The Southern Company SO Q2 2024 Earnings Presentation

good afternoon my name is Sher and I will be your conference operator today at this time I would like to welcome everybody to The Southern Company second quarter 2024 earnings call all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise after the speaker's remarks there will be a question and answer session if anyone should require operator assistance during the conference please press star zero on your telephone keypad I would now like to turn the call over to Mr Scott gaml vice president investor relations and Treasurer please go ahead sir thank you Sherry good afternoon and welcome to Southern Company's second quarter 2024 earnings call joining me today are Chris wac chairman president and chief executive officer of Southern Company and Dan Tucker Chief Financial Officer let me remind you we'll be making forward-looking statements today in addition to providing historical information various important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in our forward-looking statements including those discussed in our form 10K form 10q and subsequent filings in addition we'll present non-gaap financial information on this call reconciliations to the applicable Gap measure are included in the financial information we released this morning as well as the slides for this conference call which are both available on our investor relations website at investor. Southern company.com I'll now turn the call over to Chris thank you thank you Scott and good afternoon and thank you for joining us today as you can see from the materials we released this morning we reported strong adjusted earnings results for the second quarter meaningfully ahead of the estimate provided last quarter we believe we are well positioned to achieve our financial objectives for 2024 all our businesses electric and gas are performing well and we continue to see both economic resilience and economic growth especially within our Southeast service territories during the most recent Heat Wave across the southeast our dedicated employees supported by our coordinated planning ensured our Electric System delivered outstanding reliability and resiliency for the customers and communities that we are privileged to serve last quarter represented the warmest second quarter in the last 38 years with a peak electric load of over 30 8,000 megaw the third highest June Peak electric load on record for The Southern Company system we take tremendous pride in our ability to reliably serve our customers through all operating conditions our performance continues to highlight the value of the integrated regulated framework in which we operate coordinating planning for generation and transmission as well as our robust portfolio of natural gas transportation capacity and storage have positioned us to effectively manage Peak demand needs this same framework including our orderly internal and external regulatory processes for long-term demand planning and resource decisions is what also positions us so well to reliably serve the significant electric load growth projected over the next decade an opportunity we're excited about Dan I'll now turn the call over to you for a financial update thanks Chris and good afternoon everyone for the second quarter of 2024 our adjusted earnings per share was A110 cents per share 31 cents higher than the second quarter of 2023 and 20 cents above our estimate the primary drivers of our performance for the quarter compared to last year were continued investment in our state regulated utilities and warmer than normal weather for our electric subsidiaries this was somewhat offset by higher interest and depreciation expenses a complete reconciliation of year-over-year earnings is included in the materials we released this morning our adjusted EPS estimate for the third quarter is $130 per share as Chris noted all of our businesses experienced a strong second quarter leading to adjusted Financial results meaningfully higher than our estimate of 90 cents per share the warmer the normal weather in the second quarter contributed to these results as well as our continued focus on managing operating costs additionally during the second quarter we experienced higher than expected weather adjusted electricity sales in our commercial customer class these higher sales were driven by a combination of continued strength in our local economies as well as increased usage by many of our existing data center customers in fact sales to existing data centers for the quarter were up approximately 177% year-over-year the strong Southeast economy including favorable business climates and expansions and Manufacturing continues to drive net inmigration and customer growth for the second quarter we saw residential customer additions of 14,000 in our electric businesses and 6,000 in our Natural Gas Distribution businesses we also continue to see strong economic development activity across our electric service territories the aggregate pipeline for potential new Industrial and Commercial customers across our three-state electric utility footprint includes nearly 200 projects and over 30 gws of potential load over the next decade or so while it's likely these numbers include some degree of duplication as in potential projects as some prospective customers are evaluating multiple states that we serve for their facilities these numbers are significantly higher than what we've seen historically about 40% of the projects in the pipeline and 80% of the potential electric load are data centers in addition to Data Centers clean energy and transportation manufacturing Port related businesses and other heavy Industries continue to be attracted to our states due to Reliable energy a diverse Workforce robust Transportation networks and a low cost of living all compelling reasons to locate or expand in our southeastern states the potential load growth in this pipeline that is reflected in our forecast is currently only a fraction of this full potential as a reminder during our year- end earnings call in February we updated our forecast to reflect projected retail electric sales growth that is expected to accelerate in the latter part of this decade with a projected growth rate of approximately 6% from 2025 to 2028 the underlying Georgia Power projected sales growth is approximately 9% over the same period in response to this growth Georgia Power filed and the Georgia Public Service Commission subsequently approved earlier this year its 2023 integrated resource Plan update since the time of the original filing last year Georgia poers pipeline of potential large load additions by the mid 2030s has grown approximately 40% in the amount of committed Peak demand over the same time frame has more than doubled now totaling over seven gws as we described in detail on our last earnings call we continue to execute on our disciplined approach to attracting serving pricing and forecasting this potential incremental electric load and we continue to expect that our disciplined approach to pricing this new load should result in revenues that not only cover the incremental cost to serve these new customers it also provides economic benefits to existing customers Chris I'll now turn the call back over to you thanks Dan Southern Company remains focused on execution and we're excited about the future we believe we are well positioned to capture the value of this significant electricity demand for the benefits of all stakeholders our orderly improving processes for engaging with prospective customers and for addressing resource need with our Regulators differentiates Southern Company from our peers and helps mitigate risk for our customers and our investors additionally prospective electric customers are increasingly recognizing the value of our institutional experience and wherewithal the value of the great States we operate in and the value of the vertically integrated regulated utility model before taking your questions this afternoon I'd like to take a moment to recognize the hundreds of team members from Alabama Power Georgia power and Mississippi Power who recently returned home after aiding in power restorations in Texas following the devastation caused by hurricane Barrel these teams and others from across our industry work tirelessly to bring relief to affected communities and their performance throughout the successful restoration effort stands as a testament that our employees are at their very best when conditions are at their worst let me conclude by saying we have delivered very strong operational and financial results for the first half of this year we will remain focused on continuing to execute on our plan and we believe that we are extraordinarily well position to deliver the superior performance that you expect from us for the remainder of the Year operator we're now ready to take your questions thank you if you would like to ask a question please press star one on your telephone keypad a confirmation tone will indicate your Lin is in the question que you may press St two if you would like to remove your question from the queue and for participant using speaker equipment it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star Keys one moment at while we pull for questions our first question is from Carly Davenport with Goldman Sachs please proceed hey good afternoon how are you thanks so much for taking the questions um maybe just to start on the quarter itself I guess just what the significant beat relative to your inial 90 cents guidance sort of how are you thinking about the puts and takes around the full year guidance and your execution there at this point look we we're always very cautious this while we're halfway through the year there's a lot of year left to go and in particular with our electric utilities being in the Southeast the the summer is a a pretty big period from a revenue perspective so we typically kind of hone in on a more specific expectation uh after our third quarter call that said to your point we are incredibly well positioned we're off to a great start and what we also have a history of doing is really taking that kind of opportunity and doing anything and everything that we can to not only deliver on the current year but use that as an opportunity to improve our positioning for future years so that might look like advancing maintenance work out of future years into 2024 or getting ahead on on other programs there are reliability reserves we have the opportunity to kind of optimize in some of our states and so with how position we're working hard to do all those things focus on this year but focus on the long term but you know all that to say given how we started if we you know don't end up in the top half our range I think Chris I would be disappointed but I think Dan I think as we say internally a lot when we have the opportunity to fix the roof while the sun is shining and so thinking about 24 25 and 26 uh those are some things we'll consider as we continue to move forward through this year great appreciate that color um and then the followup just would love to get your perspectives on nuclear as it continues to gain Focus here I guess what do you think the industry needs to do to support the buildout of new large scale nuclear and and as you think about the the 20125 Georgia IRP filing is there any potential to see nuclear play role there Carly I mean I think the industry has got to continue to do all the planning uh all the reviews working with Industries to look at what all the possibilities may be uh I think to ultimately get that build out and get the momentum we've got to have incredible leadership from the government uh to make this a a a reality uh we know their risk and I think we all must find ways and and I think support from the government can help mitigate some of that risk so I think that that is the critical element in terms of really gaining the momentum to to build on what we got done by completing vocal units three and four I think it's got to be a part of the future uh it's got to be a part of the mix we got to have diverse resources uh to meet this demand we see going forward and nuclear's got to play a very prominent part in that in that role uh but I think there's got to be it needs to be great leadership from the government uh to really kind of help build a momentum that that I that we need to see I mean I'll leave it at that thanks so much for the comments our next question is from Char pereza with gugenheim Partners please proceed what's up sh how you doing hey guys good how you doing Chris doing great man excellent um so Dan I can maybe quick one for Dan Dan I can totally appreciate the conservativeness and and sort of how you're messaging around this year but like obviously like we are seeing you know much stronger the reality of your sort of your footprint is much stronger than kind of your planning assumptions right and I know you've talked about in the past that maybe you can provide an update in the fourth quarter or potentially EI time frame of what all this kind of means to your longer range guidance I guess what other trigger points are you looking for outside of sustainability around this load back backdrop to really revisit how you guys think about a longer range plan S I think it does you know I know you said besides sustainability but it really is rooted in that notion of continued momentum look I think we feel good about what we know and see right in front of us and that's a large part of what we addressed in this recent Georgia proceeding we've got the 2025 RP ahead of us that will provide an opportunity to kind of further butt up the latter part of the decade into the next decade for for again what we kind of know sitting here today the opportunity and and it certainly feels like there is continued increase momentum the opportunity is that assuming that continues there will inevitably be more capital investment needed to serve continued load growth whether that's in the form of new generation resources certainly transmission improvements around the the system and but I the thing I want to balance all of that with and and I think we've continued to say this this is really a later in the decade phenomenon this is not a 25 thing this is is starting to bleed into 26 but because of the long-term nature of these Capital Investments because the long-term nature of building out these data centers it this is a this this is an opportunity that sustains beyond the current forecast period the kind of financial profile and strength that we see okay um got it that's helpful and maybe just Chris uh on your end I know obviously we we've got a Georgia GRC coming it's going to come sooner than we think there's been some noise around sort of Roes and Equity ratios maybe being overly adequate now that Vogal is online from just some of the Commissioners can you maybe just talk this through a bit is this going to be an issue as you prep for the case have you begun discussions kind of with stakeholders ahead of this filing thanks and Char you know man there's always conversations about those matters as we go through those proceedings and so I would not you know I I would not you know be surprised I mean that we always have good deliberations about those issues in terms of where we are and recognizing the level of service that we provide and the premium nature of of how we how we run this business uh I mean equative ratio also came from a tax reform issue not just from Vogal I mean so there are a lot of implications and so as usual as as we go through 25 all these issues I think will be thoroughly vetted and thoroughly uh debated uh recognizing also once again as I said recognizing how we perform as a company yeah you know got it the the the equity ratio kind of changed es were broad-based right this not just a Georgia conversation it was in all of our states and Chris made the point that was for tax reform it was coincidentally during the construction of vogle but had nothing to do with vogle construction itself so unless there's some major change to to tax policy that has implications I think that you know defending that is is is where we will start from okay uh that's helpful thank you so much Dan Chris we'll see you soon thanks sure I hope to our next question is from Julian Dean Smith with jeffes please proceed Julian are you there Julian yeah oh hey how you guys doing sorry I was on mute there hey julan how are you man how are you good good good pleasure guys AB doing well thank you hey hey congratulations on your child all right thank you thank you so much I appreciate it it's been a busy month all right I gotta tell you hope you get some hope you getting some sleep H one of these days seriously getting the L done um look speaking of speaking of uh having the sunshine and you guys just uh starting the year off pretty well um it's uh it's nice to see um Co maybe to turning that into a specific question um you know you've got this do30 out there just to to kick it off you've probably seen some continuation of that good weather from 2 and the 3Q is that already reflected in that do30 or is there um is there some more upside there because you already had 10 cents versus normal uh in the second quarter so what we would typically do Jillian and what we've certainly done in this case is is put out a a quarterly estimate that is weather Normal you know there's always still at least two months left in the quarter when we put these out and just anecdotally I would say I think this is the first day in about three weeks that it hasn't rained here in Atlanta so I'm I'm not so sure that July has looked like looked like June did ah sounds like Texas far trco um anyway just keep going on that um in terms of the the backdrop with the log I just want to make sure I'm hearing you clearly on this right the 17% is phenomenal on the data center load growth how do you think about that number in terms of the medium and longer term right you obviously provided some very healthy longer term load growth numbers should we expect that to continue to compound kind of consistently through the period here or to what extent actually could we see an acceleration of that number here I mean you know there's a lot of talk about building infrastructure but you guys are realizing it in a much more tangible way than perhaps some of your peers great question so let me just kind of clarify the the Dynamics that are happening that 177% that we referred to is existing data centers that are on the ground have been on the ground and they're either in the process of ramping to their full load or in some cases what we believe is also happening is some of these are actually improving the technology in the data centers with you know not only increasing processing capabilities but that's also utilizing a little bit more electricity in the process what will happen going forward while this Dynamic will be there you know this is a small component of our overall commercial sales today the everything we've been talking about in terms of what drives that 6% sales growth from 25 to 28 you know 9% at Georgia Power those are new data centers and so it will be a significant acceleration that begins to happen in the you know 26 27 28 time frame and and and Beyond as these data centers are completed and they too will have their own ramp UPS uh to the point where overall commercial sales growth implicit in that 6% will be in the double digits right but the point is you know while 17% looks phenomenal after the existing Cas that acceleration was obviously u accentuated in 26 hour then we said see contined ramping of the existing days in 25 it will it will become a big excellent all right guys I'll leave it there thank you thank you Julian our next question is from David araro with Morgan Stanley please proceed hey thanks so much for taking my question good afternoon good afternoon David you know uh uh a great commentary here just on the load growth that you're seeing in data center commentary um it are you tracking ahead of that 6% assumption I feel like things are pretty fluid and moving quickly um are there indications that it could be stronger from here I think given how the pipeline is evolving there are indications the longterm could certainly be stronger so again we're talking into the decade into the 2030s the way that is building the momentum is very promising in terms of the very near term Dave and you know like this 177% we were just talking about even if that swung a little bit it's such a small piece today it's not going to have a meaning full impact on on kind of current results it really is about the capital being deployed in the Big hyperscale Data Centers that are due to to be online a little bit in here in a few years yeah got it that makes sense and I was I was thinking about the load growth um overall and uh let's see the other um the other other item I just wanted to check on uh there was a valve issue at Vogal 3 um recently uh just wondering if you had any feedback on that uh kind of the extent um of that issue um and anything else to watch for there yeah no they they worked through that issue and the unit is now back online and vogo 3 has operated more than 98% is capacity Factor over the period so those things will happen with new units uh but we're very pleased with the performance of voga 3 and vogo 4 yep okay great um thanks so much I'll leave there our next question is from Steve fleshman with wolf research please proceed Steve hi uh good afternoon uh hi Chris um first just uh just wanted to clarify on the data center so I think on the q1 call you gave a number of pipeline of 21 gaw firm commitment of 6.2 gaws uh by the mid 2030s is it does that sound right yeah what are those what are those numbers now sure and so I'm going to even take it a little bit further back Steve because I think the progression here is important so you you know you mentioned the 21 gws that was where we were as of our last call and that's compared to 17 gigb Watts back when we originally filed the 2023 IRP update at Jordan power so it had grown 4,000 gaw as we sit here today that 21 GW is 24.3 GW in terms of the total pipeline uh you mentioned the commitments the commitments were a significant change from the original filing last quarter so it went from 3.6 gaw to 6 . 2 gws and then from from the last earnings call to today that 6.2 is now 7.3 got it okay that that's helpful um and then totally separate question uh the uh you know on Kinder Kinder Morgan's call they mentioned uh expanding uh the Sonet system with $3 billion dollar I think uh growth investment and kind of I think implied that you would represent half of it and uh could you just talk to your thoughts on that and likelihood you'll you'll do that yeah look it's it's really early for that so yes we're a 50% partner on Southern natural there is a project that is proposed that total capital is three billion doll our share would be $1.5 billion doar it's just really early days you know how these projects evolve look we're very encouraged by it it's you know it's 90 plus per I believe you know Brownfield existing rice away a tremendous opportunity there we will kind of you know at the right time down the road once this thing has solidified a little bit more there's some traction from a firk perspective terms of approval kind of reflect that more in our Outlook but that's still that all that said it's an encouraging opportunity Steve one thing I would add I think Dan said it but it's it's just very early on in that process I think there's a a great deal of diligence to be done uh but I think at this point in time I think the thing to note is that just very early on in that consideration okay uh last question yeah I just going to say just policy wise I mean we're excited about it to to the extent we can get this done it's important for everything else is happening right to the extent that all this large load is down the road that has the opportunity to be served with more gas capacity like this is really important and so we're we're super supportive of yeah Steve let me one more thing on that mean and we talk a lot about the importance of this country building infrastructure so these kind of things need to happen uh to support uh this economy going forward uh but for us it's just very early on uh but it's U some things that this country must Embrace and must move forward on okay uh one last question just going back to my first topic on data centers can you just remind uh remind me what how you define firm commitments relative to to pipeline for data centers yeah so the the commitment we're characterizing is essentially a a a signed request for service within our service territory it's a commitment by the customer to be at a particular level it's a Comm commitment by us to provide the service and then a lot of these commitments have kind of further papering if you will that goes beyond those kind of key elements where it's you know commitments for local infrastructure commitments around pricing commitments around the ramp and so there there's clearly different stages here I think importantly because it you know we we argue with ourselves you know what is the right nomenclature for this what's the right word to really characterize this because commitment sounds like something that's you know completely fixed and and and unreversed these request for services and over time there's puts and takes in fact in the numbers I shared with you a few minutes ago Steve there were puts and takes in there but net net the megawatts are still going up and Steve last ear we went through this I guess process this orderly process that we go through internal in terms of confirming that this load is in fact real and so if you look remember some of that I mean that's kind of the discipline in which we you know look at these projects to make sure they are real that they've demonstrated a commitment to the state that they've selected our utility companies I mean so it's a very orderly and discipline process that we go through because like we've been in this development displ for a very very long time I mean we're in the market each and every day uh engaging with customers uh but we know how this plays out we know how it works and so for us as well as for them it's important to to understand what's real in terms of and and and what it means to have a commitment so we spend a lot of time working on this and so importantly I just last thing Steve I just to clarify commitment for us does not mean in Center forecast there's further risk adjustment from there there's we we know that things will get delayed we know that the the actual Peak load alluded to may not show up to that extent but they'll be load but not that much so we're risk adjusting Beyond this commitment level to be as conservative but also as pragmatic as we can with the forecast and then lastly that the 9% Georgia Power growth rate that was based off of the initial numbers that you gave at the end of 23 or when you made the filing okay so these updates that was yeah yes that there is potential for those to evolve and I think that's what we will we will see where we are at the time of the 2025 IRP fil thank you yeah thank you thank you our next question is from Nick Cella with Barkley please proceed hey thanks hope everyone's doing well um you are I am I am it's hot um hey a lot of questions have been answered but I guess just you know I know that there's been potential for for doe loans to to enter the portfolio and hopefully that's coming up soon but just can you just remind us you know how that could affect uh you know your overall financing plans and what could maybe be on the table if anything sure Nick happy to so look there's we believe and and you know the devil being in the details as we work through this process with with the doe loan office there could be big round numbers eligible capital in the range of 15 billion to2 billion do over the next I don't know seven eight years or so that could qualify for this and the program allows that qualified Capital to be financed up to 8 80% of the qualifying amount so that's a significant amount of debt financing that could be done through very low cost Source relative to the capital markets implication of that is a potential tremendous benefit to customers over time not unlike what we had with BOGO 3 and four in terms of the The Loan program there again this program could potentially be three to four times the size of the bogal and four program which which created tremendous savings for customers hey I I appreciate that and um you know maybe just one conceptual question here just we we've heard about Economic Development on on your call on all of your peers calls uh this earning season the Tailwinds continue to be very strong I I can't help but notice that some economic and Industrial indicators are now starting to roll you know ISM indicators this morning were at their lowest since the pandemic um and I guess my question is is just what's differentiating your service territory you think on the economic development side and then you know is this this all kind of chalking up to maybe you guys being conservative in this 5 to seven Outlook and waiting for it to come thanks no and we talked about it earlier uh on this call about the reliability and the performance of our company uh the cost of living in the territory uh the transportation hubs and access and resources that we have here uh the the kind of business climate uh Alabama was recently recognized by CN CNBC as a top state to do business in uh and so the great advancements there so I think a collection of things that occurring across this Southeastern territory has really made it has been attractive for for a long period of time and continues to make this part of the country very attractive and so I think we have a lot of good things going for us and so we're kind of excited about where we are and it shows up in the pipeline of business and the projects that are that that that are currently in the queue in all of our states all of our southeastern states so I think it speaks well for the characteristics of of our states and where we are and also I think our vertically integrated model also supports kind of uh this is a good place to to come and do business thanks for those thoughts thank you Nick our next question is from GES Chopra with evercore ASI please proceed Andre yes hey Dan good afternoon thanks for taking my questions hey just Dan U as we think about your forward-looking guidance and your 2024 base you've obviously you know started the year phenomenally year to- date materially above the plan but there's some one-timers in there like weather so as we think about our models and you know 26 27 EPS estimates and Beyond uh are you when you rebate whenever you provide this guidance at Q4 are you going to exclude you know these one-time benefits in 2024 I'm just I'm just trying to think of what should be the base of the new 527 if you will yeah the the base for the 5 to7 is the current guidance in 2024 395 to 405 the way to think about so you mentioned weather as an example D GES and you heard us describe kind of you know the notion of fixing the roof while the sun is shining advancing maintenance out of future years in this year if you looked back over the course of time at our o andm spend on while on average it's probably flattish down over time year to year it's more of a sine wave because again what we're doing is managing the short term taking advantage of opportunities like warmer than normal Summers colder than than normal Winters such that in other years where we have milder weather 2023 being a great example we have the flexibility to spend less and so we're managing to a regular predictable kind of sustainable result year in and year out despite what might be characterized as onetime things got it okay um so basically you're go ahead oh I'm sorry there was some background noise there I get it thank you thank you very much and then just uh one quick follow up on credit metrics in FF Deb I think this year in I this is from the qon call I believe but you were kind of trending towards 14% by the end of this year um and then 16 to 7 17% by the end of the planning period in 2028 you know uh how does that Outlook get strengthened here given the year-to DAT out performance as we think about the end of 2024 I think we are where we were I you know the you you heard Chris and I allude to you know maybe being disappointed if we're not in the top half of the range so maybe there's some incremental benefit for for 2024 but I think terms of the trajectory we're on we are exactly where we were and how you described it okay perfect thanks again for giving me time yeah you bet our next question is from Jeremy tonet with J sorry JP Morgan please proceed hi good afternoon good afternoon Jeremy just wanted to come back to the sonat expansion if I could in the open season was just wondering if you were able to share any color on shipper interest there and whether that was that was largely for southern or there was others that came in with uh with good demand there Jer I think is very premature I mean is we have no Insight or perspective on that at this time it's just very early in the process got it uh fair enough and then um just wondering you know as you sit back today how you think about the current business mix in jurisdictional exposure um as the electric backdrop is changing for load growth is there any rotation of assets that you might be interested in here yeah I just I don't think we're there I mean we we love the portfolio we have we we've done a lot of work over the years to kind of hone it to the portfolio it is today we've got great electric and gas jurisdictions at large we you know we' got great compliments with with with Southern power so no I there there's certainly no designs on anything like that as we sit here today got it fair enough thank you uh very much thank you yeah thank you and our next question is from Travis Miller with Morning Star Incorporated please proceed no hi there uh back to the data center conversation as you go through those numbers and you talked about risk adjusting and all of that what are the regulatory hurdles the state regulatory hurdles that you face in terms of thinking about that risk adjustment and some of those numbers actually coming to fruition once again Travis I you know as we go back to I think pretty detailed conversation we had on our last call it it's also going to the commissions to confirm the reality of the projects understanding what the risk are understanding the pricing that that needs to take place that make sure that we are working with these customers to really fully load understand what their incremental costs are and their marginal costs are and how we price that so that we also when we do this we're providing benefits uh to the rest of the customers in term with terms of what sometimes we refer to as downward pressure so just as we work to confirm reality and commitments but also then risk do risk adjusting having that same kind of process and conversation with the regulatory jurisdictions in terms of understanding the reality and then understanding the financial and pricing implications and so one of the things I feel real good about is this kind of orderly process that we have to work through this with the commissions but also the ability to work through this with with the respective customers so I just feel real good about kind of our process to to give order to sometimes what looks like a lot of Chaos in this Marketplace uh I think we have the experience we have the wherewithal we have these constructive regulatory environments and we have the frame framework uh to do this I think in a way that that make sure that it's orderly and disciplined and provides benefits to all stakeholders sure sure and do each of those contracts need official regulatory sign off or can you negotiate those without regulatory sign off state regulatory sign off we yeah we can we can negotiate that uh without regulatory approval okay very good and then real quick what's the long-term planning process timing in Alabama and Mississippi in terms of when we might get more information on data center load or total cni load growth there you'll see those conversations I think on a on a regular on an or regular basis on annually I mean it's a little different than what happens in Georgia uh but as the as they look at their plans and and look at the issues and needs that that show up mean they'll take that to the commissions for for certification okay great I appreciate it thanks and that will conclude today's question and answer session sir are there any closing remarks no again thanks everybody for taking time to be with us we feel good about where we are as a company and how we're performing and executing and we're incredibly excited about the future thanks for being with us today and be safe thank you ladies and gentlemen this concludes The Southern Company second quarter 2024 earnings call you may now disconnect