Profits at Atlanta-based Southern Company rose 7% in the third quarter compared to last year, the utility giant announced Thursday, despite the headwinds caused by Hurricane Helene, which the company called the most destructive storm in its history.
Southern — the parent of Georgia Power, the state’s largest electric utility — reported net income of $1.5 billion from July through September, up from $1.4 billion during the same period last year.
The company’s year-to-date profits are up even more compared to 2023. Southern said it raked in $3.9 billion in the first nine months of 2024, up from $3.1 billion a year ago, an increase of 26%. Operating revenues so far this year climbed to $20.4 billion, a jump of 6% compared to 2023.
Georgia Power — the company’s most profitable subsidiary, which earned more than $1 billion in the quarter — bore the brunt of the damage Helene caused in the state when it hit in September. The storm made landfall on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida’s Big Bend region before moving into Georgia with hurricane-force winds and torrential rains.
Helene knocked out power to roughly half of Georgia Power’s 2.7 million customers in the state and caused severe damage to the company’s electric infrastructure, damaging 11,800 power poles and 5,800 transformers, plus forcing the replacement of more than 1,500 miles of power lines.
The company says it has restored electricity to all its customers but that the severe damage the storm caused to the electric grid will take longer to repair.
HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
In a statement, Southern President and CEO Chris Womack praised the company’s response to the storm.
“We are thankful for the thousands of lineworkers, technicians and support staff who joined first responders, emergency management agencies and officials from the local, state and federal government, industry partners and an extraordinary mutual assistance workforce with tireless dedication to restore service to customers across Georgia,” Womack said.
The company said increased revenues from its regulated utilities — which include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power — helped drive up profits. Earnings partially were offset by several factors, including higher maintenance expenses, income taxes, interest and the depreciation of certain assets, the company said.
Since late 2022, Georgia Power has benefited from a series of electricity rate increases approved by the Republican-controlled Georgia Public Service Commission, which regulates the utility. Most were approved unanimously.
Those include hikes to cover billions in cost overruns incurred in the Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant’s expansion, and to pay for transmission upgrades the company has said it needs. A separate increase to pay for fuel expenses was passed on to ratepayers last year, too, though Georgia Power does not earn profits on those costs.
Since early 2023, the rate increases have combined to send the monthly bill up roughly $38 for an average residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month. Another rate hike is set to kick in at the start of 2025, which could add another $7 to customers’ monthly power costs, the Southern Environmental Law Center says.
As a regulated utility, Georgia Power does not get to keep all the net income it earns; its customers could get some money back if its profits remain up.
The PSC lowered the top end of Georgia Power’s earnings band by a hair, from 12% to 11.9%, in late 2022 with a 4-1 vote.
For any profits above that 11.9% mark, Georgia Power gets to keep 20%, but must apply another 40% of the earnings to pay for its regulatory obligations, like cleaning up coal ash the company has stored around the state. The remaining 40% would be refunded directly to customers.
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