A prestigious trade publication has again named Alabama Power one of the nation’s top 10 utilities in economic development.

Site Selection magazine commended Alabama Power for its role supporting the $600 million Airbus 320 commercial jetliner plant in Mobile and the state’s three auto manufacturers, Mercedes, Honda and Hyundai.

Overall in 2012, Alabama Power helped lure 3,800 jobs and $2.3 billion of new investment to the state, the magazine noted. Some of the companies Alabama Power helped recruit or helped to expand include: Lear Corporation, ThyssenKrupp Materials, Zilkha Biomass, Heidtman Steel, and Das North America.

“We have an Economic and Community Development Department, but we view the company as a whole as an economic development organization,” said Blair King, a project manager in the department.

For more than 95 years, Alabama Power has been actively involved in the economic development of the state. The company was the first utility in the nation to establish an economic development organization, and for decades, the company had the only economic development agency in Alabama.

The company’s economic and community development website, amazingalabama.com, offers:

• Comprehensive information on available buildings and sites in Alabama.
• Complete labor force and demographic information for every community in Alabama—including the ability to compare and contrast Alabama communities with any community in the United States.
• A thorough overview of the state’s primary business taxes and statutory incentive programs.
• Late-breaking news impacting economic development in Alabama.