Cautionary Statement

Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The Southern Company's 2017 Annual Report contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning regulated rates, the strategic goals for the wholesale business, customer and sales growth, economic conditions, fuel and environmental cost recovery and other rate actions, current and proposed environmental regulations and related compliance plans and estimated expenditures, pending or potential litigation matters, access to sources of capital, projections for the qualified pension plans, postretirement benefit plans, and nuclear decommissioning trust fund contributions, financing activities, completion dates of construction projects, completion of announced acquisitions or dispositions, filings with state and federal regulatory authorities, impacts of the Tax Reform Legislation, federal and state income tax benefits, estimated sales and purchases under power sale and purchase agreements, and estimated construction and other plans and expenditures. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "could," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "projects," "predicts," "potential," or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar terminology. There are various factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements; accordingly, there can be no assurance that such indicated results will be realized. These factors include:

• the impact of recent and future federal and state regulatory changes, including environmental laws and regulations governing air, water, land, and protection of other natural resources, and also changes in tax and other laws and regulations to which The Southern Company and its subsidiaries are subject, as well as changes in application of existing laws and regulations;
• the uncertainty surrounding the recently enacted Tax Reform Legislation, including implementing regulations and IRS interpretations, actions that may be taken in response by regulatory authorities, and its impact, if any, on the credit ratings of The Southern Company and its subsidiaries;
• current and future litigation or regulatory investigations, proceedings, or inquiries;
• the effects, extent, and timing of the entry of additional competition in the markets in which The Southern Company's subsidiaries operate;
• variations in demand for electricity and natural gas, including those relating to weather, the general economy, population and business growth (and declines), the effects of energy conservation and efficiency measures, including from the development and deployment of alternative energy sources such as self-generation and distributed generation technologies, and any potential economic impacts resulting from federal fiscal decisions;
• available sources and costs of natural gas and other fuels;
• limits on pipeline capacity;
• transmission constraints;
• effects of inflation;
• the ability to control costs and avoid cost overruns during the development, construction, and operation of facilities, which include the development and construction of generating facilities with designs that have not been previously constructed, including changes in labor costs and productivity, adverse weather conditions, shortages and inconsistent quality of equipment, materials, and labor, contractor or supplier delay, non-performance under construction, operating, or other agreements, operational readiness, including specialized operator training and required site safety programs, unforeseen engineering or design problems, start-up activities (including major equipment failure and system integration), and/or operational performance;
• the ability to construct facilities in accordance with the requirements of permits and licenses (including satisfaction of NRC requirements), to satisfy any environmental performance standards and the requirements of tax credits and other incentives, and to integrate facilities into the Southern Company system upon completion of construction;
• investment performance of the Southern Company system's employee and retiree benefit plans and nuclear decommissioning trust funds;
• advances in technology;
• ongoing renewable energy partnerships and development agreements;
• state and federal rate regulations and the impact of pending and future rate cases and negotiations, including rate actions relating to fuel and other cost recovery mechanisms;
• the ability to successfully operate the electric utilities' generating, transmission, and distribution facilities and Southern Company Gas' natural gas distribution and storage facilities and the successful performance of necessary corporate functions;
• legal proceedings and regulatory approvals and actions related to Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4, including Georgia PSC approvals and NRC actions;
• litigation related to the Kemper County energy facility;
• the inherent risks involved in operating and constructing nuclear generating facilities, including environmental, health, regulatory, natural disaster, terrorism, and financial risks;
• the inherent risks involved in transporting and storing natural gas;
• the performance of projects undertaken by the non-utility businesses and the success of efforts to invest in and develop new opportunities;
• internal restructuring or other restructuring options that may be pursued;
• potential business strategies, including acquisitions or dispositions of assets or businesses, including the proposed disposition by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Company Gas of Elizabethtown Gas and Elkton Gas and the potential sale of a 33% equity interest in substantially all of Southern Power's solar assets, which cannot be assured to be completed or beneficial to The Southern Company or its subsidiaries;
• the possibility that the anticipated benefits from the Merger cannot be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected and the possibility that costs related to the integration of The Southern Company and Southern Company Gas will be greater than expected;
• the ability of counterparties of The Southern Company and its subsidiaries to make payments as and when due and to perform as required;
• the ability to obtain new short- and long-term contracts with wholesale customers;
• the direct or indirect effect on the Southern Company system's business resulting from cyber intrusion or physical attack and the threat of physical attacks;
• interest rate fluctuations and financial market conditions and the results of financing efforts;
• changes in The Southern Company's and any of its subsidiaries' credit ratings, including impacts on interest rates, access to capital markets, and collateral requirements;
• the impacts of any sovereign financial issues, including impacts on interest rates, access to capital markets, impacts on foreign currency exchange rates, counterparty performance, and the economy in general, as well as potential impacts on the benefits of the DOE loan guarantees;
• the ability of The Southern Company's electric utilities to obtain additional generating capacity (or sell excess generating capacity) at competitive prices;
• catastrophic events such as fires, earthquakes, explosions, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and other storms, droughts, pandemic health events such as influenzas, or other similar occurrences;
• the direct or indirect effects on the Southern Company system's business resulting from incidents affecting the U.S. electric grid, natural gas pipeline infrastructure, or operation of generating or storage resources;
• impairments of goodwill or long-lived assets;
• the effect of accounting pronouncements issued periodically by standard-setting bodies; and
• other factors discussed elsewhere herein and in other reports (including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017) filed by The Southern Company from time to time with the SEC.

The Southern Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.