Standard & Poor’s lowered Southern Company’s rating from stable to negative
because of the risks of Kemper Coal in Mississippi, and SO’s stock price plummetted.
This was immediately after

activists grilled SO on that and other topics
at the

SO stockholder meeting.
Wait ’till S&P catches on to the risks of SO’s

19-months-late and $1 billion-over-budget nukes at Plant Vogtle in Georgia!
Or SO’s non-action so far on

the challenge of distributed solar.

Kristin Jones wrote for WSJ 24 May 2013,

S&P Lowers Outlook on Southern Co., Noting Project Risks,

Standard & Poor’s lowered its outlook on Southern Co. (SO), noting
risks associated with a problematic power plant construction
project.

S&P affirmed its rating on the Atlanta-based electric-power company
at A, five notches into investment grade. The outlook was revised to
negative, from stable.

The ratings firm said its outlook reflected a series of regulatory,
operational and risk-management issues that have affected the
Mississippi Power business in the last 12 months, including problems
with financial reporting and increased project costs in the
construction of a power plant.

S&P said the issues raised “broader concerns about effective project
oversight, handling of regulatory risk, and overall risk management
within Southern Co.”

If the company isn’t able to resolve the challenges at Mississippi
Power or if similar issues arise at Georgia Power, the company’s
rating could be downgraded. If on the other hand, Southern can
address the challenges in a timely manner, the outlook could return
to stable.

“Or if similar issues arise at Georgia Power”: linking Kemper Coal
and Plant Vogtle isn’t just for

Bloomberg’s Betty Liu anymore.
Now Standard and Poor’s and the WSJ are piling on.
And look at

SO’s stock price:

That’s an 8.5% drop in one month, with the biggest drop starting
on 22 May 2013, the day of the

SO stockholder meeting.
Maybe

Ray Henry’s AP coverage
of
Linda St. Martin’s criticism of Kemper Coal had some effect on this
SO stock drop and S&P downgrade….

Georgia Power can

charge customers for Plant Vogtle cost overruns even if it’s cancelled.
Last time SO built nukes there, the costs were
26 times the original per-unit projections.
Public opposition in Mississippi to

that kind of overcharge to the public or Mississippi Power customers
got SO to back off and
eat some of the costs
which is what led to the S&P downgrade.
What if the Georgia legislature passed
HB 267
to cap costs at Plant Vogtle?
What would S&P and SO’s stock price do then?

Dear Tom Fanning: Time to get on with

switching to distributed solar.
If SO gets out in front, it can lead the region, the country, and the world.
If SO stays behind, pushing

big baseload boondoggles like Kemper Coal and new nukes at Plant Vogtle,
SO’s rating and stock will suffer.
How long will SO’s stockholders tolerate that?
Cobb EMC’s stakeholders
staged a revolt and replaced a majority of the board,
after which Cobb’s new CEO said “we’re just ripe for solar power”
and

cancelled all proposed coal plants and started building solar.
Tom Fanning, you can do that before your successor does.

-jsq