Good morning and welcome to Southern Company 2025 Annual Meetings of Stockholders. I'd now like to turn the meeting over to Schuyler Baehman , Vice President of Communications of Southern Company. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Justin. Welcome, stockholders and guests, to our 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Let me remind everyone that we will make forward-looking statements today in addition to providing historical information. Various important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, including those discussed in our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, and subsequent filings. In the unlikely event that today's meeting cannot be completed due to technical difficulties, please stay connected to the meeting website for at least 10 minutes. If the meeting cannot be resumed, please visit our website at southerncompany.com for information about reconvening the meeting. We refer you to the agenda and the rules of conduct for today's meeting. They are posted on the virtual meeting web portal at the bottom of your screen. At this time, I'll turn the meeting over to our Chairman, President, and CEO, Chris Womack.
Good morning. Thank you, Skylar, and welcome, everyone. We're excited to be hosting today's meeting virtually to provide expanded access for stockholders regardless of their physical location. This format is designed to ensure that stockholders have the same rights and opportunities as they would during an in-person meeting. The order of the meeting, as noted in the agenda, will be as follows. First, we will conduct the formal business of the meeting, in which we will present the items being voted on today, address any stockholder questions specific to the items being voted on today, and provide preliminary voting results. I will then provide a business update followed by a general question-and-answer period. I would now like to introduce the individuals who, along with me, have been nominated for election to the Southern Company Board of Directors.
Our nominees for directors are participating virtually in today's meeting: John Kiyakala, former digital transformation leader of Google; Shantella E. Cooper, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Journey Forward Strategies; Anthony F. Earley, Jr., retired Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of PG&E Corporation; J. David Etheridge, Managing Director, Monarch Private Capital, and former Chief Executive Officer for North America of Accenture; David J. Grain, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Green Management; Donald M. James, retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Vulcan Materials Company; John D. Johns, Senior Advisor at Blackstone and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Protective Life Corporation; Dale E. Klein, Reese Endow Professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and former commissioner and chairman of the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission; David Meador, retired vice chairman and chief administrative officer of DTE Energy; William G. Smith, Jr., chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Capital City Bank Group; Kristine L. Svinicki, adjunct professor, University of Michigan, and former commissioner and chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and Lizanne Thomas, retired partner of Jones Day. Henry A. Clark III is retiring from our Board of Directors effective as of the conclusion of this meeting after nearly 16 years of service. Henry served on the board during a transformational time for the company, and his wisdom, insights, and leadership truly challenge us to think differently and help grow us into the company we are today. I want to sincerely thank Henry for the commitment, leadership, and expertise he has provided to Southern Company. We are grateful and honored that he remains a friend and an invaluable resource to us.
The meeting is called to order, and the polls are now open. I will now ask Sterling Spainhour, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Southern Company, to assist with the formal business of today's meeting.
Thank you, Chris. Most stockholders voted in advance of the meeting. If you have not already voted, you may submit your vote now through the Vote Here button on your screen. As described in our proxy statement, stockholders were able to submit questions in advance of this meeting through the proxy voting portal. If you are a stockholder who wishes to submit a question but have not already done so, you may type your question in the Ask a Question field on your screen now. Deloitte & Touche has been appointed by the audit committee as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2025. Tim Gillum and Dan Glaser of Deloitte & Touche are participating in today's meeting. We offered them the opportunity to make a statement, and they advised us in advance of the meeting that they do not wish to do so.
The board has appointed Broadridge Financial Solutions to serve as independent inspector of election for today's meeting. Deborah Baker, on behalf of Broadridge, is participating in today's meeting as the independent inspector. The Corporate Secretary of the company has confirmed that approximately 940 million shares, representing over 85% of the issued and outstanding common stock on March 31, the record date for the meeting, are represented in person or by proxy. We have a quorum necessary to conduct business. There are eight items we are voting on today: four company proposals and four stockholder proposals. I will first present the company proposals. Item one is the election of 13 directors. Item two is an advisory vote on executive officer compensation, often referred to as say-on-pay. Item three is the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2025.
Item four is an amendment to the restated certificate of incorporation to reduce the supermajority vote requirement to a majority vote. Items five through eight are stockholder proposals. The proponents for each proposal will have three minutes to present their proposal. For item five, the stockholder proposal regarding simple majority vote was submitted by Mr. John Chevedden. Mr. Chevedden will present the proposal. Operator, please open Mr. Chevedden's line.
Hello, this is John Chevedden. Proposal five, simple majority vote. Charles requests that board of directors take the necessary steps so that each voting requirement in the charter and bylaws that calls for a greater than simple majority vote be replaced by a requirement for a majority of votes cast for and against proposals voted on by shareholders or a simple majority. In a sense, there's no point in advocating for this proposal since the board of directors always supports what this proposal advocates because the board of directors put forth their own proposal four on the exact same topic as this proposal five. This proposal, as a Southern Company proposal, came within 1% of passing at the 2024 Southern Company annual meeting. As a Southern Company proposal, this proposal also came within 1% of passing at the 2022 Southern Company annual meeting.
The only reason it failed is that the Southern Company failed to put forth the slightest extra effort to get it to pass. You can bet that if an executive pay proposal needed 1% greater vote to pass, the Southern Company board of directors would have moved heaven and earth to get the extra 1% vote. There's no evidence that the Southern Company board of directors has made any extra effort today to get their proposal four to pass. If proposal four fails today, the responsibility falls on David J. Grain, chairman of the Southern Company Governance Committee. To encourage Mr. Grain to put more effort into proposal four passing, shareholders are encouraged to vote against Mr. Grain. Mr. Grain richly deserves as many against votes as possible until the Southern Company proposal four passes. Mr. Grain is also a director at Dell Technologies and New Fortress Energy.
I hope that Mr. Grain does not aspire to be a director at any company where I own stock. Please vote yes, simple majority vote proposal five.
Thank you, Mr. Chevedden. After careful consideration, the board has recommended a vote against the proposal. You can read the board statement and response, beginning on page 84 of the proxy statement. For item six, the stockholder proposal regarding disclosing assumptions underlying continued reliance on fossil fuel-based energy was submitted by As You Sow. Ms. Kelly Poole with As You Sow will present the proposal. Operator, please open Ms. Poole's phone line.
Hello and thank you. This proposal is about increased transparency in Southern's scenario planning. Southern's electric utilities are experiencing unprecedented demand growth driven largely by data centers and manufacturing. To meet demand, Southern has recently proposed building new methane gas capacity and delaying a coal plant retirement. Investors are concerned about further investments in fossil fuels as they expose the company to a range of climate-related financial risks, build additional systemic climate risk into the economy, and also signal a potential missed opportunity to capitalize on low-carbon tech such as solar and battery tech. Considering the risks associated with further investments in fossil fuels, investors seek disclosure of the core assumptions behind the company's investment decisions, which are currently redacted in its integrated resource planning documents. These assumptions include forward-looking cost estimates for fossil and renewable resources, capacity forecasts, and greenhouse gas emission impacts.
These redactions bar investors from evaluating the necessity of additional high-carbon investments in an evolving energy landscape, whether such investments are financially and technically justified, and whether they create additional climate risk. Many of Southern's peers already disclosed these assumptions, including Duke, Dominion, AEP, NextEra, and Berkshire Hathaway Energy. To build investor trust and demonstrate sound governance, shareholders are urging Southern to fully disclose the core assumptions informing its energy investments, particularly those justifying new high-carbon fossil fuel investments. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Poole. After careful consideration, the board has recommended a vote against the proposal. You can read the board statement and response, beginning on page 86 of the proxy statement. For item seven, the stockholder proposal regarding conducting a net-zero audit was submitted by Mr. Stephen Malloy as an authorized agent of Newbury's. Mr. Malloy will present the proposal. Operator, please open Mr. Malloy's line.
Good morning, fellow shareholders. My name is Stephen Malloy. I represent Newbury's, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization focused on business education. Our proposal calls for management to audit its net-zero policies and commitments. Management opposes our proposal, calling it a waste of corporate resources. It would be shocking if management has not already done such an audit. Net-zero is a policy reducing net emissions of greenhouse gases to zero. While this may sound good to some, the reality is different. Net-zero has no basis in science or economics. Net-zero does not, cannot, and will not address American or global energy needs. Net-zero is an unfolding disaster around the world, and net-zero promoters and actors are being investigated by U.S. and state governments for violations of law. As to the science, putting aside what President Trump calls the climate hoax, even if the entire U.S.
were to go net-zero today, more than 90% of global emissions would still occur. So regardless of climate science, net-zero commitments will accomplish nothing. As to economics, there is no place on this planet where so-called renewable energies have either improved the climate or weather or reduced electricity prices. In areas where wind and solar are used the most, prices are the highest. As to energy needs, mighty industrial nations like Germany and Britain have crippled themselves with net-zero. In America, we experience crippling inflation caused by the war on fossil fuels. The reality is that every part of our lives depend on fossil fuels, and that will not change for the foreseeable future. As to disasters, I already mentioned some of the economic ones, but there is more. Hundreds of Texans died in February 2022 when the wind turbines froze.
Last month, Spain and Portugal experienced a massive blackout caused and worsened by heavy reliance on solar and wind. U.S. grid regulators now fret blackouts during peak demand because wind and solar can't be stepped up. Net-zero is making our grid unreliable. One day, there may very well be a mass casualty event because of net-zero policies. As to government investigations, banks, insurance companies, and investment firms have been forced to flee net-zero organizations because the organizations may be violating antitrust laws. The organizations seem to be illegal cartels forcing political agendas on the companies of which they own or manage stock. Management needs to seriously reconsider net-zero. It may say, "Oh, there's nothing to see here. Let's move on." We beg to differ. Net-zero is a management distraction that will only bring grief to shareholders, consumers, and our country. Please vote for item seven, the net-zero audit.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Malloy. After careful consideration, the board has recommended a vote against the proposal. You can read the board statement and response, beginning on page 88 of the proxy statement. For item eight, the stockholder proposal regarding a report on respecting workforce civil liberties was submitted by Inspire Investing. Mr. Tim Schwarzenberger will present the proposal and prerecorded his presentation. Operator, please play the presentation.
Hello. My name is Tim Schwarzenberger, and I'm a portfolio manager at Inspire Investing, the world's largest provider of faith-based ETFs. I'm here to present proposal number eight, requesting a report on how Southern Company's policies impact the civil liberties of its workforce. Southern employs over 28,000 people and is one of the largest utility providers in the United States. As a major employer, it has a duty to respect the free speech and religious freedom of its employees, core rights protected by law and essential to a healthy, diverse workplace. Yet Southern publicly states that it, quote, "expects all employees to commit," end quote, "to equity and inclusive training, including annual unconscious bias courses. Its five-year goals require, quote, "diverse candidate slates," end quote, "and equity in leadership," and it retains supplier diversity mandates that discriminate based on race and sex.
These policies may violate recent Supreme Court rulings like Students for Fair Admission and Muldrow and put its billions of dollars in federal contracting at risk in light of President Trump's recent executive orders. The board opposes this proposal, claiming that Southern already protects employee rights, but Southern's DEI commitments raise serious concern that they are actually favoring certain employees and other stakeholders based on race or sex. Southern has removed its Moving to Equity report from public view but still maintains many problematic DEI commitments on public web pages and other reports. Without transparency or formal evaluation, there's no way to know what protections or penalties Southern provides or if they apply them consistently and even handedly. The board also claims that DEI fosters inclusion, but DEI is increasingly seen as polarizing and divisive. When these kinds of programs are required, regardless of belief, they risk suppressing diverse viewpoints.
According to national surveys, most employees fear sharing their religious or political views at work or even on their own time. That is not inclusion. That is a chilling effect. This proposal does not ask Southern to eliminate DEI or change its policies. It simply requests a report. How do current practices impact employee rights and what risks could result? Southern President Christopher Womack wrote to President Trump in December, stating that he wants Southern to be, quote, "a partner and resource for you and your administration," end quote, and to, quote, "let me know if I can help in any way," end quote. Southern can start by providing transparency on its potentially discriminatory DEI commitments that President Trump has made a primary target since day one, particularly for federal contract and grant recipients like Southern. Transparency is not a burden. It is a safeguard.
It helps Southern lead with clarity, avoid legal risk, and build trust with employees, contractors, and shareholders. We respectfully urge you to vote for proposal number eight. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Schwarzenberger. After careful consideration, the board has recommended a vote against the proposal. You can read the board statement and response, beginning on page 89 of the proxy statement. At this time, we will respond to stockholder questions specific to the items up for vote. As a reminder, the general stockholder question and answer period will occur after the business update. Chris, a stockholder has asked, management has recommended voting against item eight, stating that the company's current policies and procedures to prohibit discrimination and harassment are sufficient. Do the company and its policies focus on equity or on providing equal opportunities to prospective and current employees?
Our workplace policies, talent development programs, and employee benefits all focus on ensuring that our team at Southern Company understands what success looks like and that each and every employee has a fair shot at achieving their potential. It is important that every member of our team feels valued, heard, and respected because it is through the experiences, perspectives, and opinions that each of us bring to our team that we can best provide exceptional service and deliver innovative solutions. Teams that feel valued, heard, and respected make decisions that keep one another safe, make us more efficient, and foster creativity and innovation. As an employer, Southern Company complies with all applicable laws and continues to make decisions to best serve employees, stockholders, and customers.
We are also deeply committed to our values, the foundational behaviors that continue to guide us in how we work as a team, make decisions, and take actions. Intentional inclusion is one of those core values. It, along with our other values of safety first, act with integrity, and superior performance, will continue to be reflected in all the ways we lead, engage, collaborate, and perform. Ultimately, at Southern Company, we strive to create a work environment rooted in our values where each individual feels valued and included, where we respect each other's differences, and we are all pulling together in the same direction. That is how we support one another while continuing to deliver clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy for our customers and our communities.
I have been advised that there are no further questions specific to the items up for vote. We have finished the presentation of the eight items up for vote at today's meeting, and the polls are now closed. I will provide a preliminary voting report that reflects the votes submitted prior to this meeting. For item one, all 13 nominees for director have been elected, with each director receiving at least 95% of votes in favor. For item two, the say-on-pay vote has been approved, receiving 93% of votes in favor. For item three, the appointment of Deloitte & Touche as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2025 has been ratified, receiving 97% of votes in favor.
For item four, the amendment to the restated certificate of incorporation to reduce the supermajority vote requirement to a majority vote has been approved, receiving more than the required 66 and two-thirds % of the issued and outstanding shares in favor. For item five, the stockholder proposal regarding simple majority vote has not been approved, receiving 44% of votes in favor. For item six, the stockholder proposal regarding disclosing assumptions underlying continued reliance on fossil fuel-based energy has not been approved, receiving less than 8% of votes in favor. For item seven, the stockholder proposal regarding conducting a net-zero audit has not been approved, receiving less than 2% of votes in favor. For item eight, the stockholder proposal regarding a report on respecting workforce civil liberties has not been approved, receiving less than 2% of votes in favor.
The shares represented by votes submitted during this meeting will be included in the final voting report, which will be filed with the SEC in the next few days. With that, the formal business portion of the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders is hereby adjourned, and I will turn the meeting back over to our Chairman, President, and CEO, Chris Womack.
Thank you, Sterling. Now I have the pleasure to provide an update on the state of your company. 2024 was another outstanding year for Southern Company, and reflecting on our accomplishments fills me with immense pride. Our teams continue to put our customers and communities first throughout the year, delivered on our commitments, and demonstrated superior performance across all parts of our business. We delivered strong financial results, advanced our energy portfolio, sought out opportunities to run more efficiently, executed a historic storm response, and more, all while staying intently focused on our values and our culture. Our regulated electric utilities invested nearly $4 billion in transmission and distribution infrastructure across Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi in 2024.
Our natural gas business performed very well during the year, continuing ongoing infrastructure investments to support the safety and reliability of our system, installing or replacing 466 mil of pipelines to strengthen and enhance the resilience of the system in Georgia, Illinois, Virginia, and Tennessee. Southern Power expanded its operational footprint to 15 states when its 30th solar site, the South Cheyenne Solar Facility, went into commercial operations in Wyoming. The successful completion of Georgia Power's Plant Vogtle Unit 4, making Plant Vogtle the largest generator of clean energy in the nation, was a particularly bright spot for 2024. Bringing the first new nuclear reactors online in the United States in over 30 years was no small feat. Our steadfast belief in the project and the relentless efforts of thousands of team members made it possible.
This long-term investment will benefit customers and communities in Georgia, our region, and the country for the next 60- 80 years, helping us to meet the energy demands of our growing economy and contributing to our nation's energy independence. Growing energy needs, including the burgeoning large-scale electricity needs reflected in our forecast, continue to be driven by robust economic development across our southeastern service territory. Over the past year, more than 150 companies announced expanded operations or made the decision to locate new facilities within our southeastern footprint. These trends highlight the broad strength we continue to observe across all of our service territories, particularly in the Southeast. Additionally, the economic development pipeline from large electricity load customers, including data centers and large manufacturers, represents over 50 gigawatts of potential incremental load by the mid-2030s.
Great examples include the 477-megawatt long-term agreement Mississippi Power signed with Compass Data Centers to locate its hyperscale data center campus in Meridian, Mississippi, and Alabama Power's successful efforts to help bring Meta and a 715,000 sq ft data center to Montgomery, Alabama. We're excited about the pace of economic growth, and we project average annual sales growth of approximately 8% from 2025 through 2029, an increase of 2% from our prior long-term sales growth expectations. Projects like these, many of which will be some of the largest developments in the Southeast, require collaboration with our state and local communities, as well as bringing the full spectrum of capabilities Southern Company has to offer. Southern Telecom's 300 mi fiber contract that will connect a major data center in Montgomery, Alabama, to both Birmingham and Atlanta is a great example.
Our goal is to sustainably serve this exciting growth opportunity in a manner that protects our investments and creates economic benefits for existing customers. Affordability continues to be a key tenet of our customer-centric business model. We work hard to help ensure new customer demands do not place additional burdens on those less able to afford it. We really have a bright future ahead. We are on a mission to deliver clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy solutions that allow the customers and communities we serve to thrive. Through an industry-leading commitment to resilience, innovation, and R&D, we are continuously preparing to sustainably meet the future needs of our customers, enhancing the technologies that exist today, deploying what is already on our radar, and discovering tomorrow what we have yet to imagine today.
Our teams are exploring the full spectrum of solutions: carbon capture, advanced nuclear technologies, renewable natural gas, energy storage, and more, all focused on driving energy innovation. The Southeast's strong economic fundamentals, along with the reliability and the resilience of our vertically integrated and well-planned grid, are proving hard to beat. Customers are increasingly acknowledging this dynamic with their enthusiasm for our electric service territories. Looking ahead, we believe our portfolio of companies is incredibly well-positioned to deliver on the opportunities we serve, significant growth to improve our local communities, and to help sustain Southern Company's success over the long term. Once again, in 2024, as part of our focus on reliability and resiliency and our mission to continually strive to improve the customer experience, we continued investing in our systems.
Our grid investments in Mississippi resulted in 95% of Mississippi Power's customers now being served by a self-healing network, significantly reducing the frequency and duration of outages. In Georgia, the first grid-connected battery energy storage system in Georgia Power's history entered commercial operation, storing 65 megawatts of energy during periods of low demand and dispatching it during peak demand, helping to ensure a stable power supply and reduce future operational costs. As we continue to look for ways to increase access to clean, safe, reliable, and affordable fuel, Virginia Natural Gas and Chattanooga Gas entered into their first agreement for renewable natural gas, a sustainable fuel produced from naturally occurring methane emitted primarily from landfill, agriculture, wastewater, and food waste sites. Renewable natural gas is a sustainable and reliable energy source that is compatible with existing infrastructure and appliances.
2024 wasn't without opportunities for our team to rise and to meet challenges, as demonstrated by our response to several weather events that impacted millions of customers, including the most destructive storm in Georgia Power's 140-year history. Hurricane Helene left catastrophic damage in its wake so severe that entire sections of the power grid had to be rebuilt in areas of Georgia. The team's response was nothing short of remarkable. More than 20,000 personnel, including teammates from Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Mississippi Power, Atlanta Gas Light, and Virginia Natural Gas, worked to restore service safely and as quickly as possible. It was truly an all-hands-on-deck endeavor and highlighted the experience and capabilities of Southern Company. Whether we're investing for the future or responding to historic weather events, we never lost sight of our commitment at Southern Company to provide clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy for all.
In closing, we had a phenomenal year in 2024, and I'm extremely proud of all we have accomplished across our company. We have seven quality state-regulated utilities and a group of quality complementary businesses that continue to perform well, both operationally and financially. As a result, Southern Company offers a value proposition for which you can be proud. For the 24th consecutive year, the Southern Company Board of Directors approved an increase in our annual common stock dividend, recently approving an $0.08 per share increase. This marks the 78th consecutive year dating back to 1948, in which Southern Company is on track to pay a dividend that is equal to or greater than the previous year. We believe Southern Company is poised for a bright future, and I cannot be more excited about the opportunities ahead of us.
Southern Company is a great company, and I am confident we have the people, the experience, and the scale to meet this moment. As always, thank you for your interest in Southern Company.
Thank you, Chris. We will now respond to stockholder questions. We will try to answer all stockholder questions subject to time constraints. As noted in the proxy statement and the rules of conduct, questions from multiple stockholders on the same topic or that are otherwise related may be grouped, summarized, and answered together. Our first question is about the director election process. A stockholder has asked, "How are members of the board of directors selected for nomination? Are shareholders eligible to be nominees?
Skylar, thank you for that question. Under our bylaws, stockholders may nominate a person for election as a director at an annual meeting if the stockholders satisfy certain ownership requirements. Generally, a stockholder or a group of up to 20 stockholders must own at least 3% of our outstanding shares entitled to vote continuously for at least three years in order to submit a director nomination. If the holding requirements are met, the stockholders may nominate the greater of two directors or directors representing 20% of the directors in office on the last day that a notice may be delivered. More information about this process and related requirements is included in the FAQs about voting in the annual meeting portion of our 2025 proxy statement, beginning on page 96.
Our next question is about compensation. A stockholder asked, "Why do we give shares to executives and directors? Pay them and allow them to purchase shares at a reduced rate, say 75-85% of the current price, and require them to hold the shares for a specific period of time depending on the discount? Giving away shares that are created for such use diminishes the equity and voting power of each shareholder. All shares used for such purposes should be purchased by the company on the open market.
Our Compensation and Talent Development Committee establishes the overall compensation structure for executive officers, and the Nominating Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee oversees independent director compensation. In determining the structure of our equity custom plans, the board considers competitive market information and best design practices. Executive equity plans typically have a performance component designed to align executive interests with those of our stockholders. Getting this alignment right helps ensure we drive stockholder returns and attract and motivate the best talent to run our business. When we sought stockholder approval for our equity compensation plan at the company's 2021 annual meeting, we disclosed the anticipated dilutive effect. The company continues to carefully manage our equity compensation program. Equity compensation continues to comprise only a very small portion of our overall outstanding shares and has a minimal dilutive effect.
Finally, equity compensation is a cost-effective way to manage cash flow and preserve capital as it does not require an immediate cash outlay.
Chris, this next question comes from a stockholder who has participated in a number of past annual meetings and asks about scope three emissions. He states that Southern Company continues to rely heavily on natural gas for generation fuel, including proposed new generation. While natural gas produces less greenhouse gas emissions compared to coal and combustion, the upstream impact of leaked gas in extraction makes it comparable to coal in greenhouse gas impact. It is clear that leaked gas can now be measured. Will Southern Company include scope three emissions like gas leaked in extraction by suppliers in its decarbonization goals?
Again, Skylar, thank you for that question. Southern Company does not have direct control over scope three emissions. However, we are employing a deliberate and disciplined approach to reduce scope three emissions by focusing on upstream and downstream solutions, including Southern Company Gas is seeking natural gas that has been certified to be produced with lower methane emissions. We're expanding our residential energy efficiency programs to include all of our natural gas local distribution companies. Our teams are engaging in a wide range of innovative hydrogen and renewable natural gas opportunities, and we continue to support efforts like GTI Energy's Veritas program to promote direct measurement, monitoring, and verification of methane emissions. We do not have a scope three goal because of the challenges around measurement methodologies and protocols related to emissions reporting. Methane leak detection technology continues to improve.
We will continue to work with leading-edge technology developers to understand the performance characteristics of measurement technologies and how to use them to improve service to our customers. This approach aligns with how Southern Company has consistently leveraged technology to improve the customer solutions we provide. We believe Southern Company and Southern Company Gas are industry leaders by investing in innovative ways to drive down emissions across the value chain and by providing transparent disclosures.
Chris, we received a question live this morning from one of our long-standing stockholders. He states that data centers are a challenge for power generation. He believes that they will likely become more efficient over time but wants us to discuss how Southern Company and its operating companies are dealing with data center demand for additional power generation and whether the data centers are having to pay for build-out and additional generation costs.
All of our state-regulated electric utilities continue to project load growth, and the service territories that we are privileged to serve remain attractive to a wide variety of customers. In fact, electricity sales in our jurisdictions are projected to grow by 8% annually over the next five years after decades of modest sales growth. We've been serving data centers for decades and have great relationships with many of the largest technology companies in the world. Our current system pipeline is now well over 50 gigawatts, made up of both data centers and industrial manufacturing projects. While our disciplined approach to forecasting results in a risk-adjusted outlook for sales growth comprises only a fraction of the economic development pipeline, we are encouraged to have commitments for over 10 gigawatts with advanced discussions and progress toward even more. Improvements in technology efficiency are expected, and we discuss this likelihood with prospective customers.
Current conversations with data center customers reflect the sentiment that technology improvements will likely allow for more efficient uses of energy demand, not a reduction in the ultimate electricity need. Technology efficiencies are reflected in our conservative approach to modeling future demand. To address cost impacts to other customers, the Georgia Public Service Commission approved revised rules and regulations for Georgia Power customers of 100 megawatts or greater in January. These measures are designed to address the risk and cost associated with large load users, ensuring a balanced and fair approach for all of Georgia Power's customers. These revised rules and regulations allow Georgia Power to add further protections against instances where large customers may exit the system sooner than required to recover the investments incurred to serve them. Georgia Power also continues utilizing existing mechanisms like upfront payments for local on-site investments to ensure recovery of those costs.
Southern Company remains committed to our approach to sustainably serving this exciting growth opportunity, including pricing and contract terms designed to protect our investments and provide economic benefits back to all customers.
Chris, we've received a question from another of our long-standing stockholders. He states, "With so many older houses in the service region, many customers pay for the energy they need, plus energy that gets wasted. In fact, those with lower incomes are less able to weatherize and update their equipment. Please describe the company's approach to freeing up this money in their budget and freeing up that electricity for surging demand.
Again, Skylar, thanks for that very good question. With the significant growth we expect to see across our electric system, energy efficiency and demand response options for our customers have never been more important. If we can help customers use energy more efficiently, it can lead to lower or decreasing customers' bills. Our favorite kilowatt is the one you don't use. Southern Company recognizes the value of demand-side options and supply-side options on an equal basis in our resource plans, and we believe that our integrated planning process results in the best overall system for our customers. Demand-side options include energy efficiency, demand response, distributed energy resources, and virtual power plants. For more than 30 years, our operating companies have worked with state regulators to develop demand-side solutions that save participating customers money and provide benefits to all customers.
The energy savings programs we promote are largely developed in collaboration with interested state and local stakeholders and require the approval of state regulatory bodies. Southern Company and its subsidiaries embrace these engagements and believe they help us to deploy, along with community partners, initiatives that can reduce energy usage, inform infrastructure investment decisions, and foster more affordable solutions. We offer a range of programs to a variety of customer groups, including income-qualified customers, small commercial customers, industrial customers, and even data center customers. As a business and with our customer-focused model, we have a duty to help customers use energy more efficiently and by evaluating demand-side options on an equal basis with supply-side resources. We are able to deliver a robust portfolio of resources that provides clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy to all customers.
Before we do our next question, we got a submission today that says, "This is not a question. I just wanted to express the appreciation of the carpenters for the positive work relationship with the company that has afforded our members employment opportunities with fair wages and benefits. As long-term investors through our pension funds, we support the board and management team and their strategic plans for long-term corporate value growth.
Very good. We thank the carpenters. Thank you for your comments.
Chris, the next question comes from another long-standing stockholder. The stockholder asked, "What is the company's outlook for further development of distributed energy resources and grid enhancements to improve overall system efficiency?
You know, we've already made meaningful progress in improving our system efficiency by enhancing the intelligence and resilience of our grid through updates to our advanced distribution management system. We're also preparing for the initial deployment of a distributed energy resource management system by the end of 2025 with continued improvements planned throughout the decade. Across our operating companies, we have a robust portfolio of customer programs, including standby generator programs, interruptible load programs, smart thermostat programs, EV managed charging, and other DER offerings. Collectively, our dispatchable demand-side options represent more than 1,500 megawatts of capacity. We also continue to focus on investing in our grid, and our 10-year transmission plan includes over 1,000 miles of new transmission. Since 2024, both Alabama Power and Georgia Power have deployed their first STATCOM, or static synchronous compensator devices, demonstrating a commitment to advanced grid-enhancing technologies.
We continue to deploy sensible solutions such as DERs and grid enhancements to improve system efficiency and meet the needs of our customers.
Chris, we've got a number of questions today on tariffs, wondering what, if any, potential impacts might be from tariffs.
There is clearly policy uncertainty, and our assessments of tariff implications have varied. Among the advantages for a company of our scale is a large portfolio of suppliers and strong vendor relationships to help navigate such challenges collaboratively and proactively. Our full complement of potential mitigations include existing project contingencies, contractual provisions, potential regulatory approaches, and options to deploy alternative resources. Our commitment to affordability, balanced with our focus on reliability, could also influence the pace of capital deployment to mitigate the impact of tariffs on our customers. Overall, we do not expect a material impact to our business. The start of the hurricane season begins on June 1. We are ready with the materials to respond, and there are no concerns from suppliers about replenishing them as needed.
Thank you, Chris. We got a few questions on affordability, keeping customers at the center of everything we do and what that means to us, and some of the recent actions that the company has taken in that regard, specifically in Georgia.
At Georgia Power, customers are at the center of everything we do, and that is all across Southern Company. As costs around the country rise, Georgia Power remains committed to providing our customers with clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy. Due to the foresight of the Georgia Public Service Commission, constructive regulatory policies, and our vertically integrated market structure, Georgia Power is well positioned to balance the mutual benefits of the extraordinary economic growth occurring in our state among all stakeholders. To that end, Georgia Power and the Georgia Public Service Commission public interest advocacy staff filed a stipulated agreement on Monday seeking no base rate increases for the next three years except for the recovery of the storm restoration costs mostly caused by Hurricane Helene last year.
The rate stability resulting from this agreement is a great result for customers, and it ensures Georgia Power remains equipped to continue its support of our state's incredible growth while also balancing the affordability needs of our customers. Agreements such as this are a testament to the collaboration that is possible in this state.
Chris, we have answered all the questions or topics submitted by shareholders that comply with the rules of conduct. That ends the question and answer period. Any closing?
We value the time our stockholders have taken today. In closing, let me say, we've come together again this year right before Memorial Day. I encourage each of us to take a moment to remember and honor the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. I hope you'll join me in reflecting on their legacy and honoring the values they fought to protect. Please stay safe, take care of yourself, and take care of each other. Thank you for your time today and for your continued support of Southern Company.
That ends our allotted time. If we did not get to your stockholder question that we have not addressed during this, we will make sure to email the individuals directly with any information that we have. Thank you for your time.
The meeting has now concluded. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.