Per-liter prices of fuel dropped on Tuesday and will remain unchanged until next year.
The cuts, ranging from ₡19-41 per liter, correspond to pending fuel price settings from October and November. The Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) was unable to set fuel prices during those months due to a prohibition from the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, or Sala IV.
Sala IV Justices barred ARESEP from acting on the pending price settings until the court rules on a complaint filed by the Costa Rican Chamber of Industries against ARESEP’s calculation methodology for fuel prices. A ruling on the complaint is still pending, but on Nov. 16, justicies authorized ARESEP to approve a price setting requested by the National Oil Refinery (RECOPE) prompted by variations in international oil prices.
ARESEP approved the new fuel prices on Monday and they went into effect on Tuesday when the agency published them in the official newspaper La Gaceta.
The per-liter price of diesel went from ₡468 to ₡427 ($0.83-0.76); a liter of Plus gasoline went from ₡555 to ₡525 ($0.99-0.93-); a liter of Super gasoline from ₡581 to ₡562 ($1.03-1); and a liter of diesel went from ₡468 to ₡427 ($0.83-0.76).
For a person filling a 45-liter tank, these changes will result in savings of up to ₡1,845 ($3.30), depending on the kind of fuel.
ARESEP said in a new release that the price cuts were bigger than those requested by RECOPE, in order to compensate motorists for the past months. The agency does not have any pending requests to evaluate any other price-settings for the rest of the year.
