Costa Ricans must wait about a month for an expected drop in gasoline and diesel prices while the public services rate watchdog agency ARESEP holds public hearings mandated by the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber (Sala IV) in 2008.

This situation disturbs President Laura Chinchilla who would otherwise have the price at the pump drop immediately. Since the government-owned refinery, RECOPE, pegs its retail prices on its oil purchases, the price has risen five times during the year and dropped three.

But the general trend has been upward, reflecting price hikes in crude oil. Currently, RECOPE is not refining crude but must buy the finished product, so prices have been pushed up because of that as well.

The President, irked at the delay in dropping the price of fuel, vowed to immediately send a bill to the Legislative Assembly reforming the ARESEP legislation, essentially by-passing the Sala IV decision.

“No later than Tuesday of next week,” the President said Thursday, “we will send some reforms to the law allowing a more expeditious procedure, as is the practice in almost every nation in the world.”

The upward trend in petroleum prices has brought the gas price up from 635 colones per litre last January to 748 currently. No doubt the price would be even higher but this country receives a preferential rate from its supplier, Venezuela.

On Oct. 12, RECOPE filed a petition to lower the price of super gas by 16 colones, regular (known here as “plus”) 11 colones per litre and diesel by 2 colones. Taking into account that the colon hovers around 500 per U.S. dollar, this seems little difference but a litre is far less than a gallon.

Still, it adds up, especially to those farmers who must haul produce to market in pickups, those in the delivery business and taxi drivers. Lower vehicle fuel prices are also good news to coastal tourism concerns relying on national tourism during the off season.

Although Chinchilla appeared to be pandering to motorists right now, ARESEP pointed out that a law reform would mean more prompt price hikes at the service station as well, when international rates for crude rise.