For most of the last four decades, proving a driver or a service tech was trained came down to three letters: CETP. The Certified Employee Training Program ran under the industry's checkoff council. A state licensing board recognized it. An insurer asked to see the certificate at renewal. A hiring manager knew what it meant when a new bobtail driver walked in holding one. Whatever else was up in the air, the credential itself was not. You trained your people on CETP, you filed the certificate, and that was that.
Not anymore. The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) has started replacing CETP with a new platform, the PERC Education Program (PEP), and began rolling it out in 2025. The trade press has been consistent about the program itself: it is a genuine upgrade, built to be shorter and role-specific, delivered online, and carrying accredited continuing-education units that CETP never awarded. On the training itself, the reviews are good.
The trouble lives one layer down, where the program meets the paperwork. A national training program does not sit by itself. It sits inside fifty state rulebooks, a mountain of insurance files, and the day-to-day judgment of local inspectors, and none of those moved the day PERC flipped the switch. So the program modernized at the source and left a gap at every edge. Operators have felt it, and trade coverage through 2026 keeps circling back to the same complaint: companies cannot tell what the change means for their own compliance. That gap, and the four specific places it opens up, is what this article is about.
What CETP was, and why PERC is replacing it
CETP had been the industry's national employee training and certification standard since 1987. In its 2019 coverage of the program's transfer to PERC, BPN reported that more than 100,000 professionals had been certified since that year. The National Propane Gas Association owned and ran it for most of its life, and PERC took full ownership at the end of 2019.
Everything about the old model ran through a paper certificate. To earn one, an employee worked through a comprehensive module, sat a proctored written exam, and then completed a hands-on skills assessment with a qualified CETP Skills Evaluator, all inside a twelve-month window. Finish it and you got a certificate for that module. You kept a copy, the state accepted the copy as proof of training, and the insurer might ask to see it at renewal. The system worked well enough for decades. It was also paper-based and one-size-fits-all, testing a learner on the whole curriculum whether or not every piece of it touched the actual job.
PERC has been open that the redesign was a choice, not a reaction. In its own words, the industry saw a need to move away from CETP's one-track, comprehensive approach toward training that was job-specific, shorter, modular, and available both online and in person (PERC, PERC Education Program; NPGA). PERC announced the change publicly on April 30, 2024. The wording was blunt: "starting in 2025, it will phase out the Certified Employee Training Program (CETP) and replace it with the new PERC Education Program (PEP)" (Indoor Comfort Marketing, April 30, 2024).
Notice what PERC did and did not step away from, because it shapes everything downstream. It did not walk away from workforce training. If anything it went deeper: PEP runs on PERC's own learning-management system, it awards the accredited CEUs the old program never offered, and it keeps a central transcript for every learner. What changed was the machinery around the credential. The proctored written exam gave way to a knowledge check at the end of each module. The paper certificate became a line on a transcript. The hands-on sign-off that a dedicated CETP Skills Evaluator used to give now runs through OJT Worksheets, though a legacy CETP Skills Evaluator can still perform that verification during the transition.
What PEP actually is
PEP takes the old comprehensive modules and breaks them into smaller, function-based learning paths. They live on PERC's Learning Center at training.propane.com. An employer signs up as a company administrator, enrolls employees by role, and pulls or prints their transcripts. There is no single cumulative exam anymore. A learner takes a knowledge assessment at the end of each module instead. The hands-on part changed too. In place of a certified Skills Evaluator signing off on a skills exam, the field work now runs through On-the-Job Training (OJT) Worksheets. Those get verified by a PEP-Recognized Field Trainer, an online credential NPGA introduced in February 2025, or by a legacy CETP Skills Evaluator during the transition.
The two programs stack up like this, drawn from PERC's own materials and NPGA's comparison guidance:
| Dimension | CETP (through 2024) | PEP (2025–present) | |---|---|---| | Path model | One-size-fits-all; tested on the full curriculum | Role-based and modular; only job-relevant modules | | Assessment | Proctored written exam + hands-on Skills Evaluator | Knowledge assessment at the end of each module + OJT Worksheets | | Credential artifact | Paper CETP certificate, per module | Learning Center transcript entry (no certificate) | | Hands-on verification | Certified CETP Skills Evaluator | OJT Worksheet verified by a PEP-Recognized Field Trainer (or a CETP Skills Evaluator) | | Continuing education | None (proprietary) | IACET-accredited CEUs | | Records | Centralized PERC database | PERC Learning Center; employer admin views and prints |
Two rows in that table cause most of the confusion out in the field. They are worth pulling out on their own.
First: there is no paper certificate anymore. A finished PEP module is a line on a transcript, not a document you file in a drawer. Cleaner to administer. But it changes what you hand a licensing board or an insurer who is still waiting to see a certificate.
Second: PEP is retiring CETP one module at a time, on a rolling schedule, and PERC has not published a calendar. PERC's stated policy: "starting in 2025, CETP programs with equivalent PEP content will be archived and unavailable for industry use." Each CETP program stays available for roughly twelve months after its PEP replacement releases. Some are already gone. New Jersey's Division of Consumer Affairs has tracked the transition closely across a run of official memos, and its records show CETP modules 1.0, 2.2, and 2.4 archived during 2025, with modules 4.1 and 4.2 archived as of November 30, 2025 (NJ DCA LP-Gas memos). The older Cathodic Protection and Bobtail Rollover Prevention courses have been retired from the PERC library and replaced. What no operator can do is pull up a master schedule and see which module retires next quarter. That schedule is not public.
A clarification worth putting up front: nobody's credentials expired
Before the gaps, settle the one thing operators get wrong most often. Existing CETP completions are still valid. They stay on the Learning Center transcript. PERC's archival language is about whether a program is open for new enrollment. It does not reach back and void a certificate already earned. A tech who finished CETP modules in 2023 lost nothing.
One narrower point applies to anyone caught mid-stream. An employee who passed the CETP exam but has not yet finished the skills assessment gets twelve months from the exam date to close it out before a discontinued pathway shuts (per PAPGA's 2025 PEP FAQs). That is a real clock. It runs per person, though, not across the whole industry.
So when someone tells operators that "CETP is dead" or that their crews have to re-certify right now, they are overstating it. Nobody's earned credential went anywhere. The harder questions are the forward-looking ones: what do you train the next hire on, and what do you hand a state, an insurer, or an inspector whose paperwork still reads "CETP"?
The four gaps PERC does not close
This is where operators actually get stuck. PERC built and runs an excellent piece of upstream machinery, from the curriculum and the LMS to the accredited CEUs and the transcript, and it does that part well. What PERC has never done, and has never claimed to do, is run the downstream compliance layer for any one operator. Four gaps live in that layer, and every one of them is now your job.
Gap 1 — State law still says "CETP"
Plenty of states wrote CETP into their LP-gas licensing rules by name. A statute does not update itself when a training provider modernizes its product. And as of the latest check, almost no state has ruled formally that PEP satisfies a requirement written for CETP.
That leaves a real gray zone wherever a rule names CETP but the regulator has said nothing about PEP. Idaho's licensing rule (IDAPA 24.22.01.225) names "CETP … or the equivalent as determined by the Board," which parks equivalency with the Board and shows no public PEP ruling on file. Colorado's 2019 operator-safety guidance names CETP module 1.0 outright and has not been touched since. Utah's administrative code names CETP for its exam waiver. Same pattern in each: the rule says CETP, PERC is archiving CETP, and the regulator has not gone on record that PEP counts. An operator in one of those states has no written authority to point to that a PEP-trained tech clears the licensing bar. No state has rejected PEP. But the silence is the exposure.
Other states have bridged the gap, and the way they did it matters (that is Gap 2). One state sits outside the whole CETP/PEP question entirely. Texas licenses through the Railroad Commission's own system under 16 TAC Chapter 9, which names neither program. In Texas, PEP does not satisfy state licensing at all. The Railroad Commission's own certification does.
Now the bind for anyone running trucks across state lines. You can get a different answer in every state: accepted as-is, accepted only through one delivery channel, accepted only in one records format, silent and unresolved, or flat-out not applicable. No single national source answers "what does each of my states require right now?" in a way that is sourced, dated, and honest. Confirm every state-specific claim here, and anyone else's, with that state's regulator before you lean on it. These positions are moving.
Gap 2 — How you take PEP can matter as much as whether you take it
Even where PEP is accepted, the delivery channel is not always swappable. This one trips up operators who assume online self-enrollment is always fine.
Pennsylvania is the sharpest case. The state accepts PEP-based training for its Act 61 licensing framework. But the Pennsylvania Propane Gas Association put out plain guidance that students in PAPGA-sponsored PEP training "MUST NOT enroll and/or start the PEP pathway online." PAPGA's instructor-led classes are built to hit Act 61's specific requirements. The general online pathway is not the same thing. Mix the two and you can end up with a conflicting or invalid training record. So a Pennsylvania operator who sends people to PAPGA training and also has them start the online pathway on their own may be creating a compliance problem, not fixing one. In Pennsylvania, the road to compliance runs through PAPGA, not around it.
New Jersey shows a second version of the same lesson. The Division of Consumer Affairs accepts PEP under an equivalency clause in N.J.A.C. 5:18-10.3. But its memos say it will recognize PERC Learning Center records specifically, they spell out records format, and a New Jersey certificate is still in development. The training counts. The paperwork has rules.
So "Is PEP accepted here?" is not a yes-or-no question in every state. Sometimes the honest answer is "yes, but only through the right channel, documented the right way."
Gap 3 — The inspector's rulebook doesn't mention either program
The local Authority Having Jurisdiction, the fire marshal or inspector who actually shows up, works mainly from NFPA 58, the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code. States adopt NFPA 58, and so do plenty of local jurisdictions, and each can amend it. It is not one uniform federal standard. It also names neither CETP nor PEP. Trade coverage has said on the record that interpretation of the new training standards "varies by state and, in some cases, by local jurisdiction" (BPN, March 2026).
Be fair about what this is. Nobody has documented an inspector turning away a PEP-trained crew, and it would be wrong to tell operators one will. This is exposure to know about, not a prediction. Still, an operator whose records are current, and who can explain on the spot how their PEP transcripts and OJT paperwork line up with what an inspector expects, is in far better shape than one improvising at the truck door.
Gap 4 — Nobody tracks your hands-on training but you
This is the quiet one, and it may be the most important. The Learning Center tracks eLearning completions on its own. It does not track OJT Worksheets. That is the hands-on, in-the-field piece that replaced the old skills exam. The operator manages and records those, fully separate from the transcript.
So the transcript by itself does not prove a tech is fully trained. You have to keep your own file of completed OJT Worksheets next to the online transcript. And when an inspector or an underwriter asks, you have to produce both, per driver, fast. No PERC system does this for you. It is your filing cabinet, digital or not.
How the transition lands on each stakeholder
The same facts read very differently depending on where you sit.
A small, single-state operator has the simplest path and the least room to slip. The upside is real: PEP is faster and more flexible than the old program. A new delivery driver can work through the right path on their own schedule, with no exam session to book and no Skills Evaluator to line up. The catch is staffing. A small shop rarely has a compliance manager, so knowing which modules are current, whether the home state has ruled on PEP, and where the OJT records live all lands on an owner who is also running a route. Best move here: one phone call to the state regulator, one to the state PGA, and get the local answer in writing.
A larger, multi-state company has the opposite problem. Not thin margins. Sheer complexity. Every state in the footprint can carry a different status, a different delivery rule, and a different records expectation. A policy that is correct in Maine can be out of compliance in Pennsylvania and beside the point in Texas. These operators need a per-state matrix, kept current, and one person inside the company who watches for regulator updates. The statutes move on their own clocks, not on PERC's.
A driver or technician mostly comes out ahead. Training is shorter, role-specific, and self-paced. Completions now carry accredited CEUs that count toward wider professional development. The old certificate never did that. The friction they will feel shows up at hiring and at license renewal, when a board or an employer built around the paper certificate asks for a document that no longer exists and has to be walked through pulling a transcript instead.
A state regulator is usually just behind, not obstructive. Updating a licensing rule is slow and formal, and PERC's rolling modernization outran it. The regulators in silent states are the ones best placed to end the gray zone, and several will over the coming year. Until they do, they are fielding the same "does PEP count?" question from every operator in the state.
An insurer may be the most overlooked party in the whole thing. Underwriters have long asked for CETP documentation at renewal, and at least one major propane carrier's published loss-control guidance still recommends CETP by name, on a page last updated in 2021, before PEP existed. As of the latest review, no major propane carrier has published PEP-equivalency guidance. That does not mean carriers will reject PEP. It means the paperwork on file may still read "CETP," and the operator, not the carrier, is the one exposed to the mismatch until it gets cleared up. Have that conversation with your carrier now, not at renewal.
What to do now — a practical checklist
This does not call for panic. It calls for one organized morning. Here are the no-regrets moves.
- Confirm your records are intact. Your team's finished CETP credentials are still valid and still on the Learning Center transcript. Nothing there expired. Start from that.
- Set up company admin access. Contact the PERC Learning Center and get your company registered as an administrator so you can see and print employee transcripts. Do it before your next hire, not after.
- Get your state's answer in writing. Call your state LP-gas regulator and your state propane gas association. Ask two things: does PEP satisfy our licensing requirement, and is there a required delivery channel or records format? Write down the answer and the date. Running in more than one state? Do it for each.
- Mind the delivery-channel traps. In Pennsylvania, route training through PAPGA and do not let employees self-start the online pathway. In New Jersey, keep PERC Learning Center records specifically. In Texas, remember PEP does not satisfy state licensing at all. The Railroad Commission's own system does.
- Track OJT separately. The transcript records eLearning only. Keep your own file of completed OJT Worksheets, per employee, next to the transcript, and be ready to produce both quickly.
- Talk to your insurer before renewal. Ask what training documentation they expect in the PEP era, and get it in writing. Do not assume the CETP language on your file quietly updated.
- Re-check every so often. Modules retire on a rolling schedule with no public calendar, and states issue guidance on their own timelines. What holds this quarter may not hold next quarter. Build the habit of confirming instead of assuming.
The bottom line
Strip it down and the move from CETP to PEP is a good-faith modernization of a program that earned its place over nearly four decades. PERC did the hard part. It built a better platform, added accredited continuing education, and centralized the records. The confusion operators feel is not proof the transition failed. It is the ordinary lag between a national program changing at the source and fifty state rulebooks, a mountain of insurance files, and a lot of local inspectors catching up.
For the operator, that lag is the job. PERC will not call your state regulator. It will not reconcile your insurer's paperwork. It will not track your OJT Worksheets. Those are yours. The companies that come through this cleanly will treat it as a filing exercise, not an emergency: a few phone calls, a per-state answer written down and dated, and a records habit that holds up when an inspector or an underwriter says, "Show me."
Start this week. Pull your roster, mark who is mid-certification, and make the two phone calls for your home state. If you want a running head start on the state-by-state picture, Propane Insider keeps a free PEP and CETP checker built for exactly these questions: enter your state and you get its current status, whether the licensing rule still names CETP, whether PEP has been recognized, the regulator to call, and the date the answer was last verified, with a saved report you can forward to an owner or a carrier. It is free and sourced, and it carries the same caveat this article does. Confirm with your state regulator before you rely on it.
Check your state’s PEP/CETP transition status with the free checker at propaneinsider.com/pep-checker.