On Wednesday, Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis called on the ACCC to investigate petrol prices in the region.

This was the same day a station in Albion Park was selling E10 for 99.9¢ a litre, while the lowest price Ms Sudmalis could find in Nowra was 119.9¢.

‘‘Over the last few weeks we have seen record low fuel prices across Australia, yet there’s still a 20¢ price difference for E10 unleaded between Albion Park and Nowra,’’ Ms Sudmalis said.

‘‘There’s no price difference between E10 unleaded in Sydney and E10 unleaded in Wollongong, so why should there be a 20¢ a litre difference for towns a further 45 minutes down the coast?’’

In December, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs Minister Bruce Billson gave the ACCC new powers to monitor petrol prices.

At the time Mr Billson mentioned the ACCC would do about four ‘‘deep dive’’ investigations into areas of concern.

He also listed Shoalhaven as one of three areas of particular concern to him.

On Thursday, ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the organisation would investigate three regional locations this year, issuing compulsory information notices on businesses under scrutiny.

The three regions will be decided in the next few months but Mr Sims said there would be no announcement about them ahead of time.

‘‘We will only name the regional locations to be studied in this way once the compulsory notices have been issued,’’ Mr Sims said.

‘‘Otherwise we run the risk that market behaviours change before our study begins.”

He said the investigations could unearth illegal anti-competitive activity, although previous work in the petrol industry has not found such activity.

“Even if no breaches are found, the ACCC believes such studies can play an important role as they can shine a light on specific markets where prices are relatively high,’’ Mr Sims said.

‘‘Such exposure can influence behaviour as consumers can see where the money is being made and seek appropriate change.

‘‘Fuel producers can either respond or face a consumer backlash or even a government response if the market is not behaving as a competitive market should. It may be, for example, that barriers to new entry are too high, or that there is a lack of independent market participants.”