The regulator’s announcement of a “study” into Armidale’s criminally high petrol prices should have been greeted with delight by long-suffering motorists.

But the hearts of all Armidale drivers immediately sank when ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the review would not be focused on rooting out anti-competitive practices.

Anyone owning a car, truck, motorbike, or even a lawnmower, can tell the ACCC that fuel retailers – and the companies that pull the strings – are holding the city to ransom.

There seems no logical reason why petrol in Armidale is more expensive than that sold in neighbouring towns further from the distribution centres – and with even less competition.

Price-gouging is happening in Armidale and the evidence is there in LED lights for all to see every time a retailer updates its giant price boards with yet another arbitrary figure.

Incredibly, an ACCC investigation launched last October found “no evidence” of cartel-like behaviour, which rightly raises the question: how hard were they really looking?

The Abbott government has tasked the ACCC with getting to the bottom of why motorists in regional areas pay so much more for petrol than their city counterparts.

Yes, there are legitimate reasons why fuel transported from the coastal ports to the country pumps would result in local drivers paying a few cents a litre extra at the cash register.

But the tyranny of distance alone does not explain why just last week the average price of unleaded across Sydney was 131.5 cents a litre, while Armidale motorists were slugged 148.9c.

Mr Sims said the ACCC – like it has been doing in Darwin and Launceston in recent months – will examine the fuel supply chain leading to Armidale.

He said the regulator would make use of its “compulsory information gathering powers” to force stakeholders to turn over information they might not otherwise volunteer. 

However, he could not promise the study would result in lower prices at the bowser and said meekly that if it somehow managed to “stumble across” a cartel then “all very good”.

It is not the sort of rhetoric that will instil fear in the fuel industry, nor fill the Armidale community with confidence.