The mild spring weather may be a distant memory, but it was enough to cause energy giant Southern Co.'s second-quarter revenues to dip 7.5 percent.
Still, the Atlanta-based parent of Georgia Power reported profits of $623 million, or 71 cents a share, up from $604 million, or 71 cents a share during the same period a year ago.
The boost in profits is largely because Southern added 20,000 residential customers across its four-state territory during the first six months of the year, the company said Wednesday. The amount exceeded the company's projections for the entire year.
"For the first time in a long time [we have] residential growth and commercial growth. That's good stuff," Southern Chief Executive Officer Tom Fanning said in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"That indicates that the recovery is sustaining," he said.
About 60 percent of those new customers were in Georgia, said Art Beattie, Southern's chief financial officer.
Revenue for the quarter, ending June 30, was $4.18 billion, down from $4.52 billion during the same period a year ago. The mild weather in April and May played significantly into the 7.5 percent drop, the company said.
Georgia Power's operating revenue alone dropped nearly 11 percent for the quarter. Residential energy sales across Southern's four state territory of Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi, fell 4.3 percent.
Southern is the majority owner of the first two new nuclear plants to be built from scratch in 30 years. An independent construction monitor has signaled potential cost overruns and scheduling delays at the $14 billion project.
Fanning said a project that large will always have challenges but that the company is managing them.
"We think we've found effective solutions to the problems that ultimately will keep it on schedule and on budget," he said.
Meanwhile, Southern is faced with closing or retrofitting its fleet of coal-fired plants to comply with a suite of federal environmental rules. Fanning said he will discuss those details on the company's conference call with analysts at 1 p.m.
The company's earnings included 2 cents a share from an insurance claim that Southern filed after settling a 2009 lawsuit. The suit stemmed from the 2003 bankruptcy of Mirant Corp., an owner and operator of coal and natural gas plants. The company was a Southern subsidiary until it was spun off in 2001.
