Dive Brief:
- Southern Company’s 2Q 2014 earnings more than doubled year-on-year due to a 4.7% increase in total energy sales, including a 2.1% increase in the retail sector and a 3% increase in the industrial sector.
- Southern Company, one of the biggest U.S. utilities, saw its Q2 2014 profit go to $628 million, up from Q2 2013’s $313 million, with per-share earnings higher than the projected 66 cents to 68 cents, up from Q2 2013’s 34 cents, and revenue for Q2 2014 up 5.2% over Q2 2013 to $4.47 billion after analysts had predicted a revenue of $4.32 billion.
- CEO Thomas A. Fanning said the increased sales across Southern Company’s four state service area indicated a potential “broader economic recovery across the Southeast."
Dive Insight:
Southern Company’s 2Q 2014 earnings were also boosted by getting past last year’s one-time $278 million after-tax charge for its Kemper County, Miss., coal to gas project, designed to demonstrate that low-quality coal can be used to generate emissions-free electricity.
The Kemper County project has held down Southern Company’s performance for several quarters, with its overall price tag now up to $5.24 billion, making it possibly the most expensive U.S. fossil-fuel power plant ever built. The Kemper project’s original expected in-service date of May 2014 has also now been delayed, to the end of 2014.
