The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and currently employs 28,100 full-time employees. The firm owns three traditional electric operating companies, Southern Power Company and Southern Company Gas. The traditional electric operating companies - Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power - are each operating public utility companies providing electric service to retail customers in three Southeastern states in addition to wholesale customers in the Southeast. The Southern Power Company develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects, and sells electricity at market-based rates in the wholesale market. The Southern Company Gas is an energy services holding company whose primary business is the distribution of natural gas in four states - Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee - through the natural gas distribution utilities. Southern Company Gas is also involved in several other businesses that are complementary to the distribution of natural gas.