SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

                                Washington, D.C.

                          Three year period ending 2002


                      FORM U-12(I)-B (THREE-YEAR STATEMENT)


  Statement Pursuant to Section 12(i) of Public Utility Holding Company Act of
     1935 by a Person Regularly Employed or Retained by a Registered Holding
        Company or a Subsidiary Thereof and Whose Employment Contemplates
                Only Routine Expenses as Specified in Rule 71(b)



         1. Name and business address of person filing statement.

                      B. H. Stone 1310 25th Avenue Gulfport, MS 39501

         2. Names and business addresses of any persons through whom the
undersigned proposes to act in matters included within the exemption provided by
paragraph (b) of Rule U-71.

                      None

         3. Registered holding companies and subsidiary companies by which the
undersigned is regularly employed or retained.
                      Southern Company and all its subsidiaries.

         4. Position or relationship in which the undersigned is employed or
retained by each of the companies named in item 3, and brief description of
nature of services to be rendered in each such position or relationship.

                      The undersigned is a member of the firm Balch & Bingham
                      LLP, general counsel of Mississippi Power Company. He
                      files this statement on behalf of said Company or any
                      affiliated company before the Securities and Exchange
                      Commission or Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or any
                      member, officer or employee of such commissions or before
                      any member or committee of Congress, which may include,
                      among other things, proceedings in connection with the
                      Public Utility Holding Company and Federal Energy
                      Regulatory Commission Acts or in connection with
                      legislation.

         5. (a) Compensation received during the prior reporting period and
estimated to be received over the next two calendar years by the undersigned or
others, directly or indirectly, for services rendered by the undersigned, from
each of the companies designated in item 3. (Use column (a) as supplementary
statement only.)


                     Salary or other
                      Compensations
Name of        received        to be               Person or company from whom
recipient                      received            received or to be received
                 (a)            (b)

Balch &     $6,427,898.28*       **                Mississippi Power Company
Bingham LLP

                  (b) Basis for compensation if other than salary.

          6. (To be answered in supplementary statement only.) Expenses incurred
by the undersigned or any person named in item 2, above, during the calendar
year in connection with the activities described in item 4, above, and the
source or sources of reimbursement for same.

                  (a) Total amount of routine expenses charged to client: $ -0-
                  (b) Itemized list of all other expenses:




       1-24-03                                /S/ Ben H. Stone
       (Date)                                      (Signed)


    *Includes legal fees and expenses
  **Subject to billing