Company: SOJE
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000092122-25-000018
Chunk: 895

Company: SOUTHERN CO
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 895
---
 agreements cover wages, benefits, terms of the pension plans, working conditions, and procedures for handling grievances and arbitration. The Southern Company system also partners with the IBEW to provide training programs to develop technical skills and career opportunities.

At December 31, 2024, approximately 32% of Southern Company system employees were covered by agreements with unions, with agreements expiring between 2025 and 2029.

I-14

    Table of Contents                                Index to Financial Statements

Item 1A. RISK FACTORS

In addition to the other information in this Form 10-K, including MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS – FUTURE EARNINGS POTENTIAL in Item 7, and other documents filed by Southern Company and/or its subsidiaries with the SEC, the following factors should be carefully considered in evaluating Southern Company and its subsidiaries. Such factors could affect actual results and cause results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, Southern Company and/or its subsidiaries. The risk factors discussed below could adversely affect a Registrant's results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, and cash flow, as well as cause reputational damage.

UTILITY REGULATORY, LEGISLATIVE, AND LITIGATION RISKS

Southern Company and its subsidiaries are subject to substantial federal, state, and local governmental regulation, including with respect to rates. Compliance with current and future regulatory requirements and procurement of necessary approvals, permits, and certificates may result in substantial costs to Southern Company and its subsidiaries.

Laws and regulations govern the terms and conditions of the services the Southern Company system offers, protection of critical electric infrastructure assets, transmission planning, reliability, pipeline safety, interaction with wholesale markets and retail customers, and relationships with affiliates, among other matters. The Registrants' businesses are subject to regulatory regimes which could result in substantial monetary penalties if a Registrant is found to be noncompliant.

The profitability of the traditional electric operating companies' and the natural gas distribution utilities' businesses is largely dependent on their ability, through the rates that they are permitted to charge, to recover their costs and earn a reasonable rate of return on invested capital. The traditional electric operating companies and the natural gas distribution utilities seek to recover their costs, including a reasonable return on invested capital, through their retail rates, which must be approved by the applicable state PSC or other applicable state regulatory agency. Such regulators, in a rate proceeding, may alter the timing or amount