Company: SOJE
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000092122-25-000018
Chunk: 918

Company: SOUTHERN CO
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 918
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 their ability to provide capital to the Registrants as a result of such financial institution's investment criteria, including criteria related to GHG.

If sources of capital for the Registrants or Nicor Gas are reduced, capital costs could increase materially.

Failure to comply with debt covenants or conditions could adversely affect the ability of the Registrants, SEGCO, Southern Company Gas Capital, or Nicor Gas to execute future borrowings.

The debt and credit agreements of the Registrants, SEGCO, Southern Company Gas Capital, and Nicor Gas contain various financial and other covenants. Georgia Power's loan guarantee agreement with the DOE contains additional covenants, events of default, and mandatory prepayment events relating to the ongoing operation of Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4. Failure to meet those covenants beyond applicable grace periods could result in accelerated due dates and/or termination of the agreements.

Volatility in the securities markets, interest rates, and other factors could substantially increase defined benefit pension and other postretirement plan costs and affect the funding available for nuclear decommissioning.

The costs of providing pension and other postretirement benefit plans are dependent on a number of factors, such as the rates of return on plan assets, discount rates, the level of interest rates used to measure the required minimum funding levels of the plans, changes in actuarial assumptions, government regulations, and/or life expectancy, and the frequency and amount of the Southern Company system's required or voluntary contributions made to the plans. Changes in actuarial assumptions and differences between the assumptions and actual values, as well as a significant decline in the value of investments that fund the pension and other postretirement plans, if not offset or mitigated by a decline in plan liabilities, could increase pension and other postretirement expense, and the Southern Company system could be required from time to time to fund the pension plans with significant amounts of cash. See MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS – ACCOUNTING POLICIES – "Application of Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates – Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits" in Item 7 herein and Note 11 to the financial statements in Item 8 herein for additional information regarding the defined benefit pension and other postretirement plans. Additionally, Alabama Power and Georgia Power each hold significant assets in their nuclear decommissioning trusts to satisfy obligations to decommission their nuclear plants. The rate of return on assets held in those trusts can significantly impact both the funding available for decommissioning and the funding requirements for the trusts. See Note