• Southern average debt/equity ratio for 2023 was 1.58, a 6.04% increase from 2022.
• Southern average debt/equity ratio for 2022 was 1.49, a 2.05% increase from 2021.
• Southern average debt/equity ratio for 2021 was 1.46, a 5.04% increase from 2020.

Debt/equity ratio can be defined as a measure of a company's financial leverage calculated by dividing its long-term debt by stockholders' equity.