Consumer rights groups have welcomed an investigation into why people in the country are paying more for petrol than their city counterparts.
The difference in price has widened dramatically in recent months and motorists in regional areas are now paying as much as 17.6 cents per litre more to fill their tanks.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims says the difference is of "great concern" and has vowed to get to the bottom of the discrepancies.
Starting next month, the ACCC will issue regular reports, which will analyse what drives petrol prices.
NRMA President Kyle Loades says the pricing anomalies are "simply ridiculous".
"It's good news that the ACCC is taking these steps and we hope it will result in fairer prices in the bush," Mr Loades said.
Choice spokesman Matt Levey said the consumer group had previously found that fuel prices were the third biggest concern for people in terms of their cost of living.
"The wide gap between metropolitan and regional areas suggests there may be a competition issue here," he told AAP on Thursday.
"If there is evidence of a competition issue here then it becomes a question of how it's addressed."
An analysis of pump prices in regional locations in July 2014 shows the monthly average retail price of petrol was 5.7 cents per litre higher than in the five largest cities. By December, this difference was 17.6 cents.
Mr Sims said the ACCC would carry out a report "every month or two" to identify where the problems are.
"These are inexplicable prices in quite a number of areas and we need to get to the bottom of understanding that," he told reporters on Thursday.
But he warned the commission may find some breaches - such as overt collusion or cartel activity - very hard to prove.
The ACCC will be able to call on its compulsory information gathering powers, activated under ministerial direction, to try to explain the pricing anomalies.
The powers give the ACCC a legal right to obtain sensitive pricing information from companies, along every level of the fuel chain, in specifically targeted markets.
The first three regional locations to be investigated will remain secret until after the compulsory notices have been issued to avoid petrol sellers changing their behaviour before the probe begins.
The first notices will be announced in March.
The studies will look at the cost of fuel in the nearest port, transport and storage costs, as well as wholesale, distribution, and retail costs to fully explain prices and where money is being made in the petrol price value chain.
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