Southern’s Nuclear Plant Project Not Delayed by Virus, CEO Says

Construction to expand Southern’s Vogtle plant in Georgia is “going well” and hasn’t encountered major slowdowns from the coronavirus, CEO Tom Fanning said in an interview.

• No workers at site have tested positive for the virus
• Co. has no need to issue shares to fund capital requirements after last year’s transactions and has little debt maturing in the short term
  • “We’re extraordinarily well suited,” Fanning said
• Co. sees a reduction in industrial and commercial customers’ demand for power, offset by an uptick in residential consumption
  • Southern is ‘nowhere near’ having to review earnings guidance because of a potential recession
• The spread of the coronavirus should have no major impact on the U.S.’s ability to generate electricity and keep the grid up
  • “We have all sorts of long-term plans should the pandemic get very severe”
• Utilities’ capital spending should be little affected by a likely economic downturn, with investments in grid resilience getting a lion share of that

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