The regulators who oversee Philadelphia’s city-owned gas utility want a full accounting of every free trip and gift its chief executive has accepted since 2022.
The Philadelphia Gas Commission sent a memo dated October 23 to Philadelphia Gas Works, obtained by WHYY News, seeking “a complete accounting of gifts, tickets, meals, travel, lodging, and entertainment” given by outside groups to PGW CEO Seth Shapiro. The commission wants the details, including values, from January 1, 2022, when Shapiro became CEO, to the present.
The memo goes further than state ethics law requires. It asks for a complete list of events Shapiro attended in his capacity as CEO, plus other PGW employees who were there. It asks whether any of the organizations that provided gifts and trips do business with the utility, and for detail on Shapiro’s involvement in related decisions. It also asks for copies of original and amended financial disclosure statements, and whether guidance was requested from PGW Ethics Counsel before accepting the benefits.
PGW must submit the requested information by November 13.
The memo follows WHYY’s October 6 report that Shapiro disclosed dozens of trips, including to Phillies spring training in Clearwater, Florida, but did not include their value on his state ethics forms for 2022 through 2025. Pennsylvania law requires covered public employees to report who paid for transportation, lodging, and hospitality worth more than $650, plus the value.
The Phillies paid for Shapiro to attend the team’s annual Corporate Sponsorship Networking Event at spring training for four-day trips each year from 2022 to 2025, on company time. PGW is a major advertiser on Phillies broadcasts and stadium displays, spending the CEO approves, and public records show the utility spent more than $1 million advertising with the team from October 2022 to November 2024. WHYY also named hospitality from Independence Blue Cross, Enbridge, 61 Commodities, Williams Companies, and Tioga LNG.
After WHYY contacted the State Ethics Commission, the commission asked Shapiro to amend his 2025 report. The amended filing valued the 2025 Phillies trip at $2,500 and listed a $4,200 trip paid for by Enbridge. He did not amend the reports for the previous three years. WHYY estimated four years of Phillies hospitality at $10,000 or more.
PGW’s internal ethics code bars employees from accepting gifts where a reasonable person would believe the offer is related to or would influence their PGW duties, and it requires written permission from the ethics officer for gifts over $250. PGW employees file their disclosures internally with the utility, not with the city or state, and are not covered by Philadelphia’s city ethics code.
No one from the commission would comment on the memo. Shapiro did not respond to a request for comment, nor did utility officials. Bill Rubin, chief of staff for City Controller Christy Brady, the commission’s current chair, said the controller could not comment at this time, citing a “personnel issue.”
PGW is the nation’s largest municipally owned gas utility, serving 500,000 customers, and it raised rates 6.6 percent in December 2025. For Northeast households heading into heating season, the question the commission is asking is direct: did the gifts touch the decisions.
