The Louis Berger Group is also a contractor for the PATH companies and was paid $1,253,323.95 in 2009 for their work on the PATH project. Because Louis Berger Group's services are considered a capital expense under PATH's Formula Rate cost-recovery system, these expenses earn that 14.3% return every year for the PATH companies until the asset has completely depreciated. The more Louis Berger Group charges, the more interest PATH pockets!
All these expenses and their associated returns are being recovered from ratepayers in the PJM region every year. Who's watching the henhouse here, except for the PATH company foxes? Would Louis Berger Group be able to resist overbilling when faced with another source of public funding that is administered through a complicated financial/cost-recovery system that makes the average person's eyes glaze over and roll up into their head?
I hope we'll soon find out!