{"id":324235,"date":"2026-11-09T15:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T15:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/324235\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T15:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T15:56:07","slug":"calls-mount-for-a-full-and-public-investigation-into-pgw-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/324235\/","title":{"rendered":"Calls mount for a \u2018full and public investigation\u2019 into PGW CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk<\/a>, bringing you news and solutions for our changing region.\n<\/p>\n

From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The Public Advocate, who represents the interests of Philadelphia Gas Works\u2019 ratepayers, has filed a petition<\/a> to intervene in the Philadelphia Gas Commission\u2019s efforts to seek more information<\/a> on gifts given to PGW CEO Seth Shapiro by the utility\u2019s vendors.\u00a0<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gas Commission should conduct a full, public investigation into gifts given to PGW management and whether the donors received anything in exchange,\u201d said Public Advocate and Community Legal Services supervising attorney Rob Ballenger in a statement to WHYY News.\n <\/p>\n

Community Legal Services acts as the Public Advocate in proceedings before the Gas Commission and represents residential and small business customers in rate cases.\n<\/p>\n

Ballenger\u2019s petition references a commission memo that was obtained by and previously reported upon by WHYY News. The commission\u2019s memo seeks \u201ca complete accounting of gifts, tickets, meals, travel, lodging, and entertainment\u201d given by outside groups to Shapiro.\n<\/p>\n

The five-member commission, which oversees the finances of the city-owned utility, is seeking more information than is required by Pennsylvania\u2019s Ethics Act<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The commission\u2019s memo, dated Oct. 23, was sent to PGW less than three weeks after WHYY News reported<\/a> that Shapiro disclosed dozens of freebies, including trips to Philadelphia Phillies\u2019 spring training in Clearwater, Florida, but didn\u2019t include the value on his state ethics forms for 2022 through 2025. State law requires Shapiro to specify the value of each free trip he accepts.\n<\/p>\n

The Public Advocate\u2019s petition seeks an \u201con-the-record proceeding\u201d into Shapiro\u2019s gifts and trips, where any results of the inquiry would be public.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis winter, many Philadelphians will choose between paying their rent, refilling their prescription, or keeping their homes warm,\u201d Ballenger said. \u201cPGW should be laser focused on keeping rates low and helping customers avoid shut offs, not accepting lavish gifts from its business partners.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Last winter, PGW raised rates by 6.6%<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Questions remain about freebies given to PGW CEO from vendors<\/p>\n

WHYY News previously reported<\/a> that the Phillies paid for Shapiro to attend spring training for at least four consecutive years between 2022 and 2025, according to public filings.\n<\/p>\n

PGW is a major advertiser on Phillies broadcasts and stadium signage and digital displays \u2014 spending that is approved by the CEO. The nonprofit gas utility spent more than $1 million to advertise with the Phillies<\/a> from October 2022 to November 2024, public records show. As a municipally owned gas utility, Philadelphia\u2019s 500,000 residential and commercial customers provide the vast majority of the utility\u2019s revenue.\n<\/p>\n

Shapiro also listed gifts on his ethics forms from several other vendors including Independence Blue Cross, which provides health care to the utility\u2019s more than 1,600 employees, and 61 Commodities. He failed to disclose the value of the gifts, which is required by the state ethics law. The utility has a contract with 61 Commodities<\/a> to manage its assets, including the transport, purchase and sale of natural gas.\n<\/p>\n

It is unclear how the Gas Commission will respond to the Public Advocate\u2019s petition. Neither the commission nor Christy Brady, who chairs the commission, responded to requests for comment.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Public Advocate\u2019s absence would leave the Small Users directly affected by the outcome of this proceeding without rightful and necessary representation of their interests,\u201d reads the petition, which cites WHYY News\u2019 reporting.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public reporting by WHYY raises serious questions concerning PGW\u2019s CEO\u2019s acceptance of gifts and expensive travel and accommodations, together with potential guests, while remaining on company time. These gifts and events may have provided substantial opportunity for personal enrichment at the expense of PGW\u2019s Small User customers,\u201d reads the petition.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk, bringing you news and solutions for our changing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[26225,69,12562,71,70,5206],"class_list":["post-324235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-pgw","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-gas-works","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-whyy-news-climate-desk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}