We are a global energy company with utilities and operations around the world. We are the largest generator of electricity in the United States and one of the largest in the world.

Our retail business in the Southeast - where our rates are 19 percent lower than the national average - serves 3.8 million customers. All told, our energy serves the worlds of millions of people in 10 countries on four continents.

We are the best in customer satisfaction and among the best in reliability. With more than 70 years of managing energy businesses, we've become a standard of excellence. And we've used that management experience to lead and take advantage of the changes taking place in our industry.

We want to continue to improve on that success.

So even while our overall strategy has been working, we've updated it to better target our ultimate goal. As a result, we now work to carry out our strategy in terms of three directives - Expanding Our Growth, Sharpening Our Focus, and Achieving Our BAG.

The BAG is our Bold Aggressive Goal. It has not changed. Very simply, it means we want to be the best investment in our industry.

Expanding Our Growth
We will aggressively pursue growth in the Southeast and in the other markets we've targeted.

Demand for electricity throughout the United States continues to grow. At the same time, relatively little new generating capacity is being added in some sections of the country. There are also environmental and efficiency concerns about aging capacity, and that contributes to the need for new generating capacity.

Projections show that Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi together will need an estimated 37,000 megawatts of new capacity over the next 10 years. About 6,000 megawatts will be needed just within our traditional service territory.

With our proven success, size, experience, and location, no one can meet those needs better than we can. We're planning for any new generating capacity we build in the United States to be gas-fired, low-cost, and more environmentally friendly.

Sharpening Our Focus
In addition to the southeast, we are also targeting the Northeast, Midwest, California, and Texas/Louisiana.

We want to be a major supplier to large energy users in those markets. Our energy marketing business gives us experience with those markets' conditions and requirements. Now we're adding - by buying, building, and agreeing to market - generating capacity in those regions.

Our international focus is on Asia, South America, and Europe. In Asia, it's primarily the Philippines, China, and India. In South America, we're targeting Brazil. In Europe, we're well positioned as the European Union opens to competition.

Achieving Our BAG
We are expanding our growth and sharpening our focus so we can be the best investment in our industry. That's the ultimate measure of our success.