GOFER, Give Oil For Energy Recovery, is Santee Cooper's used oil collection and recovery program. The main objective of the GOFER program is to recover and utilize used oil from do-it-yourselfers as an energy source while protecting the environment. The majority of the used oil collected through the GOFER program is used as supplemental fuel at Winyah Generating Station. 

The program began in April 1990 as an Earth Day project in which Environmental department personal volunteered their time to sponsor a used oil collection day for the general public. The response was overwhelming and many participants voiced a need and desire for Santee Cooper to continue a similar service permanently.

After reviewing environmental regulations, Santee Cooper presented the program to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. It was determined that Santee Cooper could advance GOFER, and Santee Cooper initially took a trial approach to the program.

The trial included eight small do-it-yourself collections sites located throughout South Carolina. After only six months into the trial, over 4,000 gallons of used oil was collected and more than 300 people participated.

Santee Cooper then converted the used oil into about 58,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity which is almost enough power to supply the average household with electricity for five years. Once the program was presented to management, the decision to continue and expand the GOFER program in 1991 was, without a doubt, the best decision for our environment and the public. By 1998, over half of the state either had a used oil recycling program or was planning to start one.

Since then, GOFER has become the state's largest used oil collection program for do-it-yourselfers. GOFER's statewide outreach includes with more than 450 do-it-yourselfer collection sites. The GOFER program also collects used oil from approximately 1,500 industries, commercial operations, and farmers.