The Southern Company

Good afternoon. My name is Tommy, and I will be your conference operator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Southern Company second quarter 2023 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remark, there will be a question and answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press the 1 by the 4 on your telephone. From the time the conference is to reach an operator, you may press the start by the 0. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, August 3rd, 2023. I would now like now to turn the call over to Mr. Scott Gamble, Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasurer. Please go right ahead, sir.

Thank you, Tommy. Good afternoon and welcome to Southern Company's second quarter 2023 earnings call. Joining me today are Chris Womack, President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Company, and Dan Tucker, Chief Financial Officer. Let me remind you we'll be making forward-looking statements today in addition to providing historical information. Various important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, including those discussed in our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, and subsequent filings. In addition, we'll present non-GAAP financial information on this call. Reconciliations to the applicable GAAP measure are included in the financial information we released this morning as well as the slides for this conference call, which are both available on our investor relations website at investor.suttercompany.com. At this time, I'll turn the call over to Chris Womack.

Thank you, Scott. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for what is such a pivotal and exciting time for our company. As many of you know, on Monday, we announced that Plant Vogel Unit 3 successfully achieved commercial operations. while work remains to bring Unit 4 online, this incredible milestone is something to be celebrated. This decade-plus journey, which involved developing a global supply chain, managing through a global pandemic, tens of thousands of American craft workers and engineers, and millions of labor hours, combined with a group of committed co-owners and regulators that had the courage to support new nuclear power as an option when others didn't, proves that we can accomplish monumental things when we share a common vision. Vogel Unit 3 is now serving Georgia customers with over 1,100 megawatts of 24-hour, seven-day-a-week carbon-free electricity. Turning now to Unit 4. Since our last call, the project team continues to make substantial progress as highlighted by completion of hot functional testing, receipt of all 157 fuel assemblies, submittal of all ITACs, and most recently, receipt of the 103G finding from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission signifying that license acceptance criteria for Unit 4 have been met. The project team's current focus is on working through final testing and system turnover to operations that, when complete, will allow fuel load for Unit 4. Recall, as we contemplated in the VCM-17 order, Georgia Power can file its prudence request with the Public Service Commission following fuel load on Unit 4. Following fuel load, the project team will conduct final preparations and testing of systems primarily associated with the electrical power production side of the plant and achieving the pristine conditions in the nuclear island necessary for startup activities and initial criticality. Importantly, the project capital cost forecast is unchanged since last quarter, and we continue to project Unit 4 will be placed in service between late fourth quarter 2023 and end of the first quarter 2024. The successful completion of this important project is critical for Georgia's and our nation's energy future. We look forward to these units providing reliable, carbon-free energy to customers for decades to come. Dan, I'll now turn the call over to you for a financial update.