Who we are
We are STEP UP.
We stand for Safer Transformers, Environmental Protection, and Upgraded Performance in your neighborhood.
Our Vision and Mission
STEP UP is a coalition of national and local organizations that share a simple vision:
To accelerate the adoption of biodegradable bio-based transformer fluid to enhance environmental stewardship, safety, and reliability.
Our mission is to foster conditions that encourage utilities and other large users of electricity to replace older practices that are proven to have a negative impact on the environment with green technology practices that do not—including replacing petroleum-based mineral oil with biodegradable bio-based transformer fluid.
While use of biodegradable bio-based transformer fluid is a growing trend, many utilities are reluctant to switch due to misguided concerns over cost and effectiveness. STEP UP is focused on educating utilities, legislators, governing boards, and consumers about biodegradable bio-based fluid and practices that help utilities and other users of electricity increase their environmental stewardship, improve public safety, and enhance their financial performance.
Our Goals
STEP UP is a diverse group of organizations—representing environmental groups, public safety concerns, electric utilities, farming organizations, and businesses—that share the same goals.
- To educate governing bodies and the public on the seriousness of outdated utility practices and their impact on the environment. We will carry a secondary message regarding the prevalence of transformer fires and the cost of these fires on public safety and municipal assets.
- To educate utilities, governing bodies, and the public on new solutions, including biodegradable bio-based transformer fluid, which can improve environmental stewardship while helping utilities elevate their public safety record, enhance system reliability, reduce power outages, and increase financial performance.
- To provide utilities (and organizations that regulate them) with the information they need to understand how bio-based fluid can be a significant part of their renewed environmental commitment to Go Green, and how it can help them reduce their CO2 emissions.
- To support ongoing state and federal efforts to influence legislative activity that encourages better utility practices, particularly those that ease clean-up requirements in the event of a bio-based fluid leak.
- To help PUCs understand the public’s interest in their utilities’ delivering on an environmentally sustainable promise, as well as adopting new technologies that improve public safety and reduce operating costs.