Southern's dividend growth of 3.6% annualized over the past five years only managed to squeak by the historical pace of inflation (around 3%), while Duke's 2.2% fell short of that mark. But some of the largest electricity companies, such as Southern Company and Duke Energy , managed only low-single-digit dividend growth over that span. And that plays right into a water utility's hands, since regulators provide rate increases for spending on improvements like the ones that really have to be made.