Company: SOJE
Filing Date: 2025-04-11
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000092122-25-000036
Chunk: 28

Company: SOUTHERN CO
Filing Date: 2025-04-11
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 28
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 included in the report.

4 The Board reviewed all contributions made by the Company and its subsidiaries to charitable organizations with which the Directors are associated. The Board determined that the contributions were consistent with other contributions by the Company and its subsidiaries to charitable organizations and none were approved outside the Company’s normal procedures.

4 In determining Director independence, the Board considers transactions, if any, identified in the report discussed above that affect Director independence, including any transactions in which the amounts reported were above the threshold contained in the Director independence requirements and in which a Director had a direct or indirect material interest. No such transactions were identified and, as a result, no such transactions were considered by the Board.

4 The Board also considered that, in the ordinary course of the Southern Company system’s business, electricity and natural gas are provided to some Directors and entities with which the Directors are associated on the same terms and conditions as provided to other customers of the Southern Company system.

As a result of its review process in February 2025, the Board affirmatively determined that 13 of 14 currently serving Directors, and 12 of 13 nominees for Director, are independent. The only Director that is not independent is Mr. Womack, Chairman, President and CEO of the Company. The Board previously determined that Dr. Ernest J. Moniz and Mr. E. Jenner Wood III were independent while they served on the Board during 2024.

#### Independent Director Nominees
4 Janaki Akella

4 Shantella E. Cooper

4 Anthony F. Earley, Jr.

4 James O. Etheredge

4 David J. Grain

4 Donald M. James

4 John D. Johns

4 Dale E. Klein

4 David E. Meador

4 William G. Smith, Jr.

4 Kristine L. Svinicki

4 Lizanne Thomas

#### 30Southern Company2025 Proxy Statement

#### Governance

#### Board and Committee Self-Evaluation Process
The Board and each of its committees have a robust annual self-evaluation process.

| 1 |     | Board Evaluation          |     | The Lead Independent Director, in conjunction with the Nominating, Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee, oversees the annual self-assessment process on behalf of the Board.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| 2 |     | Committee Evaluations     |     | The charter of each committee of the Board also requires an annual performance evaluation, which traditionally is overseen by the chair of each committee.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| 3 |     |