Southern Company today reported first quarter 2012 earnings of $368 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with earnings of $422 million, or 50 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2011.

First quarter 2012 revenues were $3.60 billion, compared with $4.01 billion for the first quarter of 2011, a 10.2 percent decrease.

Earnings were negatively affected by warmer-than-normal weather during the first quarter of 2012, partially offset by retail revenue effects in the company's traditional business.

"Despite the effects of an unusually warm winter, we continue to see positive indications of economic growth in our service territory," said Thomas A. Fanning, Southern Company chairman, president and chief executive officer. "In the meantime, we remain focused on our core business strategy of providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable electricity to customers throughout the Southeast."

Fanning cited stronger-than-expected residential customer growth as the latest indicator of the ongoing economic recovery. Southern Company's traditional operating companies added approximately 15,000 new residential customers during the first quarter of 2012, a significant increase over the 2,000 customers added during the same period a year ago.

Kilowatt-hour sales to retail customers in the Southern Company system's four-state service area decreased 5.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the first quarter of 2011. Residential and commercial energy sales - both of which were negatively affected by warmer-than-normal weather - decreased 13.7 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively. Industrial energy sales increased 1.9 percent.

Total energy sales to customers, including wholesale sales, decreased 7.3 percent in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the first quarter of 2011.