Good morning, and welcome to Southern Company's 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Tom Fanning, the Chairman, President and CEO of Southern Company. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Welcome everyone to our 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. We know these are extraordinary times for our nation, our industry and our company. Like many public companies, we are hosting this year's meeting online due to travel restrictions and other limitations on group gatherings associated with the COVID-nineteen pandemic. The safety of our employees and shareholders is of paramount importance and you will hear more about what Southern Company is doing to take care of employees, customers and communities later in today's presentation.
We're certainly pleased that you have joined us today And as circumstances permit, we hope to return to our customary in person format next year. But we believe that the virtual format is the most prudent choice for today's environment. In the meantime, we trust you will remain safe observing the latest guidance from CDC and your local civic and health authorities. I would be remiss not to mention the many healthcare professionals and first responders who are on the front lines of this pandemic. If you are personally working in one of those capacities, please know that we appreciate your dedication and heroic efforts more than words can express.
In the unlikely event that today's meeting cannot be completed due to technical difficulties, please check the Investor page of our website for information about reconvening the meeting. We also refer you to the rules of conduct and procedure for today's meeting. They are posted on the virtual meeting web portal at the bottom of your screen. The order of the meeting as noted in the agenda will be as follows. First, we will conduct a formal business portion of the meeting in which we will introduce the director nominees, present the items being voted on today and provide preliminary voting results.
I will then provide the CEO update followed by a question and answer period to conclude our time together. We will allow 1 hour for the Q and A period. If we cannot get to every question in that timeframe, we will post responses to those queries on our website. Our intent for this meeting is to provide the same level of transparency and accountability that our stockholders would experience at an in person meeting. As described in our proxy statement and on our website, stockholders were able to submit questions in advance of this meeting through the proxy voting portal and we have already received a number of questions.
If you are a stockholder who wishes to submit a question, but has not already done so, you may type your question in the Ask a Question field on your screen during the meeting. In order to allow sufficient time to answer as many questions as possible during the time allotted for this meeting, we ask that shareholders submit only one question. We will now move to the formal business portion of the meeting. The meeting is called to order and the polls are open. Most stockholders voted in advance of this meeting.
If you have not already voted, you may submit your vote now through the Vote Here button on your screen. Voting will close at the end of the presentation of the items under consideration. All our nominees for Director are participating remotely in today's virtual annual meeting. Deloitte and Touche has been appointed by the Audit Committee as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2020. John Black and Denise Morrison of Deloitte and Touche are participating remotely in today's meeting.
We offered them the opportunity to make a statement and they advised me in advance of this meeting that they do not wish to make a statement. The Board has appointed Broadridge Financial Solutions to serve as the independent Inspector of Elections for today's meeting. Belinda Massafra on behalf of Broadridge is participating in today's meeting as the independent inspector. Myra Bieria, Corporate Secretary of the company has confirmed that approximately 880,000,000 shares representing approximately 83% of the issued and outstanding common stock on March 30, the record date for this meeting are represented in person or by proxy at the meeting. We have a quorum necessary to conduct business.
There are 5 items we are voting on today that were included in the proxy statement for the meeting. The first item is the election of 14 directors. I will introduce the individuals who, along with me, have been nominated for reelection to the Sutter Company Board of Directors. Doctor. Janaki Akela, Digital Transformation Leader of Google Juanita Powell Barrancco, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Barrancco Automotive Group John Boscia, Founder and Retired President of Boardroom Advisors and the Retired President of Sun Life Financial Hal Clark, retired Senior Advisor of Evercore Tony Early, retired Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Gas and Electric Company David Grain, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Grain Management Don James, retired Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Vulcan Materials Company Johnny Johns, Chairman of DLI North America Doctor.
Dale Klein, Associate Vice Chancellor of Research of the University of Texas System and former Commissioner and Chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Doctor. Ernie Moniz, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems Emeritus, Special Advisor to the MIT President and former United States Energy Secretary. Bill Smith, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capital City Bank Group Doctor. Steve Specker, our Lead Independent Director and retired President and Chief Executive Officer of the Electric Power Research Institute and Jenner Wood, retired Corporate Executive Vice President, Wholesale Banking of SunTrust Banks.
I do want to point out that Larry Thompson is retiring from our Board of Directors at this meeting. Larry has been an admired and respected Director, having served as Lead Independent Director and Chair of the Nominating Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee. Among his many credits, Larry previously served as Deputy Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice and led the department's National Security Coordination Council. He also served as Executive Vice President of Governmental Affairs, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of PepsiCo Inc. And as a Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution.
With his notable legal expertise and extensive government experience, we are honored to have Larry remain a friend and an invaluable resource to us. I want to sincerely thank Larry for the commitment, leadership and expertise he has provided to Southern Company. The second item is an advisory vote on executive officer compensation, often called stay on pay. The 3rd item is the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte and Touche LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2020. The 4th and 5th items are stockholder proposals.
For item 4, the stockholder proposal regarding an independent Board Chair, Ms. Emily Law will present the proposal on behalf of the Comptroller of the City of New York. Ms. Law, you may present the proposal. Operator, please open Ms.
Law's line. Ms. Law, you may proceed.
Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Board members and fellow shareholders. I'm Emily Law from the office of New York City Controller Scott Stringer, and I'm here to present proposal 4 on behalf of Comptroller Stringer and the City Pension Fund, which are substantial from Southern Company shareholders with roughly 2,500,000 shares. Proposal 4 call for a Board policy requiring an independent Board Chair.
Southern CEO has also served as Chair of the Board since 1994. To be clear, our proposal is not a referendum on the current chair, but we are instead looking for a commitment upon a transition to a new CEO. We commend Southern for setting a target of low to low carbon emissions by 2,050 and appreciate the productive dialogue we have had with management since we first call on the company in February 2019 to commit to net zero emissions by 2,050. In our view, these commitments underscore the need for independent Board leadership and oversight so that the company growth and long term shareholder value will not be hampered by its failure to act more quickly and ambitiously to transition away from fossil fuels. According to a recent report by SimSnap Energy Economics, Southern has not aligned its investment plans with its decarbonization targets.
Raising questions about the capital allocation strategies. Aging coal plants and new investment in natural gas post a major financial and recitational risk. While the audit is on management to produce and execute credible plans, It is the Board's responsibility to hold management accountable on behalf of the long term interest of the company and its shareholders. Independent Board leadership and oversight could be the turning points for Southern to navigate a lower carbon path towards its decarbonization goals. An independent chair can provide a balance of power between the CEO and the Board.
Specifically, directors on board with a joint CEO chair report being more likely to have difficulty voicing a dissenting field, according to a survey last year by PwC. In opposing our proposal, the Board contends that its Lead Independent Director role is robust. In our view, an independent Lead Director is not an aggregate substitute for an independent Board Chairman. According to the ENY Center For Board Matters, they do not command the same authority as a Board Chair. While the Board also asserts that it is committed strong governance processes, we have significant concerns regarding the lack of Board refreshments.
4 non executive directors have served on the Board for at least 12 years. We are supportive of the perspective expressed by the Council of Institutional Investors that extended periods of service may adversely impact a Director's ability to bring an objective perspective to the Board room. We believe a truly independent share will be better positioned to address the misalignment in Southern decarbonization strategy. Therefore, we urge the Board and shareholders to support a policy to require an independent Chair upon succession of the current CEO. Thank you for your time and for your vote to support proposal for an independent Board Chair.
Thank you, Ms. La. We certainly appreciate the New York City Comptroller's regular engagement with and long term interest in our company. We appreciate your comments. After careful consideration, the Board has recommended a vote against the proposal.
You can read the Board's statement in response beginning on Page 91, the proxy statement. For item 5, the stockholder proposal regarding a report on lobbying, Doctor. Joyce Lanning will present the proposal. Doctor. Lanning recorded her presentation in advance of the meeting.
Operator, please play the presentation by Doctor. Lanning.
Good morning. My name is Joyce Lanning. I miss Southern's in person hospitality, but thank you for providing this virtual opportunity. I'm here to present agenda item 5. Our proposal asks for a detailed report on all federal and state lobbying expenditures made by Southern and its subsidiaries, including grassroots lobbying and payments to tax exempt organizations that write model legislation.
We acknowledge that our company discloses some information on its lobbying, but current disclosure leaves such wide gaps when it comes to grassroots, indirect and state level activities that we believe additional reporting is necessary for shareholders to fully understand the risks involved. This is especially concerning since Southern is spending aggressively to oppose climate friendly regulations and legislation contrary to its stated commitment to low to low carbon emissions by 2,050. This is while press reports and other watchdogs point out that Southern and its subsidiaries including Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi Power are aggressively opposing clean air rules. According to the Energy and Policy Institute, Southern has actively lobbied or litigated against the Clean Power Plan, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, Cross State Air Pollution Rule and the Coal Combustion Residual Rules. Southern is also among the biggest opponents of policies aligned with the Paris Agreement according to the influence map.
In addition, an embarrassing spotlight shined on our company last year when the Utility Air Regulatory Group of which it was a member became the subject of a congressional investigation for its efforts to roll back the Clean Air Act. Southern has not disclosed payments to this group, but an article in Politico exposed that it was the 2nd largest funder in 2017 with more than $600,000 in payments. Reports like these pose reputational, financial and legal risks to our company and they can cause shareholders to wonder what else Southern may be doing to oppose environmental regulations, especially since disclosure rules are woefully absent for indirect and state level lobbying. Our resolution asked for full transparency on Southern's lobbying activities. Shareholders have a right to know fully if and how management is spending company funds to oppose climate regulations, thereby putting our company's growth and shareholder value in jeopardy.
Southern has committed to a shift toward renewables with its low carbon future. To make this transition requires adapting quickly and ambitiously. Anything less puts Southern's long term health at risk. We believe full transparency is warranted to hold management accountable as does institutional shareholder services which recommended a vote for this resolution and we ask you to vote with us. Thank you.
Well, thank you, Doctor. Lanning. It's always great to see you at our annual meetings and I know that we certainly appreciate your regular engagement with our companies. And I look forward to seeing you in person at next year's meeting, conditions permit. After careful consideration, the Board has recommended a vote against the proposal.
You can read the Board's statement in response beginning on Page 94 of the proxy statement. We have finished the presentation of the 5 items up for vote at today's meeting and the polls are now closed. I will now provide a preliminary voting report that reflects the votes submitted prior to this meeting. For item 1, all 14 nominees for director have been reelected with each director receiving at least 96% of the votes in favor. For item 2, the say on pay vote has been approved, receiving 95% of the votes in favor.
For item 3, the appointment of Deloitte and Touche as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2020 has been ratified receiving 99% of the votes in favor. For item 4, the stockholder proposal regarding an independent Board Chair has not passed receiving only 22% support. And finally, for item 5, the stockholder proposal regarding a report on lobbying has not passed, receiving only 28% support. The shares represented by votes submitted during this meeting will be included in the final voting report, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next few days. With that, the formal business portion of the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is hereby adjourned.
Now, I'd like to offer some comments on the state of our company, after which we will have a question and answer period. But before I begin, let me remind you that I 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 these forward looking statements, including those discussed in our Form 10 ks, Form 10 Qs and subsequent filings. I'm so pleased to talk to you about our 2019 performance and where we stand as a company today. I always like to start by talking about our dividends.
In general, Southern Company is regarded as an investment that features reasonable returns that people tend to own for a long time. Recently, the Board of Directors approved an $0.08 annual dividend increase. Southern Company has now raised its annual dividend for the 19 consecutive years. We continue to demonstrate an unwavering focus on enhancing shareholder value. Every quarter since 1948, we have maintained or increased our annual dividend.
Said another way, for more than 70 years, we have never reduced our dividend. That is so important when you buy and hold an investment like Southern Company, taking advantage of the compound interest opportunity afforded by reinvesting those dividends that leads to more than 2 thirds of the total shareholder return. On top of the value created by our regular dividends in 2019, Southern Company stock saw tremendous growth. The stock price appreciated 45%, top among industry peers and outpacing the total return of the Philadelphia Utilities Index by 92% and the S and P 500 by 64%. Expanding the timeline to a 20 year horizon, Southern Company has outperformed the Philadelphia Utility Index and the S and P 500, making Southern Company a premier long term investment.
Beyond performance, we seek to create value and value is a function of the risk and return relationship in any undertaking in business. Over the long term, Southern Company has performed well while having one of the lowest levels of volatility, a proxy for risk in the entire S and P 500 index. This relationship of share price appreciation and a lower risk profile creates value. Once again, we rank among the best value creators among all companies in America. By all accounts, 2019 was an outstanding year for our company, one filled with significant accomplishments across a broad range of metrics.
And some of those are, we reached all 2019 major milestone at Vogtle Units 34, Operational performance at our state regulated utilities was superb with record generation and transmission performance. We concluded several key regulatory proceedings, including constructive base rate cases for Georgia Power, Atlanta Gas Light and Nicor Gas. We took steps to further strengthen our balance sheet. We continued to economically decarbonize our generating fleet, decreasing our coal generating capacity by 2,000 megawatts, And we expanded our portfolio of renewable energy sources, which is now over 12% of our generation mix. Our companies rank in the top quartile nationally for customer satisfaction and we were named the best company to work for in our industry and 14th overall in the United States.
I'd like to turn now to 2020 and specifically our company's response to the COVID-nineteen pandemic. Across Southern Company, we have never stopped working as we continue to serve our 9,000,000 customers every day, either on-site or in the field or remotely. Our frontline employees are working hard to provide our customers with clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy. Critical personnel remain at the ready and our critical facilities continue to operate across our system. As our nation seeks a path to recovery, at Southern Company, we are resolute in our commitment to provide the essential energy and services that keep our customers connected and comfortable.
We are taking action to address the difficulties and health crisis in creating and employing new work practices that help safeguard our employees and our communities. Our top priority remains the health and safety of our customers, our neighbors and our employees. First, let's talk about our customers. In an effort to bring some needed financial relief to customers, each of Southern Company's subsidiaries worked with regulators early on to temporarily suspend late payment fees and service disconnections for residential and business customers impacted by COVID-nineteen. We continue to execute COVID-nineteen pandemic plans for our businesses and to date our operational performance has been exceptional.
In April, we experienced 2 successive weekends of devastating tornadoes across our Southeast service territories that damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses. Our employees on the front lines worked tirelessly to restore service to 1,000 of electric and natural gas customers who were affected by these storms. In the aggregate, we restored service to 600,000 customers within 24 hours, improved our capacity to work under duress effectively with coronavirus protocols. Our communities. For our communities, Southern Company and its subsidiaries are targeting a commitment of nearly $10,000,000 in foundation and charitable contributions, benefiting the communities where we live and work to help lessen the health, community and economic impacts of COVID-nineteen.
Employees continue to log thousands of volunteer hours doing everything from working at food banks to selling homemade facial coverings to assist those impacted by the pandemic. We are working with relief organizations across several states such as Meal on Wheels, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the United Way and many more. Our leaders are collaborating with local, state and national authorities to find solutions on topics ranging from economic stimulus to cybersecurity to responsible reentry to work. We will continue to aid those who need it to help our communities weather this storm. Now our employees.
For our employees, we are committed to maintaining a healthy, safe work environment. All COVID-nineteen related guidance for employees is based on the advice of local government and healthcare professionals. For those performing essential responsibilities, we are implementing healthcare screening protocols, practicing safe social distancing, promoting frequent hand washing and aggressively sanitizing work areas. We are providing technology support to ensure more than 16,000 employees can work effectively from home. We know this is a difficult time, so we are offering a variety of resources to help people manage their physical and mental well-being.
As we contemplate a return to our a return of our remote workforce, we will be measured, deliberate and reasoned. Using federal and local guidelines, we have developed a phased approach based on our belief that any change to our current process must keep employees healthy and safe. The responsible reentry playbook developed by Southern Company is now viewed as a model for use not only in our industry, but other industries as well. Let's turn now to Vogtle. As an update to the construction project in Waynesboro, Georgia, where we are expanding our Plant Vogtle nuclear generation site with the first two nuclear units built in the United States in more than 30 years.
I want to highlight our commitment to the safety of our workforce on-site and the surrounding community. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have taken several proactive measures to protect our workforce and the community against the spread of COVID-nineteen. Our guiding principle has been to make the site more attractive from a medical resource and treatment perspective than what workers would find elsewhere. First, we acted quickly to build an on-site medical clinic designed to expedite test results, minimize turnaround time for close proximity screening and improve facilitation of clearing personnel to return to work. Next, with each person tested, we acted quickly, self isolating the individuals along with personnel who have been in close proximity to them immediately after learning they had tested positive for COVID-nineteen.
Among other measures, we have provided additional protective equipment, and implemented social distancing strategies such as spreading out and increasing common work areas, adjusting break schedules, suspending large group meetings and gatherings, eliminating group transportation to the site and mandating those who can telework to do so. And finally here, but there's more to come, is that we in order to mitigate the impact of COVID-nineteen and to allow for greater social distancing, we announced our intent to reduce density on the site and take workforce down by 20%. Site leadership remains focused on protecting the safety and health of workers at Vogtle 34 and comprehensive measures will remain in place. We are pleased that data is showing that our efforts are paying off in the form of decreased positive cases at the plant. Notably, the President of the North American Building Trades Union, Sean McGarvey, commended the Southern Company for going above and beyond to keep their members on the Vogtle construction site safe and healthy.
Last year at this time, we laid out an aggressive site work plan as a tool to achieve margin and to meet the November 2021 2022 regulatory approved in service dates. Executing this strategy over the past 12 months has resulted in substantial progress at the site and we reached all of our major construction milestones. In fact, just last Friday, a massive water tank was placed atop the containment vessel and shield building roof on Unit 3. This installation represents the final heavy lift module placement for Unit 3, another significant milestone for the plan. Now based on our most recent assessment, there is no change to the total project capital cost forecast.
The team at Vogtle Units 34 have worked incredibly hard to create an environment at the site that has led to meaningful progress over the past few months, even while managing through this unprecedented pandemic. Through March, production for Unit 3 was generally consistent with the refined aggressive site work plan. April's performance was challenged due to COVID-nineteen impacts, which put us slightly behind the aggressive site work plan. We remain focused and we still expect to meet the November 2021 November 2022 regulatory approved in service dates for Vogtle Units 34 and we continue to maintain an aggressive work plan on-site as a tool to help us position to meet those dates. Today, Unit 3 direct construction is more than 90% complete and Unit 4 is approximately 68% complete.
The safety of our workforce and the surrounding community will continue to guide our decision making at the site. Now let's talk about energy mix. For years, we have discussed the changing nature of our generation fleet. At one time, nearly 70% of our energy supply came from coal. When I first took over as CEO, our percentage of solar and wind renewable resources was just about 0.
Since that time, we have seen a steady decrease in our use of coal and a corresponding increase in renewables and natural gas. I'm happy to report for 2019, our energy supply mix was comprised of 50% natural gas, only 22% coal, 16% nuclear and 12% renewables. Notably, generation from coal has decreased almost 20% from the 2018 levels. We have transitioned our generating fleet ensuring energy remains reliable and affordable for our customers, while also being sensitive to the impact this transition has on communities as well as employees. Now through the 1st 3 months of this year, due to the addition of more renewables, increased hydro generation, lower loads and lower natural gas prices, the reductions are more pronounced.
In the Q1 of 2020, coal represented just 13% of our energy mix, with renewable resources reaching 18%. Nuclear represented 17% and natural gas at 52%. Over the past decade, we have significantly transformed the Southern Company System's electricity generation mix. We are one of the only U. S.
Utilities pursuing an all of the above energy strategy. Developing and maintaining a diversified energy portfolio is essential to successfully reducing carbon emissions, while also maintaining reliability and affordability. We are aggressively growing our investment in renewable energy, modernizing the grid to optimize technology advancements, increasing the use of natural gas, building new nuclear generating units and continuing our industry leading robust research and development efforts and investing in energy efficiency for savings on both sides of the meter. All of this is executed by constructively engaging with policymakers, regulators, investors, stakeholders and customers to support outcomes that lead to a low carbon future. And now let's talk about an exciting announcement and that deals with net zero carbon emissions.
In 2018, we were one of the first utilities to set a bold industry leading goal to reduce carbon emissions. At that time, we set a goal for our electric and gas operations of achieving a 50% reduction in GHG emissions by 2,030 as compared to 2,007 levels. I am happy to report today that through 2019, the Southern Company's carbon emissions have decreased 44% and we now expect to achieve our 50% reduction goal well in advance of 2,030 and possibly as early as 2025. Also in 2018, we set a long term goal of low to no carbon emissions by 2,050. Since that time, the discourse around decarbonization efforts in the U.
S. And beyond, including with our Board and our stakeholders, has evolved to incorporate concepts related to negative carbon solutions. As a result of this evolution, today I am pleased to announce our transition to an enterprise wide net zero goal. This includes the electric and natural gas portions of our business. We are making this declaration today and updating our long term greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal to net 0 emissions by 2,050.
To achieve this goal, we will continue to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and continue our long term commitment to energy efficiency, but also incorporate negative carbon solutions including technology based approaches such as direct air capture of carbon, as well as natural methods like a forestation. We are excited about the opportunities to incorporate net zero concepts into our long term strategy. Notably, we have committed to both our 2,030 and 2,050 Greenhouse Reduction goals in the absence of any state or federal mandates. Rather, we produce these goals because they are good for customers and communities that we are privileged to serve. Furthermore, these goals align with Southern Company's risk adjusted business strategy.
Considering the long term goal of net 0 emissions by 2,050, Southern Company will continue its leadership by including negative carbon technologies in our research and development efforts. Across our state regulated utilities in Southern Power, we expect to have over 14,000 megawatts of renewable resources by 2024. I continue to be confident that we are prepared and well positioned to meet the needs of our customers, employees, communities and investors well into the future and will succeed in the transition to a net zero carbon future. Now if you'll allow me, I'd like to begin my close with a review of some of the accolades to Southern Company. Across Southern Company, how we work continues to be important as what we do.
We continue to be recognized as a great place that does great work. Our corporate culture and hiring practices have been recognized nationally by the United States Department of Defense, GI Jobs Magazine, DiversityInc, Black Enterprise, Fortune's Most Admired Companies List and the Women's Choice Award to name just a few. Southern Company ranked number 14 on Forbes Magazine's list of America's Best Employers. Of the 500 large employers ranked, Southern Company was number 1 among industry peers, number 1 among Atlanta based companies and number 1 in the state of Georgia. Our values remain intact and at the core of how we do business.
Using the tenets of safety first, unquestionable trust, superior performance and total commitment, our uncompromising values ensure that we put the needs of those we serve at the center of everything we do and that we govern our business to benefit our world. By all accounts, 2019 was an excellent year and we believe that we are well positioned with a solid financial outlook driven by continued investment in our state regulated utility franchises that remain the industry's leaders for operational performance and customer satisfaction. I am proud of our performance and I am proud to be part of the great Southern Company team. We appreciate your continued interest in Southern Company. We welcome your feedback and look forward to continuing our engagement with all of you.
With that, I would like to open the meeting to questions. Now with me today to help facilitate is Skyler Bayman from the Southern Company Communications team. He will be reading your submitted questions. So Skyler, let's go. First question, please.
First question today comes from Colonel Sam Boer of Augusta. He has 3,512 shares. He says, Good morning, Tom. I always start by thanking you for putting solar panels on my roof. I know our company is installing a lot of solar, which is great.
I want to know more about how the large solar fields are going, but also about how our company can support people putting solar on customers' roofs. There are a lot of great small companies doing installations and there has to be a way for us to work together with them to serve more residential installations. Is there any movement to finding a way to partner with these local installers so that we have both utility scale and distributed solar in the mix?
Yes, Sam, thanks for the question. And I consider you a great friend of the company. You've given sound advice and pushed us in certain areas that made us a better company. So thank you for your engagement. You know that I have been an early positive supporter of solar.
When you consider all of the options available for renewables in the Southeast, given the climate that we have, in my opinion, solar is the best solution. We do have wind options available and we have undertaken some long term exposure to wind in our generation mix. But I do think solar is the right way to go as our major strategy. And certainly as you point out, you put solar on your roof and I have in the past as well. So that's an exciting part of the portfolio.
Sam, with respect to the idea of partnering with local installers, We certainly do refer certain installers, people that can do the contracting work to help with that at your residence. And so if anybody has a question about finding qualified contractors, they're certainly free to contact our company and we can help you do that. With respect, if the question was technically partnering beyond just referring, there are so many people out there. I've talked with Georgia Power in this case literally 1,000. And it would be, a, a little bit unwieldy and b, we wouldn't want to make exceptions for some against others.
And so our preferred approach is just to make sure that we give you good references for qualified contractors in your area and we are certainly happy to do that. Sam, always great to have you with us and we appreciate your partnership in making this company great. Next question?
Next is from Jeff Schoenberg of Dunwoody, Georgia. He has 800 shares and asks, at last year's meeting, Tom, you said the company will develop an energy efficiency program to assist consumers. You emphasized that 40% of Southern rate payers have an income of less than $40,000 The Georgia PSC has approved the Georgia Power Income Qualified Tariff Based Energy Efficiency Pilot Program for 500 homes in high energy burden areas in Atlanta and Athens. We congratulate the company on this effort. It puts the company in a leadership position nationwide in piloting a win win solution for low income ratepayers and for a fiscally sound method of encouraging energy efficiency in the consumer market.
My question is, how the company plans to expand this effort across its operating entities? And if there are plans to use similar strategy to expand the program to finance investments in electric vehicles, particularly offering this program to school districts to purchase electric buses. This could greatly accelerate the transition to sustainable transportation and could also build the market for Southern's energy products.
Yes. Hey, Skyler, let me also append Jeff's question. Jeff, thanks for that question. Eleanor Hand of Atlanta also was asking a very similar question. She takes it further, Skyler, for updates on the program, how it's proceeding, number of participants, cost and return and will you publish that information.
So let
me kind of get both that. And Eleonore, thank you for participating as well. We're very excited about this. I think Georgia Power is a pioneer. Eleanor mentioned that we were the 1st investor owned utility to offer this program.
And I know, Jeff, you mentioned too that we're we always try to call out the fact that we consider the well-being of all of our customers and we certainly do have a big exposure to customers, 40% making less than or something around 40%, making less than $40,000 a year. So we'd have to be very mindful of the whole spectrum of customers that we have. So this program is a pilot. We got approval with the Georgia Public Service Commission just this spring to implement with 500 customers. And so we are now getting about the business of engaging in the program.
So what we've got to do now is evaluate the sign up rate of customers, what impacts this may have with the take rates that customers will have, with the actual benefits that it may show, and then we'll consider expanding it and everything else. There'll be regular reporting of this through the commission and we expect to include it in our integrated resource plans in the future. So certainly as we gain experience, we'll certainly include it in our thinking. Again, we're very excited about this. And if we prove to be as successful as I hope we will be, we will certainly make it available for others and expand it.
We will do that within the context of our regulatory processes and with the approval of our public service commissions. Thanks for the questions.
Next question comes from Scott Preston of Lawrenceville, Georgia with 100 Shares. Scott asks, one barrier to an accelerated transition to 100% clean energy is the need for clean, dispatchable power. New generation of long term storage batteries appears to have arrived. Great River Energy in Minnesota is piloting the deployment of Forum Energy's 100 and 50 hour capacity battery system. As battery storage technology progresses, what are Southern Company's plans for adjusting its portfolio of fossil fuel powered plants going forward?
Yes, Scott, thanks for the question. And this is right down our strike zone. You've heard me talk in the past about as we have really focused our research and development effort now along with kind of the net zero concepts, You've heard me talk otherwise about our need to focus on carbon capture solutions in the future as well as storage concepts. One last one that we're evaluating is also in the future hydrogen as a part of our energy mix. But let's talk about batteries.
The Form Energy 150 hour capacity battery is something we've been close to. And in fact, we've been very close to Form Energy's management. In fact, one of the founders of that company, Matteo Jaramillo, we knew him way back when he worked for Tesla and we've been in active conversations with him even within the past month or so. I think storage is a potential game changer and we will need that I think along with the intermittent resources that are represented by solar and wind as we go forward. And this is particularly important as we now recognize that some of our utilities may be now winter peakers as opposed to summer peakers.
And if you accept the fact that in the winter, the peak period will be kind of in the 7 am timeframe, 6 to 7 am, solar is not working at that time. And if solar is the dominant solution in the Southeast, which I kind of believe, then we will need to draw upon storage concepts or peakers or other types of technologies. What's fascinating about the long term storage capability is that may serve to displace significant portions of our gas fired capacity. So this is a brand new idea. We are working with Form and offering our support where it may occur.
And our R and D folks are very excited about storage for the future. As with R and D, one of the big missions of research and development is to take concepts that are currently the phrase is out of the money. That means they're not economic today, but work hard to put them in the money. In other words, improve those technologies so they become economic and reliable and really attractive options for our customers. We certainly are doing that with batteries.
We've been deployed now in California and other places around the U. S. And we think this is an important area that we will follow very closely. So it's exciting. We're on it and we hope that it bears fruit for the future.
The next question came in from a couple of folks, Norman Slosky of Atlanta and Mark Woodall. They're asking about ash ponds. Norman has 149 shares and Mark has between 500 and 1,000. I'll read Norman's question. It says, We know that Southern Company seeks to do what is right, not just the bare minimum of what the law requires, but other utilities in this region are seeking to fully excavate coal ash ponds and relocate the contents to dry line landfills away from bodies of water.
Unfortunately, instead of that more ambitious approach, all 3 of Southern's operating companies are leaving coal ash in unlined pits using the cap in place method of compliance. We all know the toxins in heavy metals in coal ash. Since the company has ensured cost recovery on the environmental compliance, why not excavate all of the ash in the safest way possible, protecting the communities that recreate and draw groundwater from those areas and also minimizing liability from ongoing leakage contamination? Yes. Thanks so much for the question.
This has been a topic of mine at these annual meetings. Really, I guess I
called out a pretty major announcement in the spring of 2016. For the first time, I announced at our annual meeting that Southern's operating companies would stop sending coal ash to unlined ash ponds by the spring of 2019 and we've done that. So in the spring of 2019, we fulfilled this commitment and developed a long enough partnership with our states an aggressive ash and wastewater management program. And so where we are today is that across the system, something like 19 ponds are being closed by removal and the remaining 18 are being closed in place. So fifty-fifty.
Just to put that in context, about 75% of the coal ash by volume nationwide is being closed in place. So actually we're more aggressive in removing ash than we are in closing in place. And the other thing that I would ask for you to consider is that, every site is different. Each site undergoes a detailed evaluation by 3rd party experts that consider all sorts of site specific factors such as geology, proximity to water, and really to make sure that we have affordable electricity, to make sure that we have the closure option that is compliant and minimizes long term risk to our company and our customers. The other thing is just very clear and we have constructive relationships with our state regulators is that not only are do we have to make sure that we accommodate our state situation, there are federal rules that have to be harmonized with our state rules that sets forth specific performance standards that must be met when choosing either closure in place or by removal.
And all pond closure plans are designed to meet these performance standards. So when you think about closure in place, all of our current designs incorporate engineering methods that go above and beyond regulatory requirements to ensure the protection of groundwater quality and robust flood protection. I would say that Southern Company continues to lead the industry in innovation and research toward forward looking ash management strategies, including beneficial use of ash. Certainly, as new technologies and new approaches become available, we will consider everything that makes sense for the benefit of our customers, the communities we serve and our shareholders. Thanks for the question.
Next question comes from Sam Collier of Atlanta with 90 shares. He writes, I want to offer my sincere gratitude for the net zero commitment our company has made today. One of the clear lessons from the global pandemic is that once a danger is accepted as clear and imminent, humans will take extraordinary measures to avoid its results. As more of us accept the science on climate, we will reach the point where we take extraordinary measures on this threat as well. So for our company to respond now reduces several threats.
The greater threat the threat of greater climate impacts and the cost of extraordinary corrective measures as we all slam on the brakes on carbon emissions. This net zero approach will be far less disruptive and positions the company to be a resilient leader as other businesses also respond. And my electricity use gets cleaner and cleaner through the years. Thank you for this courageous visionary direction.
Hey, Sam, thanks for the note. Thanks for the accolade. Again, Sam is one of our long time friends. Look forward to seeing you hopefully next year's meeting. So thanks for that.
This net zero approach to me is a no brainer. We have always been a leader in low to no and our objective was always to get to no, to get to 0. And I always said in the past that the bridge from low to no really resides with technology innovation. And frankly, in my opinion, the net zero commitment basically says that this innovation piece is something that we will take advantage of and will permit us to reach 0 by 2,050. And you can do that with kind of 3 big buckets of approaches.
1 is afforestation, kind of a new word in our vocabulary, but essentially it means it's a natural solution and it means planting trees and other, if you will, carbon harvesting plants in places that otherwise didn't have a lot of trees. It creates a repository for carbon on the earth. And we've been engaged with that longleaf pine research and a variety of other things for decades. I think this actually goes back to Bob Liddall's day in the research and development area. That's gosh, Bob, I don't want to date you, but I'll bet you that's 30, 40 years ago.
Another one is biomass with CCS. So this is kind of a hybrid. This is a technology enhanced natural solution. So we could use biomass, but instead of releasing the carbon from biomass, we would include a method to capture the carbon and then sequester it or use it beneficially. And then the final one is another very exciting area and that is direct air capture and sequestration.
And if you can imagine, so we've been a leader in carbon capture. We run the nation's Carbon Capture Research Center in Wilsonville and also the International Carbon Capture Research Center. And so we've been for a long time the leader in the United States, I think, in carbon capture. This is one instead of dealing with flue gases or concentrated pre combustion streams of either syngas or natural gas, we are going to take carbon out of the air directly. So this is an idea where that seems like an awfully inefficient expensive way.
But as I mentioned before, the idea of research is to take out of the money concepts and put them in the money. We're going to work hard to do that. And comparing this to the low to no idea, that last ton of carbon that you're going to get out of the atmosphere or as a byproduct of something we do is very expensive. And when you consider these tail processes to get you to 0 carbon emissions, thinking about direct air capture or this technology enhanced natural solution or the afforestation approaches, these are ideas that make that last few tons of carbon or last 100 tons or last 1,000 tons reasonably economic and much more likely to achieve. And so this is the reason as technology leader, we are committed to 0 carbon in 2,050 by the net zero concept.
And I think we are uniquely positioned to do this relative to anybody else. As I've said many times in these forums, Southern Company is the only company in America in our industry that puts its money where its mouth is in a very significant way with our leadership on research and development. We really need to continue to invest as a nation in technology solutions that make the world a better place. There is nobody better in our industry than Southern Company to accomplish that. Thank you so much for the with the call.
The next questions came in from 3 different people talking about generally the same topic, from Marvin Kaplan, Judith Thalenmaier and Lisa Lindsley. I'll read Lisa's question. She says some analysts say Southern Company is moving too slowly to retire coal plants. To be specific, Morgan Stanley argues that the company should greatly accelerate coal plant retirements because up to 63% of current capacity will be uneconomic by 2,030. They further argue that replacing that coal with solar would be would increase the company's rate base by $2,500,000,000 or more.
When will Southern Company announce retirement dates for the entirety of its coal fleet?
Well, every one of our companies participates with its state regulators on integrated resource planning. Different states have different flavors for that. But they all, I think, reach the idea that this phraseology we've developed for years now, clean, safe, reliable and affordable portfolios of energy generation, have got to take place. And so I think it's always a balance of what is the best portfolio over what period of time. Look, it's very clear to me that coal generation and the many environmental issues associated with it are out of favor when passed against that report card.
It's just tough these days. But you got to consider also the kind of all stakeholder approach. I think, as I said, we've been able to way more achieve our carbon emission goals, but also when you go back to mercury emissions and NOx and SOx and water effluent guidelines and a variety of other things. Southern Company has an approach to transition the portfolio to a net zero concept by 2,050. We will certainly do that.
And as you can see the progress that we've made on retiring coal so far, it's not just the idea of reducing coal. We've got to consider what happens to employees. We've got to consider what happens to the tax base in the communities we serve and the larger economic impact. We do that in conjunction with our regulators. And I think we're doing a darn good job of that.
Certainly, I think as we commit to net 0 in the future, this transition will continue. So look forward to that. So far, we put goals out there. Like I said, we put out the 50% by 2,030. Look, we're going to beat that 20, 25.
We may even exceed 50% or do it sooner. I don't know. I'm very bullish about when this company has given in a goal, it achieves it. But we'll take all stakeholders into account. And frankly, I think we're on a good transition.
We will work with our regulators to make sure that the transition is fair to all stakeholders. Anyway, thanks for the question.
Next couple of questions are about Vogtle. This question, what happened to the 20% of the workforce that was reduced at Vogtle? Were they laid off, furloughed or assigned other projects?
Yes. There were a couple of waves there, but the first big wave was a voluntary furlough essentially that we allowed them to make some choices. And in the furlough, they essentially have a priority choice to return to the site when we start adding people. So I thought we were very constructive in our approach to that. The other thing you should know is that we work very closely with covered worker leadership, Sean McGarvey and others.
I can remember working with him over a weekend to think about the best way to accomplish what is best for the site. And recall the decision to reduce density at the site was, in our opinion, required by the COVID-nineteen response. So we did it voluntary. We gave furloughs instead of stray layoffs. And then we moved about our regular practice after that.
My sense was this was very friendly to the workers involved. And I think that our data on the health of our workforce there shows that we've indeed reached a plateau and declining in the COVID-nineteen impact. So I think it's worked out pretty well.
Next question, what are Southern Company's planning for power generation when Vogtle Units 34 are complete?
Well, thanks for the question. Who was that?
This is from Norman Slosky. Thanks, Norman.
So, we have assumed now for some time that Vogtle 3 and 4 is part of our integrated resource plan. So when you file a plan, you look ahead maybe 20 years or thereabout. And we assume that Vogtle 3 and 4 comes in as of the regulatory date, 2022 for Unit 4. So that's been part of the plan. So as we transition the fleet, we have had a placeholder in place for Vogtle 34 for years now.
So it's been part of our integrated resource planning. And that integrated resource planning, frankly, applies system wide.
The next question comes from John Quarterman at around 100 shares. Hello, John. Glad to have you with us. He writes, given that Page 2 of the proxy statement shows renewable energy increasing from 1% to 12% in Southern Company's energy mix, while nuclear hardly increased and fossil fuels merely shifted from coal to natural gas, when and how will Southern companies stop wasting money on nuclear and methane and get on with sun, wind, batteries and a smart grid for shareholder profit, cleaner water and air and to make sure that humans are not the next mass extinction. Hey, John, thanks for joining us.
And John is another regular at our annual meeting, a great guy and really
I hope your farm is doing well. Hope your okra is in good shape. Hey, all good stuff. Look, I think I've talked for years about the benefit of the portfolio. I think the idea of just moving to 100% sun and wind is at this point not practical.
We do need other kind of types of generation. Gas has been so cheap, so plentiful, so reliable and has the profile of load following. In other words, as we increase the penetration of intermediate, I mean, intermittent resources, we can use gas to easily follow those resources. Now certainly, I think the new technology development, we've talked about it somewhat already in the Q and A session today. As we continue to progress storage, battery technology and at a massive scale, This is something that would compete with natural gas.
The other thing that everybody should recognize in order to achieve net zero technology in the future, if you still have gas, you got to do something with the carbon. And so our planning in the future contemplates CCS, Carbon Capture and Storage associated with natural gas emissions. So we will deal with the carbon atom in the years ahead. We must do that as a nation. That's why I say it's not just storage, it must include carbon capture technology in addition to, right?
Hydrogen is another exciting area that we ought to consider. I remember I was one of the sponsors of the Aspen Ideas Festival, the energy side of that. And I was on the stage one day extolling the virtue of electric transportation. When the guy behind me was the CEO of Toyota and they made a big bet on hydrogen fueled vehicles and fuel cells. Look, I don't know which bet will make sense right now, but the notion of spreading our bets among a basket of technologies is something to me that absolutely makes sense.
One last concept is new nuclear. So when we finish Vogtle 3 and 4, I believe we're going to finish it at a price, at a cost to customers that is less than what was originally promised when we received the order from the commission. So that's pretty exciting stuff. And we're going to get the benefit of very cheap energy, carbon free, emission free for years to come. And we will satisfy, I think, every safety requirement in dealing with used fuel on the site.
So I think that's a very necessary portfolio. Now if we have some breakthroughs in renewables and breakthroughs in storage, maybe we won't need nuclear in the future. But right now, with everything I see, there is nuclear in the future. And I think nuclear remains a foundation concept to the United States. Now future nuclear technologies, we've been right in the middle of developing, the so called Generation 4 reactors, bolt and salt.
We've been working with Bill Gates, Department of Energy and exploring lots of interesting concepts about fail safe nuclear technology. In other words, the physics of the fuel would require that it would not melt down and therefore you wouldn't need as much protective shrouding etcetera in the final design of the plant. Exploring concepts like that are important. And one day it may be fusion. Doctor.
Steven Specker, our Lead Director, was actually the CEO of a fusion company. But those are concepts that get to 2030, 2,040, they're kind of outside my timeframe. But I can tell you Southern Company is a leader in the United States in working with interested parties in the future to make sure that nuclear remains a viable option for America. I think we should work hard to make sure that that becomes a reality. Again, out of the money today, but we're going to work hard to put it in the money and make it a viable arrow in the quiver for the future.
John, always great to have you with us. Thank you. You've made us better for having participated over these years.
The next question comes from Ronald Friedman and asks, is the dividend safe?
Ronald, yes, in my opinion, the dividend is safe. We had such a good year last year. We beat our earnings and the dividend coverage not only by just earnings per share, but cash looks awfully good. And when you consider as we get Vogtle 3 and 4 into rate base, the cash flow metrics really take off for this company. The Board makes a decision on whether to increase the dividend every year.
They just made that assessment. And you should know that the Board's assessment really doesn't deal with so much of the here and now, even though that's a part of the analysis. The major part of the analysis is not in the here and now, but the what may be. We stress test our financials. We look at all different potential outcomes.
And the Board's confidence in increasing the dividend is important part of the old financial theory called signaling theory. And I think we all, Board, me, management team, have great confidence in our ability to continue a regular, predictable and sustainable dividend policy for years to come. Thanks for the question.
The next question comes in from Marybeth Gallagher. She asks, how is Southern Company engaging with employees, contractors and community members to seek out and facilitate a just transition as it looks to achieve ambitious climate goals?
Hey, Marybeth, thanks for that. Marybeth is another regular, so thank you for your question. I take it from the just comment, you mean kind of an energy justice concept. If that isn't what you meant, let me know. But I think the heart of that concept is that we have energy policy by our companies in every state they serve where we are fair to all.
And it's a very important concept that we've lived by it forever. You guys have heard me talk about this really since I've been Chairman and CEO at these forums. When you consider the customer profile, there is a lot of low income people. And when you think about our customer base and those people in particular, energy share as a part of their disposable household income is relatively higher than people on the higher end of the income spectrum. And so whenever you do something to a bill, whether it's to reduce carbon or promote energy efficiency or whatever the thing, we must understand that the effect on low income people is magnitudes higher than it is for people on the upper end of the spectrum.
And so we must always keep these folks in mind. And there's other indirect effects as well. If we close down, say, a coal plant in Putnam County, Georgia, which we did, plant branch, the jobs in that site are probably double the income level of what is the average income in that county. We take out significant percentages of tax base. And so there's a lot of other people, especially low income people, they'll be impacted by perhaps not the ability to have a job at the site, not having the 1st, 2nd and third degree kind of impacts on the site that is a supplier, a food vendor.
However you think about it, there are indirect impacts between that arise from taking those plants out of service. And tax base, what happens to the police force, the firemen, the teachers? How do we keep the school systems intact? And are they going to have to raise taxes? This multi stakeholder approach is something we consider very carefully and I've always been an enormous proponent of this justice concept.
So, Marybeth, thanks for that. And I should just add, we had one of the early questions on the idea of some of the programs that we are doing that are really pretty innovative. The idea of the income qualified tariff based on efficiency pilot at Georgia, the LIHEAP programs we participated forever. We've always had those folks in mind and we will continue to do so. Marybeth, thanks for joining us again.
Look forward to seeing you next year.
The next question comes from Mary Minette asking how much additional capital do you anticipate allocating to low and no carbon research and development in the coming decade?
Thank you for the question. Kind of a hard concept to hit on this call. We by far I think had the biggest investment in research and development. And it certainly represents a significant amount of shareholder capital. What we try to do is leverage that capital with other partners.
Department of Energy, I think we've been their longest most important partner in research and development. So it really depends on the program that we're evaluating going forward. We are doing and I think we just had a very important announcement that we did on May 20, where we announced that the National Carbon Capture Center expands testing of carbon capture for negative carbon technologies. This will be a new program where we're working with the Department of Energy. And let me just give a brief commercial.
The Secretary of Energy in place right now, Dan Prieet, who's top deputy, Mark Menzies, these are terrific, really effective leaders of energy policy in America. And I think even during the tough times that we find ourselves in with COVID-nineteen now and others, being able to sustain a long term program to help develop solutions for the future is something America desperately needs. And I'm so proud that Southern Company is arguably one of their most important partners in making sure that we make the investments today for the solutions of the future. Anyway, you will see us continue in this vein and certainly appreciate your question.
I think we have 2 more questions. From Scott Preston of Lawrenceville, Georgia, He says Georgia is not conducive to onshore wind power. There is increased potential for offshore wind even here in Georgia given the new latest generation of 12 Megawatt tall offshore turbines. Maryland and New Jersey are deploying some of these, a total of 7 Eastern states have or in the process of deploying offshore wind. What are Southern Company's plans for joining the party?
Yes, thanks for that. Always been kind of interesting discussion topic. And let me just review it for those of you that have never heard it before. And for those of you that have heard it 25 times, I ask your patience. But I'm a big believer in renewables.
I think when you look at our generation portfolio by 2,050, they're going to be 50% or more. There's no question, as you've seen already, renewables will be important to Southern Company and have been important and growing since I took over. Now, when you think about the climate of the Southeast United States, we really don't have the sustained wind flow that you'll find plentiful, say in the desert Southwest, the upper plains, that sort of thing. Even when I joined the company, I think it goes back that far and now I'm dating myself, But gosh, we've been involved in research with Georgia Tech and others on offshore wind kind of off the coast of Savannah out in that area. Here's kind of my thinking about it.
While solar is we have plentiful sunshine even though it tends to be cloudy here in the southeast, it is a technology that we can locate near the load center. One of the drawbacks we have of onshore wind in the Southeast is that where the best resources of wind are, as I just managed, there are very few people. And so wind generation really requires long haul transmission systems that require us to move the wind resource in the form of energy to where the loads are. And in fact, we signed long term deals. But what's interesting is the sourcing of our wind energy is really coming out of places like Kansas and Oklahoma.
It's really not coming from the Southeast. And so that requires dependence on long haul transmission. You may also know that I have helped lead for years the ESCC, the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council for America that deals with cyber and physical threats to our nation's energy infrastructure. And I was also named recently by Mitch McConnell to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. I was the only private citizen CEO that sat on that commission that reimagined military, but otherwise broad cyber policy that requires collaboration between the private sector and state and federal governments in thinking about how to make America more resilient in the future.
Now, I do believe wind even with long haul transmission is important for America, but I think for the Southeast, it's liable to be a niche. Relying on long haul transmission is not good energy policy. We are much safer and more resilient by locating energy generation near the load centers that says that photovoltaics and storage are probably what's best for us. Now I do accept your point. There are new technologies, these super tall, super big fan blade wind technologies that may make sense one day into the future.
And they may make sense into the near offshore waters of our territory. But just look at a map and I tell you one of the things that we have seen over the years is that wind offshore wind is better where you have a sustained wind resource and you can kind of just look at a map and look at areas of the United States that kind of poke out into the water. Those areas have more sustained wind flows. If you look at Georgia, particularly, it's in this kind of indentation between the Carolinas and Florida. And therefore, we don't have the sustained wind that may be attractive elsewhere.
Hey, look, if we develop technologies even for our waters that do make sense for us, I assure you we will adopt them and develop them. I am always for clean, safe, reliable and affordable generation. And if it is wind technology in the offshore waters of Georgia or even in the Gulf and it makes sense to all of our stakeholders, rest assured we will be for it. I am not dogmatic with respect to any source of electricity generation. I am for clean, safe, reliable, affordable.
And if it passes that test, we'll do it.
One last question from Jesse Giles asks, what amendments will Southern Company make to its pending and future IRPs to increase its ambition for reducing its emissions for 2,030?
What amendments will we make to the IRPs? I think the IRPs stand on their own. They have been very effective to us. And if you look over the years, as we balance clean, safe, reliable, affordable, we've been very effective in making sure that these choices are not false choices. These are never or propositions.
It's got to be carbon or affordable or reliable and now resilient more than reliable. And let me just make sure that's clear. Reliable is how our system works under normal conditions. Resilient is a concept that says, how does our system behave under abnormal conditions, whether it's a hurricane, a snowstorm, a cyber attack or a COVID-nineteen pandemic. We really need to start thinking in the future.
And I think we've been the 1st company to really push that idea of resilience is really now the dominant solution, not just reliability. Anyway, we take all those concepts into account and I think our IRPs have been great in taking into account all these issues. And in fact, in the latest Georgia IRP, we for the first time included a whole section on resilience. And I think our commission is very interested in that. I think it's up to us and we will show the leadership I commit to you to continue to push these ideas and make sure that we get the best portfolio answer possible.
Those are the questions we have time for. Hey, well, listen everybody. Thank you so much. I really miss the person to person contact. Anybody that's been to our annual meetings know that it's just a great event.
It's really a celebration of your investment and interest in our company. And I always want to show that appreciation to you. I know it can look like the World's Fair sometimes, but I really love taking advantage of the opportunity to be face to face with you, to be completely transparent and face to face to be accountable whether the news is good or bad. Now certainly for 2019, we've had one of the best years ever for our company, 45% share price appreciation. You add on top of that dividends.
Our TSR was number 1 in the industry. And you look at that, it's not just financials. Gee whiz, our generation fleet absolutely overwhelmed utility averages in terms of its reliability. Our generation fleet performed beautifully. We've hit our major milestones on Vogtle 34.
And so it's not just the 4 corners of a spreadsheet. We always try to take into account the whole picture of Southern Company, including my own compensation for achieving carbon goals. We think that's been particularly important. And for all the whats that I've just mentioned there, let me remind you of the hows. And the hows are that we treat employees fairly.
We take into account customers and our impact on our communities, all of our external publics. To say that we were 14th in great place to work, number 1 in our industry, number 1 Atlanta and Georgia, I think speaks volumes, not only about what we do for the share price, but for the whole presentation of this company to all of its stakeholders. You know recently that the Business Roundtable and other people, BlackRock has been one of the leaders of voices in America of saying that it's bigger than just our bottom line. We've been saying that for 100 years. And in fact, one of our early founders, I've said before, said that we must be citizens wherever we serve.
We must make sure that the communities are better off because we're there. I think we've demonstrated that for 100 years and we will continue to do that certainly under my watch. And I'm so glad to say that we've certainly benefited you as shareholders, particularly in the past year. What an outstanding record. As fate would have it, I couldn't be in person with you today, but rest assured if conditions permit, I'd love to be able to see you next year and shake your hand and tell you how much I appreciate your involvement with our great company.
With that, we'll close the meeting. Thanks everyone for your attendance today. Operator, we adjourn.
Thank you, sir. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may