Southern Company (NYSE: SO) enters the back half of 2025 with a rare combination for a U.S. utility: a newly completed nuclear expansion now feeding the grid, a 24th straight annual dividend increase, and pilot-scale hydrogen blending that hints at how gas fleets could decarbonize without sacrificing reliability.
At the same time, shifting environmental rules in Washington and a new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for Georgia Power are recasting what the next decade of investment will look like across the Southeast. Here’s a current, real-world snapshot—with verified figures, program details, and why they matter to ratepayers, investors, and the broader clean-energy transition.
Q2 2025: steady revenue growth, near-term O&M headwinds
On July 31, Southern Company reported $7.0 billion in operating revenues for the second quarter of 2025 (up 7.9% year over year) and $0.80 GAAP EPS ($0.92 EPS excluding items).
Year-to-date, the company posted $14.7 billion in operating revenues and $2.15 EPS excluding items, with management flagging higher non-fuel O&M, depreciation, and interest as the main offsets to utility revenue growth. Executives emphasized the “balance of growth, reliability, and affordability” and pointed to constructive regulatory outcomes across the system.
Vogtle Units 3 & 4: the U.S. nuclear fleet’s first new reactors in decades
Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle achieved what many believed would never happen again in the U.S.: two brand-new large reactors entering service. Unit 3 began commercial operation on July 31, 2023, and Unit 4 followed on April 29, 2024.
With all four units online, Vogtle’s total capacity nears 5 GW, making it the largest nuclear power plant—and the largest generator of clean energy—in the United States. The expansion also supports ~800 permanent jobs and delivered billions in construction-phase economic impact.
Beyond symbolism, Vogtle matters to day-to-day reliability and decarbonization. Nuclear’s 24/7 output anchors a regional grid where weather can swing hard and fast, and where load is rising from population growth and electrification. EIA’s analysis underscored the national significance of Unit 4’s commercial start; Georgia Power’s own brief calls out the project’s decades-long service life (60–80 years).
Dividend story: 24 consecutive years (and counting)
On April 21, 2025, the board approved an annualized dividend increase to $2.96/share (quarterly rate $0.74), extending Southern Company’s streak to 24 consecutive years of dividend growth. For income-oriented investors, SO remains a classic “sleep-at-night” utility—now with an expanded zero-carbon base thanks to Vogtle.
Hydrogen blending trials: from 20% to 50% at Plant McDonough-Atkinson
If 2024 was about proving that hydrogen can be blended safely at modest percentages, 2025 is the year Southern Company began stretching that envelope.
In June, Georgia Power and Mitsubishi Power successfully completed a 50% hydrogen blend on an M501GAC turbine at Plant McDonough-Atkinson—both partial and full-load conditions—marking a major step beyond the 20% validation achieved earlier with EPRI. The company is also advancing a small electrolyzer-to-fuel-cell pilot to test hydrogen as on-site storage and transportation fuel.
Why it matters: decarbonizing gas fleets will likely require a toolkit—efficiency upgrades, CCS in some cases, and, where feasible, hydrogen co-firing. The McDonough trials build evidence that legacy assets can reduce carbon intensity while preserving dispatchable capacity—useful in hot, humid peak seasons when wind and solar output may not align with demand.
Georgia Power’s 2025 IRP update: resources mix and “111” compliance pathways
Georgia Power’s 2025 IRP lays out a near-term resource plan that includes authority to procure 1,000 MW of new utility-scale renewable energy and identifies a natural-gas co-firing strategy to comply with the federal greenhouse-gas framework (often called the “111 GHG Rule”) at coal units like Plant Bowen and Plant Scherer. In plain English: keep reliability first, add low-cost renewables, and use gas co-firing as a bridge for high-emitting units as policy evolves.
EPA policy shifts in 2025: what repeal proposals could mean
At the federal level, mid-2025 brought a proposed repeal of the prior administration’s GHG standards for fossil-fuel plants under Clean Air Act Section 111.
The proposal (now in the Federal Register) kicks off a comment period and—if finalized—would hand more discretion back to states on compliance pathways and timelines. For large multi-state utilities like Southern Company, that could ease pressure on near-term CCS timelines for gas and coal while states refine their own plans.
The EPA’s fact sheet and Federal Register docket summarize the scope and rationale; the long-term arc (including net-zero commitments) remains intact at the company level.
What “net zero by 2050” looks like on the ground
Southern Company’s enterprise goal is unchanged: 50% GHG reduction by 2030 vs. 2007 and net-zero by 2050. Company materials indicate the system was already ~49% below 2007 emissions in 2023, boosted by Unit 3’s arrival, with reductions expected to exceed 50% as early as 2025. The levers include nuclear (Vogtle), renewables growth, energy efficiency, and lower-carbon gas operations (including hydrogen blending and storage R&D).
The near-term buildout: generation, wires, and customer growth
Load growth across the Southeast—driven by population, industrial onshoring, and digital infrastructure—requires more than extra megawatts. It demands capacity that can be counted on during peak hours, and it demands delivery: transmission and distribution upgrades robust enough to move energy where it’s needed. Southern’s Q2 materials show higher utility revenues amid these dynamics, even as O&M and interest costs rose. The company’s approach—“balance growth, reliability, affordability”—appears to be playing out in constructive regulatory decisions and capital plans that emphasize both generation and grid hardening.
Key assets and business lines (quick refresher)
- Electric utilities: Alabama Power, Georgia Power, and Mississippi Power serve much of the Southeast’s fastest-growing metros.
- Southern Nuclear: Operates the Vogtle and Farley nuclear plants; Vogtle’s new AP1000 units offer 60–80 years of emissions-free baseload.
- Southern Power: Competitive generation (including wind/solar) serving wholesale customers across the U.S. (Q2 noted accelerated depreciation tied to wind repowering timelines).
- Southern Company Gas: Natural-gas distribution in four states and a growing role in hydrogen/RNG pilots that could de-risk the net-zero path.
Risks and watch-items for the rest of 2025
- Policy whiplash: Section 111 changes could alter compliance timing; states (and IRPs) become even more important.
- Thermal fleet economics: Higher gas prices or extreme weather can pressure fuel and purchased-power costs; regulatory recovery mechanisms and rate design matter.
- Execution on hydrogen: The 50% blend at McDonough is promising, but commercial viability depends on fuel sourcing, storage, and NOx controls at scale.
- Capital intensity: Nuclear O&M, grid upgrades, and renewable additions must be sequenced to protect customer bills while delivering reliability.
Why Southern Company remains a bellwether
Utilities everywhere face the same three-body problem: decarbonize, keep bills reasonable, and keep the lights on. Southern Company’s portfolio—anchored by Vogtle’s clean baseload and complemented by gas fleets exploring hydrogen blending—offers an unusually transparent lab for how that triad can work in practice.
The 2025 IRP keeps optionality alive (renewables plus gas co-firing); hydrogen trials explore a decarbonized path for firm capacity; and a two-decade dividend culture signals management confidence despite cyclical O&M and interest headwinds.
With earnings growth tied to regulated investment and load, and with more predictable policy at the state level than in D.C., SO’s strategic posture feels deliberately boring in the best possible way.
One official resource to track updates
For the most current earnings slides, dividends, and guidance, bookmark the company’s Investor Relations hub. There you’ll find the latest quarterly package, dividend dates, and upcoming events.
FAQ
Is Vogtle really the largest nuclear plant in the U.S.? Yes. With Units 3 and 4 online, Vogtle’s capacity is nearly 5 GW, topping Palo Verde; EIA has a helpful explainer on the milestone.
How “green” is the portfolio today? Company disclosures show a ~50% emissions reduction from 2007 by 2025, with a net-zero target for 2050 across electric and gas operations.
What about the dividend? The board lifted the annualized rate to $2.96 (24th straight increase) in April 2025; the current quarterly rate is $0.74.
Hydrogen at scale—hype or real? The 50% blend trial on a utility-scale turbine is a meaningful proof-point, but economics hinge on low-cost H₂ supply, storage, and emissions controls.
Bottom line
Southern Company’s 2025 story is about optionality with evidence. Vogtle’s completion gives the Southeast a multi-generation, zero-carbon backbone; dividend growth signals financial discipline; and hydrogen blending plus a pragmatic IRP provide multiple lanes to net zero without betting the grid on any single technology.
Policy will keep shifting, weather will keep surprising, and O&M will ebb and flow—but the company’s architecture now looks built for long-haul reliability in a faster-growing, more electrified South.
