Cautionary Statement

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This interactive 2022 annual report to shareholders contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the strategic goals for the business, customer and sales growth, economic conditions, emissions reduction goals, and projected in-service dates for Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “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 tax, environmental, and other laws and regulations to which Southern Company and its subsidiaries are subject, as well as changes in application of existing laws and regulations;
  • the extent and timing of costs and legal requirements related to coal combustion residuals;
  • current and future litigation or regulatory investigations, proceedings, or inquiries, including litigation and other disputes related to the Kemper County energy facility and Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4;
  • the effects, extent, and timing of the entry of additional competition in the markets in which Southern Company’s subsidiaries operate, including from the development and deployment of alternative energy sources;
  • variations in demand for electricity and natural gas;
  • available sources and costs of natural gas and other fuels and commodities;
  • the ability to complete necessary or desirable pipeline expansion or infrastructure projects, limits on pipeline capacity, public and policymaker support for such projects, and operational interruptions to natural gas distribution and transmission activities;
  • transmission constraints;
  • the ability to control costs and avoid cost and schedule overruns during the development, construction, and operation of facilities or other projects, including Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 (which includes components based on new technology that only within the last few years began initial operation in the global nuclear industry at this scale) and Plant Barry Unit 8, due to current and/or future challenges which include, but are not limited to, changes in labor costs, availability, and productivity; challenges with the management of contractors or vendors; subcontractor performance; adverse weather conditions; shortages, delays, increased costs, or inconsistent quality of equipment, materials, and labor; contractor or supplier delay; the impacts of inflation; delays due to judicial or regulatory action; nonperformance under construction, operating, or other agreements; operational readiness, including specialized operator training and required site safety programs; engineering or design problems or any remediation related thereto; design and other licensing-based compliance matters including, for Plant Vogtle Unit 4, inspections and the timely submittal by Southern Nuclear of the Inspections, Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria documentation and the related investigations, reviews, and approvals by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) necessary to support NRC authorization to load fuel; challenges with start-up activities, including major equipment failure, or system integration; and/or operational performance; continued challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic or future pandemic health events; continued public and policymaker support for projects; environmental and geological conditions; delays or increased costs to interconnect facilities to transmission grids; and increased financing costs as a result of changes in market interest rates or as a result of project delays;
  • the ability to overcome or mitigate the current challenges at Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4, that could further impact the cost and schedule for the project;
  • legal proceedings and regulatory approvals and actions related to construction projects, such as Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 and Plant Barry Unit 8, including public service commission approvals and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and NRC actions;
  • under certain specified circumstances, a decision by holders of more than 10% of the ownership interests of Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 not to proceed with construction;
  • the notices of tender by Oglethorpe Power Corporation and the City of Dalton of a portion of their ownership interests in Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 to Georgia Power, including related litigation;
  • in the event Georgia Power becomes obligated to provide funding to Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power) with respect to the portion of MEAG Power’s ownership interest in Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 involving Jacksonville Electric Authority, any inability of Georgia Power to receive repayment of such funding;
  • 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 employee and retiree benefit plans and nuclear decommissioning trust funds;
  • advances in technology, including the pace and extent of development of low- to no-carbon energy and battery energy storage technologies and negative carbon concepts;
  • performance of counterparties under 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 ROE, equity ratios, additional generating capacity, and fuel and other cost recovery mechanisms;
  • the ability to successfully operate the electric utilities' generation, transmission, and distribution facilities, Southern Power Company’s generation facilities and Southern Company Gas' natural gas distribution and storage facilities and the successful performance of necessary corporate functions;
  • the inherent risks involved in operating and constructing nuclear generating facilities;
  • 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, which cannot be assured to be completed or beneficial to Southern Company or its subsidiaries;
  • the ability of counterparties of 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 cyber and physical attacks;
  • global and U.S. economic conditions, including impacts from recession, inflation, interest rate fluctuations, and financial market conditions, and the results of financing efforts;
  • access to capital markets and other financing sources;
  • changes in Southern Company’s and any of its subsidiaries’ credit ratings;
  • the replacement of LIBOR with an alternative reference rate;
  • the ability of the traditional electric operating companies 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, political unrest, wars, or other similar occurrences;
  • the potential effects of the continued COVID-19 pandemic;
  • 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 filed by Southern Company from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The statements in this virtual 2022 annual report to shareholders are provided as of their respective dates of publication, which are February 15, 2023 for pages 16-198 of the “2022 Financials” PDF, March 27, 2023 for the text-based web content, and April 14, 2023 for the video-based content. Southern Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.