Price Increases Delayed
Until Monday
The cost of electricity,
bus fares and taxis will
all go up on Monday and
gasoline prices jump at
the pump on Tuesday,
instead of today
(Friday), said the
Autoridad Reguladora de
los Servicios Públicos (Aresep)
yesterday.
For approved prices to
take effect they must
first be published in
the official government
publication, La Gaceta.
The latest round of
price increases was to
have been published in
today's edition,
however, for reasons not
explained, Aresep
officials said the
publication would have
to wait until Monday.
In the case of gasoline
prices, the new price -
higher or lower - always
takes effect the day
following the La Gaceta
publication.
Come Monday, taxi fares
will just 3% as the cost
of the first kilometre
goes from the current
¢405 to ¢420 colones.
The additional mileage
cost will stay the same.
Electrical rates will
jump up to 41% for high
consumers of electrical
energy. According to the
approved rates, the
increase of the cost of
a Kilowatt Hour will be
lower for those who
consumer 200KWh or less
per month and then
increase for consumption
of between 200KWh and
300KWh and increase
sharply for consumption
over 300KWh per month.
Bus fares will jump from
¢15 colones to ¢280
colones on some 720
routes across the
country.
However, the biggest
blow to the pocket book
is the price of
gasoline.
The cost of a litre of
super gasoline will jump
¢36 colones, going from
the current ¢565 to
¢601; regular will
increase ¢35 colones,
going from ¢553 to ¢588;
and, diesel will see a
whopping ¢45 colones
increase, setting the
price at ¢556 from the
current ¢511.
To make matters worse,
the state refinery,
Refinadora Costarricense
de Petróleo (Recope),
has already submitted a
request for more an
increase of ¢18 colones
for a litre of super,
¢14 for regular and ¢28
for diesel. The Aresep
has yet to approve the
request, though it is
expected in the coming
weeks and to take effect
next month. |
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