Southern buying AGL Resources for more than $7.9 billion

FILE - In this April 28, 2010, file photo, steam rises from the cooling towers of nuclear reactors at Georgia Power's Plant Vogtle, in Waynesboro, Ga. Southern Co. is buying AGL Resources Inc. for approximately $7.93 billion, the company announced, Monday, Aug. 24, 2015, which would create the second-biggest utility company in the United States, by customer base. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain, File) FILE - In this April 28, 2010, file photo, steam rises from the cooling towers of nuclear reactors at Georgia Power's Plant Vogtle, in Waynesboro, Ga. Southern Co. is buying AGL Resources Inc. for approximately $7.93 billion, the company announced, Monday, Aug. 24, 2015, which would create the second-biggest utility company in the United States, by customer base. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain, File)

By Staff and Wire Reports August 25, 2015 3 min read

ATLANTA — Southern Co. is buying AGL Resources Inc. for more than $7.9 billion to create the second-biggest utility company in the U.S. by customer base.

The combined business will include 11 regulated electric and natural gas distribution companies, serving approximately 9 million customers in nine states.

AGL Resources is the parent company of Chattanooga Gas Co., which was created after the Civil War ended nearly a century and a half ago and today provides retail natural gas sales and transportation services to about 60,000 customers in Hamilton and Bradley counties in southeast Tennessee.

Chattanooga Gas distribution operator Billy Welch soaps a residential gas meter on Lyndon Avenue in Red Bank to check for leaks Friday afternoon. “We were fixing a corrosion leak in a 2 inch main,” the crew leader said. “This house was off line for approximately 2 hours.”

Southern Co., is the parent company of Georgia Power and Alabama Power, the biggest electricity providers in each state.

Company officials said that customers will continue to be served by their current gas and electric utility companies.