Gas Hike On Friday
The first gasoline price hike of the year will be this Friday, when
at 12:01am gasoline stations around the country will change their
prices.
The latest increase, approved by the Autoridad Reguladora de los
Servicios Públicos (Aresep) last week, will see the price of a litre
of super gasoline jump ¢18; Plus (regular) ¢16; and, diesel ¢3. The
new prices on Friday will be ¢432 colones for a litre of super; ¢426
for plus; and ¢430 for diesel.
The cost of natural gas is also going up.
Many Costa Ricans are asking themselves how this can be, why the
regulatory body would approve an increase when the international
price for a barrel of crude oil is at a low.
The state refinery, the Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo (Recope)
says the increase is due to a slight increase in the international
price in January.
Gasoline prices in Costa Rica are regulated. The Aresep is the
regulatory body that determines the consumer price of fuels,
determined by an established formula.
According to Recope, Costa Ricans used 6.2% less fuel during the
month of January of 2009 compared to January of 2008.
Although the consumption of 'plus' and diesel dropped, Recope says
that the use of 'super' increased 11.5%.
The figures released by Recope shows that 157.547 barrels of 'super'
were consumer in January 2008, while the number in 2009 is 175.707.
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