Southern Company today reported second quarter 2012 earnings of $623 million, or 71 cents a share, compared with earnings of $604 million, or 71 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2011.

For the six months ended June 30, 2012, earnings were $991 million, or $1.14 a share, compared with $1.03 billion, or $1.20 a share, for the same period in 2011.

Earnings for the quarter and six months ended June 30, 2012, included 2 cents a share of insurance recovery related to the March 2009 settlement agreement with MC Asset Recovery, LLC (MCAR) to resolve a lawsuit arising out of the 2003 bankruptcy of Mirant Corp., a Southern Company subsidiary until its 2001 spinoff.

Excluding the impact of the MCAR insurance recovery, Southern Company earned 69 cents a share in the second quarter of 2012, compared with 71 cents a share for the second quarter of 2011. For the first six months of 2012, Southern Company earned $1.12 a share, excluding the impact of the MCAR insurance recovery, compared with $1.20 a share for the same period in 2011.

Second quarter 2012 revenues were $4.18 billion, compared with $4.52 billion for the second quarter of 2011, a 7.5 percent decrease. Year-to-date 2012 revenues were $7.79 billion, compared with $8.53 billion for the same period a year ago, an 8.8 percent decrease.

Earnings were negatively affected by near-normal weather during the second quarter of 2012, as compared with an unusually warm second quarter in 2011. This effect was partially offset by other retail revenue effects in the company's traditional business.

Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning pointed to strong residential customer growth as the latest indicator of a continuing economic recovery in the Southeast. "In the first six months of 2012, our traditional operating companies have already added 20,000 new residential customers -- more than we originally projected for the entire year," said Fanning. "And with new economic development successes - representing more than 7,200 new jobs announced in just the last three months -- the future continues to look bright for our region."

Kilowatt-hour sales to retail customers in the Southern Company system's four-state service area decreased 1.9 percent in the second quarter of 2012 compared with the second quarter of 2011. Residential and commercial energy sales - which were affected by warmer-than-normal weather in the second quarter of 2011 -- decreased 4.3 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. Industrial energy sales decreased 0.1 percent.

For the year to date, retail sales decreased 3.5 percent compared with the same period a year ago. Residential energy sales decreased 9.1 percent, commercial energy sales decreased 2.2 percent and industrial energy sales increased 0.9 percent.

Total energy sales to customers, including wholesale sales, decreased 3.0 percent in the second quarter of 2012 compared with the second quarter of 2011. For the year to date, total energy sales decreased 5.1 percent compared with the same period a year ago.