After Six Years, PERC can Resume Consumer Education

WLPGA member, the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) learned in April that its consumer education authority had been restored and that it can resume direct communication with consumer audiences about the benefits of propane.

Along with safety, training, and research and development, consumer education formed the core of PERC’s activity until 2009, when a government analysis of energy prices triggered a restriction of public awareness activity. Since then PERC has been generating value for the U.S. propane industry by investing in the development of new products that run on propane and by providing world-class safety and training materials.

The latest price analysis by the U.S. Commerce Department cleared PERC to resume consumer education. Work by the National Propane Gas Association, the U.S. propane industry’s public policy organisation and WLPGA member, on a new law in 2014 paved the way for the lifting of the restriction. Anticipating the change, PERC has been reviewing existing programs to consider how they might best be modified, made more efficient, or replaced. Strategies are also being considered for using an unrestricted consumer education authority to support expanded use of propane in residential, commercial, agriculture, Autogas, landscaping, and other off-road market segments. “Over the next few months members of the Council, members of the Advisory Committee, PERC staff, and other industry leaders will be considering options and developing proposals that, ultimately, we will present to the industry for their input,” Roy Willis said. “Diversification of demand is essential to the future of our industry. Our aim now is reaching consensus on the best path forward.”

To learn more about PERC’s developing consumer education program, follow Roy Willis’ blog at energygumbo.com.