Residents and business owners in the Central Valley provinces of San José, Alajuela, Heredia and Cartago will soon pay an average of 4% more for their electricity, thanks to the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) recently giving the green light to a price hike requested by the area's power company, the National Power and Light Company (CNFL).

Residential electricity prices will increase 5%, while general rates will increase 2.5%, preferential rates will increase 13.6% and public wiring will increase 17.96%. These increases are “inferior” to those requested by CNFL, according to a statement from ARESEP. They will go into effect as soon as they are published in the official government daily La Gaceta.

At the same time it approved at least part of the price increases CNFL asked for, ARESEP asked the power company to review its methods used to project the number of electricity users and calculate energy costs.

ARESEP recently rejected a request from the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) of an average 23% rate increase in electricity rates. This rejection came in the midst of a national energy crisis that forced the country to deal with scheduled power outages (TT, April 27).

-Tico Times