Company: SOJE
Filing Date: 2025-04-21
Form Type: PX14A6G
Source: 0001214659-25-006174
Chunk: 4

Company: SOUTHERN CO
Filing Date: 2025-04-21
Form: PX14A6G
Chunk 4
---
=218199, p.1

| 2025                                                    
 Proxy Memo                                              
 Southern Co | Disclosing Assumptions Behind High Carbon 
 Investments                                             |

One reason large-load customers may not ultimately choose
Southern’s territory for new facilities is its failure to provide sufficient renewable energy. Many of Southern’s current
and prospective customers have committed to 100% renewable energy goals, including Hyundai Motor Company, Rivian, Amazon Web Services,
Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet – all of which have operations in Georgia. Microsoft has even urged Georgia Power Company
to “consider what a net zero or more stringent carbon-constrained scenario would look like.”

Third-party energy experts have also advised investors that
growing energy demand can be met without relying on new methane gas plants. Yet, Southern’s scenario analyses consistently
conclude that new fossil fuel investments are the only viable option. If the outcome of Southern’s scenario analyses differ from
the advice of third-party experts, investors are left to assume that the Company’s core assumptions may be flawed.

| · | Customer needs. If technology companies are required to cover all                                                                       
 costs of new methane plants built specifically to serve their AI related demand, it may deter them from building in Georgia. Gas plants 
 carry significant operational costs, especially given volatile and rising methane gas prices in contrast to renewables, which may have  
 similar upfront costs but minimal ongoing expenses. Requiring tech companies to fund gas operations would also undermine their climate  
 goals and cost-control efforts—pushing them to build in states with more affordable, climate-aligned infrastructure planning.           |

| · | Regulatory mandates. In response to the negative consequences that                                                                              
 data centers are having on the grid, regulators at the city, state, and regional levels are moving to limit new data center developments        
 and their energy procurement practices. These regulations could significantly alter demand forecasts, further calling into question the         
 long-term viability of new fossil fuel investments. For example, New Jersey lawmakers are considering a bill that would require all electricity 
 for AI data centers to come from newly built clean energy sources. 13 Even in Georgia, legislators proposed a policy to prevent                 
 Southern from passing the cost of large-load data center projects onto everyday customers.14 While it has not been passed,                      
 this law foreshadows future actions as climate-related catastrophes increase and local governments are increasingly forced to bear the          
 brunt of those impacts.                                                                                                                         |

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10 https://www.hyundaimotorgroup.com/sustainability/esgPolicy, p.24