Connect and service furnaces, water heaters and gas lines. A short licence ladder that many plumbers and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) techs add on.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
G2 or Class B
$83,000
Entry-level G3 holder
$55,000
G1 or Class A, senior
$124,000
Gas utilities and unionized commercial contractors pay the most. A gas licence on top of a plumbing or HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) ticket is where the real money is.
$26 to $30 an hour
New G3 holder working under supervision
Higher at a gas utility, lower at a small residential service company. In Alberta a first-year gasfitter apprentice earns about the same.
$40 to $60 an hour
$40 is the national median, about $83,000 a year full time. Senior G1 or Class A holders at utilities reach about $120,000
Winter no-heat calls pay overtime. Self-employed gasfitters bill $120 an hour or more for service work.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is the gas technician course at a public college at around $3,000, the exam and certificate fees for both levels, and a basic tool kit with a gas detector. The high end is a private school program at $7,000, the same fees, and a fuller set of tools. In Ontario this is a certificate program rather than a registered apprenticeship, so you usually pay up front instead of earning while you learn. In provinces where gasfitting is a registered apprenticeship you can use the Canada Apprentice Loan, which is interest free, and draw EI (Employment Insurance) during the classroom blocks.
In Ontario the course is usually paid up front because it is a certificate program, not a registered apprenticeship. It is still one of the cheapest trade licences to get.
Utility jobs come with pensions
Enbridge Gas and other utilities are unionized with strong benefits.
Company van, phone and uniform
Standard for service technicians.
Overtime in winter
No-heat emergencies pay premium rates.
A second ticket you can stack
Most gasfitters also hold a plumbing or HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) licence, which means more billable work.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A ladder of three TSSA (Technical Standards and Safety Authority) certificates: G3, then G2, then G1.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 with math and science.
Gas technician course
3 months to 1 year
A college or private school program that covers the G3 and G2 material. Many colleges bundle it with plumbing or HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) programs.
G3 certificate
After the course
Pass the TSSA (Technical Standards and Safety Authority) exam. You can now work on gas appliances under the supervision of a G2 or G1 holder.
G2 certificate
About a year of work
Pass the G2 exam. You can now install and service most residential and small commercial appliances on your own.
G1 certificate
2 or more years
After years of experience as a G2 and more schooling. G1 covers large commercial and industrial equipment.
Math
Gas pressure, pipe sizing and combustion air calculations.
Chemistry
Combustion is chemistry. You need to understand what makes gas burn cleanly or badly.
Physics
Pressure, venting and airflow.
Shop or technology classes
In Ontario gas work is licensed by the TSSA (Technical Standards and Safety Authority), not by Skilled Trades Ontario, and it is not a Red Seal trade there. In Alberta, BC and most other provinces gasfitter is an apprenticeship with Class B (2 years) and Class A (a third year) levels, and both classes are Red Seal trades everywhere except Ontario and Saskatchewan. It is illegal to work on gas without a certificate in every province. Moving between Ontario and the rest of Canada usually means writing another exam.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Plumber licence
The classic pairing. Water heaters, boilers and gas lines in one visit.
HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) licence
Furnaces and rooftop units need both a gas licence and refrigeration skills.
Propane and oil burner certificates
Rural and cottage country runs on propane and oil. Fewer technicians means more work.
G1 or Class A
Large boilers, industrial burners and commercial kitchens. Fewer people hold it, so it pays more.
Driver's licence
A gasfitter without a licence cannot do service work.
Customer service skills
You are in people's homes on the coldest day of the year, and they are stressed.
A clean record
Utilities and home service companies do background checks.
Gas utilities such as Enbridge Gas hire gas technicians to run service lines, install meters and respond to leak calls. The work is unionized, pensioned and steady. It is one of the few trades paths with a real shift schedule and a pension rather than project-to-project work.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Service season is winter. Six to eight calls a day from a van: a furnace that will not light, a water heater that needs replacing, a fireplace with a pilot problem, a new gas line for a stove or barbecue. Each stop means diagnosing, fixing, leak-testing every joint and checking the venting. Installation work is slower and cleaner: new furnaces, boilers and rooftop units on commercial jobs.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The rotten-egg smell is a chemical called mercaptan that utilities add on purpose so people notice leaks. Gasfitters are trained to find leaks with detectors and soap solution, not their nose.
Since 2014 every Ontario home with a fuel-burning appliance or attached garage must have a carbon monoxide alarm. The Hawkins Gignac Act, passed in 2013, is named after a family of four who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in their Woodstock home.
Almost everywhere else in Canada gasfitter is a Red Seal apprenticeship trade. Ontario runs its own G3, G2, G1 system through the TSSA (Technical Standards and Safety Authority), which is why plumbers and heating technicians there talk about their G2 the way other provinces talk about a Class B.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.