SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

                                Washington, D.C.

                          Three year period ending 2002


                      FORM U-12(I)-B (THREE-YEAR STATEMENT)


  Statement Pursuant to Section 12(i) of Public Utility Holding Company Act of
     1935 by a Person Regularly Employed or Retained by a Registered Holding
        Company or a Subsidiary Thereof and Whose Employment Contemplates
                Only Routine Expenses as Specified in Rule 71(b)
  (To be filed in DUPLICATE. If acknowledgment is desired, file in triplicate)

         1. Name and business address of person filing statement.
                      H. R. Wilder
                      1310 25th Avenue
                      Gulfport, MS  39501

         2. Names and business addresses of any persons through whom the
undersigned proposes to act in matters included within the exemption provided by
paragraph (b) of Rule U-71.
                      None

         3. Registered holding companies and subsidiary companies by which the
undersigned is regularly employed or retained.
                      Southern Company and all its subsidiaries.

         4. Position or relationship in which the undersigned is employed or
retained by each of the companies named in item 3, and brief description of
nature of services to be rendered in each such position or relationship.
                      The undersigned is a member of the firm Eaton and
                      Cottrell, P. A., general counsel of Mississippi Power
                      Company. He files this statement on behalf of said Company
                      or any affiliated company before the Securities and
                      Exchange Commission or Federal Energy Regulatory
                      Commission or any member, officer or employee of such
                      commissions or before any member or committee of Congress,
                      which may include, among other things, proceedings in
                      connection with the Public Utility Holding Company and
                      Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Acts or in connection
                      with legislation.

         5. (a) Compensation received during the prior reporting period and
estimated to be received over the next two calendar years by the undersigned or
others, directly or indirectly, for services rendered by the undersigned, from
each of the companies designated in item 3. (Use column (a) as supplementary
statement only.)

                                 Salary or other
                                  compensations

Name of recipient        received      to be        Person or company from whom
                                      received      received or to be received

                            (a)         (b)
Eaton & Cottrell, P. A. $5,972,710.98*   **         Mississippi Power Company

            (b) Basis for compensation if other than salary.

          6. (To be answered in supplementary statement only.) Expenses incurred
by the undersigned or any person named in item 2, above, during the calendar
year in connection with the activities described in item 4, above, and the
source or sources of reimbursement for same.

            (a) Total amount of routine expenses charged to client:  $ -0-

            (b) Itemized list of all other expenses:





(Date)  1/21/2000                         (Signed) /S/ H. R. Wilder
                                                       H. R. Wilder



    *Includes legal fees and expenses
   **Subject to billing