Spring means soon time for the Southern Company Stockholder meeting! See what one of the biggest electric utilities in the world is up to, and maybe make a few suggestions.

Here are videos of what you missed last year, and here is the official SO notice for this year (I got a link to it because I’m a shareholder): Notice of Annual Meeting of Stockholders of The Southern Company

DATE:	Wednesday, May 22, 2013
TIME:	10:00 a.m., ET
PLACE:	The Lodge Conference Center at Callaway Gardens Highway 18 Pine Mountain, Georgia 3182

It includes a list of Items of Business, which doesn’t mention that stockholders are usually allowed to ask questions. Those questions are usually answered by Thomas A. fanning, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, who included a letter (text below) in which he recites his usual list of energy sources, in his usual order:

• nuclear (while Vogtle Unit 1 just had a fire, Unit 2 has been down for a month, Units 3 and 4 are 19 months late and a $ billion over budget, and Hatch is leaking radioactive tritium into our groundwater),
• coal (as in the $1.88 billion and more Mississippi Power will charge ratepayers for Kemper Coal),
• natural gas ( not so good for academic integrity, not to mention groundwater, and coming soon to north Georgia),
• “renewables” (while SO and Georgia Power prop up the antique 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act, making solar financing difficult),
• efficiency ( while Fanning and SO ignore reports from Georgia Tech that with efficiency Georgia wouldn’t need any new energy).

Perhaps some stockholders would like to suggest a different order. Or we could sit and wait while SO and Georgia Power keep Georgia way behind New Jersey and Denmark in solar power.

Dear Fellow Stockholder:

You are invited to attend the 2013 Annual Meeting of Stockholders at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, at The Lodge Conference Center at Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Georgia.

Southern Company continues to make great strides in its efforts to provide clean, safe, reliable, affordable energy to our 4.4 million customers — building the nation’s only fully diversified generation portfolio that includes new nuclear, 21^st century coal, natural gas, renewables, and energy efficiency. We are harnessing the power of innovation to help make that goal a reality, while promoting the importance of long-term energy security throughout all of North America.

At the annual meeting, I will report on our accomplishments from 2012, as well as our plans for 2013 and beyond. We will also elect our Board of Directors and vote on the other matters set forth in the accompanying Notice.

Whether or not you plan to attend the meeting, your vote is important. Please review the proxy material and vote by internet, phone, or mail as soon as possible.

This Proxy Statement includes Appendix E, the 2012 Annual Report with Southern Company’s audited financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis of results of operation and financial condition.

We look forward to seeing you on May 22nd. Thank you for your continued support of Southern Company.

SO could indeed lead all of North America in long-term energy security, by getting on with wind and solar power.

-jsq

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