The Southern Company (SO)

Electric and gas utility, 29,800, all U.S.. Read October 3, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 19, 2026. Ranked 1 of the 3 Utilities companies read so far, by the share within reach now.

The filing counts employees by subsidiary, so the electric companies, the gas company and the shared services company take their shares by count (a).

The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.

What follows from the reading

Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 22% now, 37% at the end of 2027, 45% at the end of 2028, 48% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 48% desk work, 16% people work and 35% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 48% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 41% becomes checking a model's work and 6% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.

Headcount

29,800 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). All Southern Company system employees are located within the United States, the filing states.

The filing: “The Southern Company system had approximately 29,800 employees on its payroll at December 31, 2025 comprised of the following: Alabama Power 6,100; Georgia Power 7,700; Mississippi Power 1,100; Southern Power 500; Southern Company Gas 5,000; SCS 4,800; Southern Nuclear 3,700; PowerSecure and other 900.”

The workforce as industry patterns

What the filing says about the workforce: 29,800 on the payroll at December 31, 2025, counted by subsidiary; all in the United States; part-time employees less than 1% of the total; average age 44, average tenure 13 years, turnover 6.3%.

Companies read with the same leading pattern

Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

• PG&E Corporation (PCG, 29,010 employees)21% now, 41% by 2028
• Duke Energy Corporation (DUK, 26,441 employees)20% now, 41% by 2028

What the filing says about AI

3 sentences in the filing name AI. Three sentences: generative AI increasing the frequency, scale and sophistication of cyber attacks, and data centers' power needs to support AI driving demand growth.

• “Use of generative artificial intelligence has also increased the frequency, scale, and sophistication of cyber attacks and increased the capability of less sophisticated actors.”
• “As generative artificial intelligence continues to evolve, new technologies and increased computing power could cause these trends to continue or exacerbate.”
• “The majority of this demand is driven by the power needs and projected power needs of data centers to serve an increasingly digital economy and to support artificial intelligence.”

Its annual reports, year by year

Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector

• Fiscal 20210median 0
• Fiscal 20220median 0
• Fiscal 20230median 1
• Fiscal 20242median 4
• Fiscal 20253median 10

Headcount by filing year

As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.

Limits of this reading

• PowerSecure and other (900) folded into the electric pattern under rule 5.
• Read under SO on 2026-10-03 after the universe's share-class rule was corrected; the snapshot is the same 10-K the SOJE row had held.

Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000092122-26-000006, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.