commitment to the wholesale market.
• A strong core of internal expertise, with world-class skills in engineering, construction, fuel procurement and operation of our plants.
• Strategic view of the industry and commitment to maintaining a diverse generation mix.
• An effective, trustworthy team dedicated to understanding our wholesale customers' needs and customizing our product for them.
   

Meeting Your Needs Today

For decades, our retail operating companies have provided competitive wholesale power supply to the region. We continue that tradition of excellence today by providing a reliable and stable resource to your operation, ensuring the homes and businesses you serve have the power needed for comfort, productivity and economic development. We have the experience to anticipate market and weather changes and the ability to respond quickly when called upon. We can assume your energy needs, supply peak capacity, and help you manage your power pool or operating load.
 

Low Risk

It only takes one defaulted contract to throw your operation into turmoil. Avoid scrambling to make up power on a volatile spot market. Choose Southern Company. We manage market risk by securing future capacity needs at favorable prices. We've met our promises for decades. When you partner with Southern Company, you'll get the energy you need.
 

Competitive Pricing

We integrate our generation assets with sound market purchases to keep our rates competitive and our reliability high. Whether you are looking for short or long-term capacity, we provide the flexibility to get the deal done for you. Our energy products also provide you with greater control of your future power supply costs. And you don't have to worry about stranded costs or unanticipated charges.
 

Customer Focused

If you are within the Southeast US, we are focused on your market and your customers. It is our only market and the one we know best.
 

Long-Term, Bi-Lateral Contracts

Regardless of the size of your business, we'll work with you to best meet your needs through:

• Unit power sales
• Partial requirements service
• All requirements service
• Long-term, firm and non-firm power sales

Southern Company operations has responsibility for more than 27,000 miles of transmission lines, 3,700 substations, and 300,000 acres of right of way. The transmission system meets North American Electric Reliability Corporation standards and provides a safe and reliable grid. We plan, design, build, operate, and, maintain our system to meet growing demand. From 2008 to 2011, Southern Company invested $2.3 billion in transmission assets (lines and substations) and distribution substations, which is managed in conjunction with transmission at Southern Company.
 

OATT Annual Informational and True-Up Filings and Business Practices

Southern Company operations conducts transmission business in accordance with the Southern Companies Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”) approved by FERC. Southern Company operation's OATT Annual Informational and True-Up filings, as well as, its general business practices are posted at OASIS - General Information.

North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) Wholesale Electric Quadrant Standards

NAESB rules, standards, and practices may be obtained at the NAESB public website. More...
  

Available Transfer Capability (ATC) Algorithm

Southern Company operations has posted its algorithm for calculation of the transmission system ATC. More...

Generation Overview

Southern Company is one of the largest producers of electricity in the United States and the largest wholesale provider in the Southeast. For decades, Southern Company has consistently met its energy, financial and customer satisfaction commitments. More about Southern Company.

Southern Company Generation, a business unit of Southern Company, manages the operation of 77 fossil and hydro plants for Southern Company's more than 4.68 million retail customers in a territory spanning most of Alabama and Georgia, and southeastern Mississippi.

All of these tangible assets back up our energy marketing and trading operations. If you are looking for short or long-term power contracts, these assets offer you capacity and stability in today's fluctuating energy market.
 

Plants

Southern Company Generation manages production, fleet operations, planning, engineering and fuel procurement for Southern Company's coal, oil, gas and hydro generating units at 103 power plants. We provide energy that is reliable, affordable and cleaner than ever.

View map (PDF)

Forecasting for economical and reliable service
By carefully forecasting energy needs and securing the most economical energy sources available, we're able to operate our power plants at a 99 percent level of reliability—among the highest in the nation. At the same time, we have one of the lowest forced outage rates in the industry and retail electric prices that are significantly below the national average.

We're also an environmentally responsible company. Since 1990, we've made significant reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides at our plants. We're at the forefront of research to generate electricity from new and cleaner fuel sources. Learn more in our Clean Energy Report. 

Southern Company generation produces power for customers in our service territories. If power is critical to your business, take advantage of our experience and capability, competitive pricing and reliability, service and innovation.
 

Energy Trading

The trading floor at Southern Company is a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week operation. Our rates are market based, and we offer a wide range of capacity and energy products and services. You can count on us for competitive prices and reliable service including:

• Hourly and daily energy
• Short-term energy
• Short-term capacity
• Flexible products customized to meet your needs

High Reliability
We work hard to provide you the highest reliability. We ensure needs are met by:

• Preparing a daily load forecast
• Committing resources to meet the anticipated load
• Performing real-time load-resource balancing

If power is critical to your business, take advantage of our experience, competitive pricing, reliability, service and innovation. Contact us for specifics on your energy needs.

View our current list of approved traders. (Southern Company Services)

View our current list of approved traders. (Southern Power Company)

Price Reporting Code of Conduct. (For questions regarding the Price Reporting Code of Conduct, please call 205-257-2071.)

Weighted Average Hour-Ahead Transaction Prices