Spotlight on: BlueVolt CEU Program

BlueVolt has been offering its Continuing Education University (CEU) program for over two decades, almost since the inception of the company itself. But what is the CEU program, and how does it provide value to the trades industry? 

What is the CEU? 

Julia Griffiths, the CEU Program Manager at BlueVolt, has been working with the program for over five years.  

“We use the BlueVolt platform to provide online continuing education units (CEUs) for electricians that need courses in order to renew their licenses,” Griffiths explained, adding that it currently operates in and meets requirements for 35 states and multiple jurisdictions. 

In addition to offering courses to licensees, BlueVolt also offers a program for contractors to manage the CEUs of their employees—the CEU Manager program—and the Contractor Connect program for manufacturers of the BlueVolt network to provide product training directly to trade professionals. 

 
Why CEU? 

The CEU was born from customer needs in the early years of BlueVolt. According to Griffiths, one of the company founders asked different electricians about their pain points. 

“What he heard more than once was ‘fitting in my CEUs on top of everything else—if there was a way I could do this online and on my own time, that would be great. The alternative is I either take time away from work or I take time away from my family, and neither of those is really what I want to do.’” 

Because of this, BlueVolt built the CEU program to help electricians easily earn necessary credits online. Rather than taking time off work or away from loved ones, electricians can take courses on their laptop, stopping and starting as needed—saving time and money. 

For example, if an electrician bills at $100 an hour, but spends 8 billable hours doing in-person training, that’s $800 lost. Additionally, an in-person course is around $30 per hour on average, while a BlueVolt course is $8-10 per hour: $160-176 less for 8 hours of CEU credits. By taking BlueVolt courses on breaks or after work, an electrician could expect to save hundreds. 

“One of the things that sets BlueVolt apart is that we can help people who have licenses in multiple states get their license renewals with the most efficient use of time and money,” Griffiths said. “When people are doing their CEUs, they're not necessarily out there helping their own customers and building their own business directly. The more we can help them be efficient with their time and money, the happier they are." 

Recently, the CEU program has expanded—in addition to offering CE credits for electrical licensing, it now offers NATE recertification for HVAC technicians. In the future, Griffiths plans to expand the program to support more trades. 

“Tradespeople stay licensed by keeping their license current, and part of that is taking continuing education courses,” Griffiths said. “So BlueVolt sees that as an important part of the service that we offer to our community, and it's a way that our network can be in common cause with our customers, the suppliers, and the manufacturers.” 

For more information about the CEU, check out our CEU website.