At the stroke of midnight tonight, Monday, gasoline stations will be charging more for gasoline and diesel.
For clarity, the price change is effect at 12:01 am Tuesday, August 6, when the price of a liter of super gasoline will increase ¢31, regular ¢26 and diesel ¢14.
Thus, the prices at pumps on Tuesday will be ¢689 for a liter of super (up from ¢658 ), ¢663 for regular (up from ¢637), and ¢542 for diesel (up from ¢528).
What this increase means in real terms is an additional outlay of ¢1.395 colones to fill a 45-liter gas tank with super, ¢1,170 with regular and ¢630 with diesel.
The increase was approved last month by the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep).
It was expected that the increase would be in effect until at least this coming weekend, however, on Monday the notification was published in the official government newsletter, La Gaceta. Any change in fuel prices take effect the following day of publication.
This is the fourth fuel price increase this year.
Based on the current Aresep methodology, Recope requests an extraordinary adjustment on fuel prices every second Friday of the month (this month it will the coming Friday, August 9). The Aresep then holds public hearings prior to determining if the request will be granted. The public hearing process can take a couple of weeks and any changes in fuel prices take effect the following month.
The request is called extraordinary because it takes into account aspects not controllable by the company, such as the prices of fuels in the international market and the dollar exchange rate.
Fuel prices in Costa Rica are regulated.
