Southern Company Reaches 1 Million Milestone in Smart Metering Installations

Energy Resource, March 5, 2009

ENERGY RESOURCE-5 March 2009-Southern Company Reaches 1 Million Milestone in Smart Metering Installations(C)2009 JeraOne - http://www.jeraone.com

Southern Company today said it has installed 1 million Smart Meters, achieving a milestone in an advanced electricity metering program that will eventually see 4.4 million meters in place for its customers across the Southeast.

The initiative began in January 2008 and will deploy Smart Meters for customers of Southern Company's electric utility subsidiaries Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power and Mississippi Power. The company is installing about 4,500 meters each day.

In addition to reducing operating costs that can help keep rates lower for customers, the company expects the program to lessen environmental impact. For example, it expects to reduce the vehicle fleet used for meter reading by at least 500, saving 12.5 million miles of driving annually and producing direct benefits in lower vehicle emissions.

Once fully deployed, the Smart Meter program may also allow customers to manage energy consumption, helping them to be more efficient by providing detailed energy usage information and innovative rate options.

Southern Company's program is based on the Sensus FlexNet Advanced Metering Infrastructure network, which uses advanced technology that allows for a range of features, including meter reading for monthly billing, two-way communication between customers and the company, outage detection, and remote reconnects and disconnects.

For more information, visit www.southerncompany.com.

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