Financing

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Debt Disclosure [Abstract]

Financing

FINANCING

Bank Credit Arrangements

See Note 8 to the financial statements under "Bank Credit Arrangements" in Item 8 of the Form 10-K for additional information.

At March 31, 2022, committed credit arrangements with banks were as follows:

	Expires
Company	2022		2024		2025		2026		Total		Unused		Expires within One Year
	(in millions)
Southern Company parent	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	2,000	$	2,000	$	1,998	$	—
Alabama Power	—		550		—		700		1,250		1,250		—
Georgia Power	—		—		—		1,750		1,750		1,726		—
Mississippi Power	—		150		125		—		275		255		—
Southern Power(a)	—		—		—		600		600		568		—
Southern Company Gas(b)	250		—		—		1,500		1,750		1,747		250
SEGCO	30		—		—		—		30		30		30
Southern Company	$	280	$	700	$	125	$	6,550	$	7,655	$	7,574	$	280

(a)Does not include Southern Power Company's two $75 million continuing letter of credit facilities for standby letters of credit, expiring in 2023 and 2025, respectively, of which $11 million and $19 million, respectively, was unused at March 31, 2022. Southern Power's subsidiaries are not parties to its bank credit arrangements or letter of credit facilities.

(b)Southern Company Gas, as the parent entity, guarantees the obligations of Southern Company Gas Capital, which is the borrower of $800 million of the arrangement expiring in 2026 and all $250 million of the arrangement expiring in 2022. Southern Company Gas' committed credit arrangement expiring in 2026 also includes $700 million for which Nicor Gas is the borrower and which is restricted for working capital needs of Nicor Gas. Pursuant to the multi-year credit arrangement expiring in 2026, the allocations between Southern Company Gas Capital and Nicor Gas may be adjusted.

As reflected in the table above, in March 2022, Mississippi Power amended and restated its $125 million revolving credit arrangement, which among other things, extended the maturity date from 2023 to 2025 and allows for borrowing based on term SOFR.

Subject to applicable market conditions, Southern Company and its subsidiaries expect to renew or replace their bank credit arrangements as needed, prior to expiration. In connection therewith, Southern Company and its subsidiaries may extend the maturity dates and/or increase or decrease the lending commitments thereunder.

These bank credit arrangements, as well as the term loan arrangements of the Registrants, Nicor Gas, and SEGCO, contain covenants that limit debt levels and contain cross-acceleration or, in the case of Southern Power, cross-default provisions to other indebtedness (including guarantee obligations) that are restricted only to the indebtedness of the individual company. Such cross-default provisions to other indebtedness would trigger an event of default if Southern Power defaulted on indebtedness or guarantee obligations over a specified threshold. Such cross-acceleration provisions to other indebtedness would trigger an event of default if the applicable borrower defaulted on indebtedness, the payment of which was then accelerated. At March 31, 2022, the Registrants, Nicor Gas, and SEGCO were in compliance with all such covenants. None of the bank credit arrangements contain material adverse change clauses at the time of borrowings.

A portion of the unused credit with banks is allocated to provide liquidity support to the revenue bonds of the traditional electric operating companies and the commercial paper programs of the Registrants, Nicor Gas, and SEGCO. The amount of variable rate revenue bonds of the traditional electric operating companies outstanding requiring liquidity support at March 31, 2022 was approximately $1.5 billion (comprised of approximately $789 million at Alabama Power, $672 million at Georgia Power, and $34 million at Mississippi Power). In addition, at March 31, 2022, Georgia Power had approximately $330 million of fixed rate revenue bonds outstanding that are required to be remarketed within the next 12 months.

Earnings per Share

For Southern Company, the only differences in computing basic and diluted earnings per share are attributable to awards outstanding under stock-based compensation plans and the equity units issued in 2019. Earnings per share dilution resulting from stock-based compensation plans and the equity units issuance is determined using the treasury stock method. See Note 8 to the financial statements under "Equity Units" in Item 8 of the Form 10-K for information on the equity units and Note 12 to the financial statements in Item 8 of the Form 10-K for information on stock-based compensation plans. Shares used to compute diluted earnings per share were as follows:

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2022	2021
	(in millions)
As reported shares	1,063	1,060
Effect of stock-based compensation	6	6
Diluted shares	1,069	1,066

An immaterial number of stock-based compensation awards was not included in the diluted earnings per share calculation because the awards were anti-dilutive for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021.