Southern Co. said on July 25, 2012 that it plans to shut down about 4,000 MW of older coal-fired power plants, to continue operating 13,000 MW of coal-fired power plants, and to switch about 3,000 MW to run on low-priced natural gas from other fuels. Southern said it expects to spend nearly $1 billion less than previously planned on pollution-control equipment at its coal-fired power plants, thanks to changes that the Environmental Protection Agency made to its final rules limiting mercury and other emissions from coal-fired power plants. The changes provided utilities with more flexibility in the ways they can meet the new limits. Southern said it now expects to spend about $1.8 billion on pollution controls from 2012 through 2014.

The company is proceeding with construction of a $2.88 billion advanced-coal plant in Mississippi, despite a decision last month by state regulators to deny a $55 million rate increase the company requested while a related court case is pending. The company's Mississippi Power unit has filed an appeal of that decision with the state Supreme Court, and argues that without the rate increase it won't be able to cover certain project expenses that could boost its customers' future costs.

plant name	epa unit id	unit group	state	size MW	SO2 tons	McIlvaine fgd startup	2010 forecast SO2 tons	2015 forecast SO2 tons
Barry	1	1	AL	125	6,064.47		6,064.47	6,064.47
Barry	2	1	AL	125	6,405.31		6,405.31	6,405.31
Barry	3	1	AL	225	9,536.89		9,536.89	9,536.89
Barry	4	2	AL	350	14,419.90		14,419.90	1,441.99
Barry	5	3	AL	700	24,901.00	2011	2,490.10	2,490.10
Bowen	1BLR	0	GA	700	28,957.60	2010	2,895.76	2,895.76
Bowen	2BLR	0	GA	700	35,098.10	2009	3,509.81	3,509.81
Bowen	3BLR	0	GA	880	41,479.30	2008	4,147.93	4,147.93
Bowen	4BLR	0	GA	880	49,838.60	2008	4,983.86	4,983.86
Crist	4	0	FL	94	3,650.90	2009	365.09	365.09
Crist	5	0	FL	94	4,772.70	2009	477.27	477.27
Crist	6	0	FL	320	13,678.80	2009	1,367.88	1,367.88
Crist	7	0	FL	500	29,803.20	2009	2,980.32	2,980.32
E C Gaston	1	5	AL	250	18,187.73		18,187.73	18,187.73
E C Gaston	2	5	AL	272	18,684.68		18,684.68	18,684.68
E C Gaston	3	6	AL	250	20,168.58		20,168.58	20,168.58
E C Gaston	4	6	AL	250	17,902.02		17,902.02	17,902.02
E C Gaston	5	0	AL	880	42,910.20	2010	4,291.02	4,291.02
Gadsden	1	0	AL	69	5,032.80		5,032.80	5,032.80
Gadsden	2	0	AL	69	4,705.00		4,705.00	4,705.00
Gorgas	10	8	AL	789	31,829.60	2008	3,182.96	3,182.96
Gorgas	6	7	AL	125	11,145.06		11,145.06	11,145.06
Gorgas	7	7	AL	125	9,421.40		9,421.40	9,421.40
Gorgas	8	9	AL	188	9,879.20	2008	987.92	987.92
Gorgas	9	10	AL	190	8,566.00	2008	856.60	856.60
Greene County	1	0	AL	299	23,618.80		23,618.80	23,618.80
Greene County	2	11	AL	269	23,913.90		23,913.90	23,913.90
Hammond	1	25	GA	100	3,216.12	2008	321.61	321.61
Hammond	2	25	GA	100	4,108.15	2008	410.82	410.82
Hammond	3	25	GA	100	4,216.23	2008	421.62	421.62
Hammond	4	0	GA	500	16,742.30	2008	1,674.23	1,674.23
Harllee Branch	1	26	GA	299	9,752.93		9,752.93	975.29
Harllee Branch	2	26	GA	359	13,449.06		13,449.06	1,344.91
Harllee Branch	3	27	GA	544	23,379.26	2015	23,379.26	2,337.93
Harllee Branch	4	27	GA	544	22,984.62	2015	22,984.62	2,298.46
Jack McDonough	MB1	28	GA	245	14,205.46		14,205.46	1,420.55
Jack McDonough	MB2	28	GA	245	14,036.53		14,036.53	1,403.65
Jack Watson	4	106	MS	299.2	16,152.40	2019	16,152.40	1,615.24
Jack Watson	5	107	MS	578	36,751.40	2019	36,751.40	3,675.14
James H Miller Jr	1	0	AL	700	16,408.60	2011	1,640.86	1,640.86
James H Miller Jr	2	0	AL	660	16,375.00	2011	1,637.50	1,637.50
James H Miller Jr	3	0	AL	706	15,460.40	2011	1,546.04	1,546.04
James H Miller Jr	4	0	AL	706	16,948.20	2011	1,694.82	1,694.82
Kraft	1	29	GA	50	2,076.66		2,076.66	2,076.66
Kraft	2	29	GA	54.4	1,659.07		1,659.07	1,659.07
Kraft	3	29	GA	103.5	4,047.66		4,047.66	4,047.66
Lansing Smith	1	0	FL	149.6	9,199.50		9,199.50	9,199.50
Lansing Smith	2	0	FL	190.4	11,526.80	on hold	11,526.80	1,152.68
McIntosh	1	0	GA	163	7,830.00		7,830.00	7,830.00
Mitchell-Southern	3	0	GA	163	4,928.90		4,928.90	492.89
Scherer	1	0	GA	818	27,591.00	2014	27,591.00	2,759.10
Scherer	2	0	GA	818	25,696.70	2013	25,696.70	2,569.67
Scherer	3	0	GA	891	15,594.10	2011	1,559.41	1,559.41
Scherer	4	0	GA	891	22,404.20	2012	22,404.20	2,240.42
Scholz	1	0	FL	49	1,601.20		1,601.20	1,601.20
Scholz	2	0	FL	49	1,416.90		1,416.90	1,416.90
Victor J Daniel Jr	1	0	MS	548	13,947.90	2015	13,947.90	1,394.79
Victor J Daniel Jr	2	0	MS	548	13,060.30	2015	13,060.30	1,306.03
Wansley	1	0	GA	865	37,069.90	2008	3,706.99	3,706.99
Wansley	2	0	GA	865	32,147.90	2009	3,214.79	3,214.79
Yates	Y1BR	0	GA	100	300.60	1992	300.60	300.60
Yates	Y2BR	31	GA	100	3,755.94		3,755.94	3,755.94
Yates	Y3BR	31	GA	100	2,928.99		2,928.99	2,928.99
Yates	Y4BR	32	GA	125	3,219.90		3,219.90	321.99
Yates	Y5BR	32	GA	125	5,069.80		5,069.80	506.98
Yates	Y6BR	0	GA	350	16,276.70	delayed	16,276.70	1,627.67
Yates	Y7BR	0	GA	350	13,550.90	delayed	13,550.90	1,355.09