The Southern Company, as a holding company for a number of operating public utilities, is one of the largest producers of electricity in the United States, with more than 4m customers and nearly 39,000 megawatts of generating capacity. The Atlanta-based company owns electric utilities across the southern states, a generation company, an energy services business and a retail natural gas business. The group also operates fibre-optics and wireless communications businesses. Additionally, Southern Company owns Southern Power, the primary growth engine for Southern's competitive wholesale market-based energy business.