POWERGRAMS

CUSTOMER SERVICE For the fourth year in a row, Alabama Power topped Southern Company's proprietary 2015 Large Business Customer Value Benchmark (CVB) study of 20 peer utilities. "I couldn't be more pleased with the CVB results for large business customers," Alabama Power Chairman, President and CEO Mark Crosswhite said. "While most scores were falling, ours were improving – to the highest score ever for Alabama Power or any other utility in the survey. That is impressive. I am honored to work with employees who are so dedicated to serving our customers." As most scores fell, Alabama Power improved to a record 9.62 on a scale of 10. "I am thrilled with another No. 1 ranking for Alabama Power employees," said Marketing Vice President Tony Smoke. "For four years running, our large business customers have recognized our employees' hard work at providing superior customer service. Obviously, that hard work continues to pay off." The company ranked first in six of the eight "key value driver categories" this year, with the top overall score in cost, image, efficiency, reliability, contact history and account manager performance. Alabama Power improved its rating from 2014 in contact history and image, moving from No. 2 the previous year to No. 1 in 2015. "Alabama Power has a strong competitive advantage over the upper quartile peer utilities on most drivers, with the largest lead on the cost and efficiency key drivers," the report said. The company's top results by business type were in the automotive sector (9.86), followed by large commercial accounts (9.71), primary metals (9.7), division accounts (9.59) and chemicals (9.22). Market Specialist Larry Kennedy touted strong customer relationships as a key factor in the company's four years at No. 1 – specifically in the automotive sector. "These are awesome results and they reflect that this is more than just business to us – it is about building that relationship and trust with our customers," Kennedy said. "Those personal relationships really go a long way and it is reflected in our scores." Kennedy said it takes a true team effort to serve the company's large business customers. "There are several groups not only within our organization, but within the company, that we utilize to make sure we provide excellent service to our customers, all while trying to make the customer as energy efficient as possible," Kennedy said. All Southern Company operating companies were in the top quartile of the annual survey, above their peer utilities. Gulf Power ranked second after scoring 9.53, Georgia Power was third with 9.14 and Mississippi Power finished fourth at 9.02. Placing behind Southern Company and its operating companies in the 2015 survey's upper quartile were NextEra Energy (8.75), Wisconsin Energy (8.72), SCANA (8.47) and Duke Energy (8.44). Upper middle quartile scores were Oklahoma Gas & Electric (8.40), TVA (8.34), PPL (8.15) and AEP (8.15). The remainder of the utilities in the survey were Xcel Energy, Entergy, Oglethorpe, MEAG, DTE, Exelon, Dominion Resources and TECO. The study defines large businesses as manufacturers and military bases with more than 1 megawatt of electric demand, and hospitals (over 3 MW), major four- year universities and casinos (over 1 MW). The large business survey is the first of three CVB reports measuring customer satisfaction. Residential and general business results are expected to be released later in August. Best By Big Biz 2 Fifty years ago, Chuck Patterson was hired as a helper in Power Delivery - Construction Field Forces. Today he is a trusted "sounding board" for many co-workers. Photo by Christopher Jones. ON THE COVER: E M PLOY EES K EEP CO M PA N Y ATO P A N N UA L U T I L I T I ES S T U DY

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