Electricity, gasoline and buses rise
in cost at the end of the month
Translated from 03 January 2003
Prepare yourself for a new blow to your
pocket. At the end of this month the Aresep will approve a
readjustment in the tariffs for electricity, gasoline and several
bus routes.
Diésel would be set at ¢164,86 by liter, ¢5,26 more
Thus it confirmed the general
regulator, Hermann Hess.
Indeed, as of Monday, the Regulating
Authority of the Services Public (Aresep) will review those
requests, which were submitted by the corresponding organizations
last December.
In the case of the electricity, there
would be an increase of the 12.24 percent to cover - according to it
justified the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity -, the expenses
of operation and development of the electrical system of the
country.
So that the citizens can appeal the
proposed tarrifs, the Aresep has set a public hearing for the
18th of January in its auditorium.
Gasoline will cost more
At the same time, the organization
also has a request in rise in the cost of combustible fuels.
The increase would be of a 3 percent in average.
Thus, a liter of regular gasoline
would jump from ¢218,9 to ¢225,36.
Super gasoline, the cost of a liter
goes from ¢228,6 to ¢235,48; that is to say, ¢6,88 more.
The variation asked for by the Costa
Rican Petroleum Refiner (Recope) would be for compensating the
changes in the international prices of crude.
Petroleum costs have continued to
rise since the general strike in Venezuela, that is now more than a
month old.
Also the cost of bus fares will rise
During these days, the Regulating
Authority also has programmed to study a list of increases in the
tariffs of several bus routes.
The increased requested are for the
services in Desemparados, Goicoechea, Heredia, Alajuela, Naranjo and
Siquirres, among others.
At the end of December an
increase was approved on the routes between Cartago and Los Angels,
San Cristóbal and Casamata.
According to the official newspaper
La Gaceta, the new tariffs are ¢310, ¢270 and ¢210, respectively.
Hess explained that of all these
increases, the one that could be approved the fasted is that of
gasoline, because Aresep need only evaluate if the calculation made
by Recope adjusts to the automatic formula of variation of prices.
Finally, the Empresa de Servicios
Públicos de Heredia (ESPH) also studies a possible increase in the
services of connection, cuts and to reconexión of the aqueduct and
the sanitary sewage system.
According to the commercial
department of the ESPH, one would see a rise of the 50 percent. The
cost of connections are at the moment in ¢824.
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