Georgia Power's Electric Vehicle Employee Leasing Program Sets Milestone

    ATLANTA, Feb. 12 Georgia Power's electric vehicle employee
leasing program has set a milestone with more than one million commute miles.
    Since its inception in December 1998, the employee vehicle leasing program
began with eight electric vehicles and today has more than 140 electric
vehicles in the program.  The program is designed for Southern Company
and Georgia Power employees living and working in the metro Atlanta area to
commute to and from work by electric GM EV1s and Ford Rangers.  The vehicles
are also used for business-related meetings.  Charging stations are available
for employees to charge their vehicles at work, in their home garages, as well
as at several malls in the metro Atlanta area.
    "Our employees have really embraced this program," said Don Still, Georgia
Power's electric transportation manager.  "The majority of employees in the
program began receiving their vehicles in December 1999 through January 2000,
so this is a great accomplishment for the commute program," Still added.
    An incentive enjoyed by employees other than the quiet ride and no visits
to the gasoline station, is the use of the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes.
Because electric vehicles are alternative fueled vehicles, employees are
allowed to ride in the HOV lanes with just one occupant in the vehicle,
resulting in shorter commute times.  For more information on Georgia Power's
employee leasing program, visit us at
http://www.southernco.com/planetpower/ev/.
    Georgia Power is the largest subsidiary of Southern Company ,
the nation's largest generator of electricity.  The company is an investor-
owned, tax-paying utility, serving customers in 57,000 of the state's 59,000
square miles.  Georgia Power's rates are more than 15 percent below the
national average and its 1.8 million customers are in all but six of Georgia's
159 counties.