If our strategy is working, why did we revise it?
It became clear that we would meet all the intermediate goals we set for ourselves by 2002 or 2003. But the overriding goal - to be the best investment in our industry - was not being met. That to me said it was time to review what we were doing, how we were going about it, and what we could do better. The review showed that we could achieve a better return for our shareholders by adding more growth to our plans. And that's what we've done.

How much growth?
Over the next five years, we're looking to add about 20,000 megawatts of electric generation in the U.S. markets we've targeted. We've already begun those efforts with the 3,065 megawatts we're buying in California, the 1,776 megawatts we're buying in New York, and the 1,267 megawatts we've bought in New England.

How do environmental considerations affect that growth?
Environmental considerations factor into every business decision we make. I'm not just talking about compliance. I'm talking about environmental leadership. While we are providing significant support to various types of environmental research, we are also working to reduce the environmental impact from our existing generating plants. We want every megawatt-hour we produce to be cleaner - on average - than it was the year before.

How does our more aggressive growth strategy affect our investors?
Stronger growth should help us achieve better total shareholder return. A difference is that a larger portion of that return should come from stock price appreciation and a smaller portion from dividends. Along those lines, in January 1999 - for the first time since 1991 - we decided not to raise the dividend. Lowering our payout ratio and retaining more cash will help to finance our growth.

How important is our business in the southeastern United States?
The southeastern region is still the source of our strength, and it continues to perform very well. It is also the reputation on which we build everything else. If we don't do a good job serving our customers in the Southeast, our reputation suffers. So the Southeast is the foundation of our success. It also is an important part of our growth. We plan to add generating capacity for our retail and wholesale businesses in the Southeast.

How does our regulated business continue to prepare for eventual deregulation?
Any business - whether it's deregulated or not - has a couple of very simple things it must perform to be successful. You have to serve customers well and appreciate them. And you have to serve them at a reasonable price. That's customer value. We've done a good job of that. We must continue to do that, regardless of whether we have regulation or not. That's the winning formula.

What do we mean by sharpening our focus?
We will concentrate on competitive energy supply. We're looking for opportunities to integrate natural gas capability with our electric generation, and we're targeting wholesale and very large industrial customers. It also means we are focusing on those countries that meet our targets.

Why did we choose the countries we did?
It was a matter of looking at favorable market structures, attractive risk profiles, and our ability to take advantage of growth opportunities. For example, we already have experience in Asia and have had success in the Philippines and China. So we want to build on that. Europe adds another twist. If the European Union develops as one energy market, then we'll capitalize on that, growing from our platforms at Bewag in Germany, SWEB in England, and our newly opened trading office in Amsterdam.

How do we manage risk in our international operations?
First, we exercise great care in evaluating business and political risk elements before we make investments.

Once we make an investment, we put our people in senior management positions. They have access to the tremendous depth of operations and financial expertise we have here in the United States.

That shows the importance of having capable people.
That's one of the great advantages we have at Southern Company. We have tremendous depth in terms of employees and their skill levels. As we work for more aggressive growth as a company, we're also working hard to retain and add to that depth and expertise. Our employees are special. That's because of a set of values we call Southern Style. By practicing those values, our employees think like customers and act like owners.

What do you see as our main challenge?
I believe we are one of the best energy companies in the world. We are a very successful company. We are a leader. We are innovative and creative in finding and taking advantage of new opportunities created by change in our industry. That must continue. Success will not happen without work. It will take hard work. It will also take concentration. Our challenge is to continue the momentum we have in building value for our shareholders.

What will your priority be in 1999?
With our strategy review, I called 1998 a year of strategic decisions. In 1999, we will continue translating those decisions into additional growth and value for our shareholders. That's my priority