Questions have arisen about how we in the country are still paying markedly more than those in the city for petrol.

Motorists in Melbourne have this week paid as little as $1.20 a litre for fuel. Lucky them.

The prices are some of the lowest those in the city have experienced since 2010 following the Global Financial Crisis.

So why aren't we in the country reaping the benefits of a sharp drop in world oil prices?

The price of oil has been in free fall since June this year. US crude oil is now buying below $55 a barrel, half of what it was six months ago.

Yet we in the regional areas have at best experienced a drop in cost of 10 to 15 cents a litre compared to as much as 30 cents a litre in the city. It just doesn't add up.

We all know that if the price of oil was to be headed in the opposite direction, the cost would be passed on rapidly and consumers would be among the first to feel the effects.

Anyone who operates a motor vehicle knows forking out money for fuel is a necessary and sizable part of the household budget.

On Wednesday the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) new powers to monitor petrol prices took effect.

The powers allow the ACCC to begin conducting its fuel price monitoring reporting quarterly rather than annually, it also now has the capacity to investigate specific regions of the fuel market.

Maybe the ACCC should focus on here in the Wimmera because motorists who fill up in our region at the moment could be forgiven for thinking they are being taken for an expensive ride.

If you have information that a fuel retailer is not competing fairly please contact the ACCC.

- Ben Kimber