Southern Company Services, Inc., headquartered in Birmingham

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, is the shared services

Shared services

Shared services refers to the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the providing department effectively becomes an...

 division of Southern Company

Southern Company

Southern Company is a public utility holding company of primarily electric utilities in the southern United States. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with executive offices also located in Birmingham, Alabama. The company is currently the 16th largest utility company in the world and the...

. Formed in 1963, as Southern Services, the company provides administrative and operational services to all of Southern Company's operating divisions. The company also provides engineering services to Alabama Power, Georgia Power

Georgia Power

Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the largest of the four electric utilities that are owned and operated by Southern Company....

, Gulf Power

Gulf Power

Gulf Power Company is a U.S. investor-owned electric utility with all of its common stock owned by Atlanta based Southern Company. Gulf Power Company is headquartered in Pensacola, Florida, and has a service territory that spans , through 10 counties and 71 towns in northwest Florida...

 and Mississippi Power

Mississippi Power

Mississippi Power is an investor-owned electric utility and a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta based Southern Company. Mississippi Power Company is headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi....

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History

Southern Services was formed in 1963 as a shared services department for Southern Company's five electric operating divisions. The idea was first conceived by Eugene A. Yates, Southern Company's first President, although not implemented until much later. The division was originally headquartered in what is now the First Commercial Bank Building in the Birmingham

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

 suburb of Mountain Brook

Mountain Brook, Alabama

Mountain Brook is a city in southeastern Jefferson County, Alabama, and a suburb of Birmingham. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 20,821. Mountain Brook is a particularly affluent city within the Birmingham metropolitan area and has appeared in several lists...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 until it moved to the Inverness suburb in the late 1980's. The division also has a large office in Atlanta

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

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