Profits at Southern Company, the parent of Georgia Power, rose 28% compared to the same time last year, the utility giant said Thursday, just days after announcing it has completed the long-delayed expansion of the nuclear power station at Plant Vogtle.
Southern raked in $1.1 billion in profits between January and March, well above the $862 million it earned during those months in 2023. The company’s first quarter revenues grew by about 2% to $6.6 billion compared to the same period a year ago.
The increased earnings were largely driven by slightly cooler temperatures to start the year across its service area, which includes Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Profits were offset some by increased interest obligations and asset depreciation, Southern said.
Utility earnings are heavily influenced by weather. A colder winter can push customers to crank up their thermostats, increasing electricity and natural gas use. Conversely, mild temperatures can tamp down energy sales.
As climate change pushes average global temperatures up, this winter in Georgia was still warmer than normal. Temperatures statewide from January to March were 2.4 degrees above the 20th century average — the 24th hottest such period on record. The start of 2023, meanwhile, was Georgia’s warmest ever recorded.
The company said its profits also received a jolt from increased electricity sales to data centers, which have been flocking to Georgia and other Southeastern states and bringing their huge electricity demands with them. Southern said its sales to data centers were up 12% for the quarter.
Southern President and CEO Chris Womack said in a statement that the profitable start to 2024 “speaks to strong local economies and increased usage by many existing data center customers.”
Last month, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC), the state’s utility regulator, gave Georgia Power the greenlight to build new oil and gas-burning units and add huge amounts of battery storage to its system, mostly to serve data centers. The PSC allowed the company to skirt the normal competitive bidding process for most of those new assets, which Georgia Power will own and earn profits on.
The Vogtle expansion, which reached completion more than seven years late and billions over budget, is also set to bring rate increases to Georgia Power customers and a financial boost to Southern.
Late last year, the PSC voted to approve a deal to pass $7.56 billion of Vogtle’s construction costs on to the company’s ratepayers. Southern Company’s shareholders, meanwhile, will absorb the remaining $2.63 billion of the project’s construction costs.
As a result, the average Georgia Power residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month will see a cumulative increase of $14.38 in their monthly bills. Part of that increase — about $5.42 — kicked in last year after Unit 3 entered service.
Now that Unit 4 is online, the rest — about $9 — will show up on customer bills starting in May.
On a call with investors Thursday, Womack acknowledged that building the two new reactors at Plant Vogtle was “at times an arduous journey,” but said the project’s completion proves that “new nuclear is achievable in the United States.” The Vogtle reactors are the first built from scratch in the country in more than three decades.
After Vogtle, there are no other commercial nuclear plants planned anywhere in the U.S. But as the country’s demands for carbon-free energy grow, Womack said he feels nuclear expansion will be critical to meeting future needs.
“We believe our country will need more nuclear energy, so the importance of this project for Georgia, and our nation cannot be understated,” Womack said.
A note of disclosure
This coverage is supported by a partnership with Green South Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners. You can learn more and support our climate reporting by donating at ajc.com/donate/climate/
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