Southern Co. Among Power Giants in Talks to Form New Market (1)

U.S. power giants including Southern Co., Dominion Energy Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. are in talks to form a wholesale electricity market covering most southeastern states in a bid to cut costs and trade renewable energy.

The group’s plan is to create an automated energy exchange, with prices set every 15 minutes, according to five of the companies participating. The talks, involving at least 14 utilities, are still in early stages, but the effort is already being called the Southeast Energy Exchange Market, or Seem, according to Southern.

The move comes as utilities are spending billions of dollars to ...