The Commerce Commission is hopeful major fuel importers will agree to meet after it issued a "please explain" about "concerning" price anomalies across the motu.
On Wednesday, the Commission revealed it had asked major fuel importers to explain themselves after it found troubling variations and pricing levels of fuel "with no clear underlying factor".
It's been one year since the new Fuel Industry Act regulatory regime was introduced and now the Commission wants "to get a better understanding of what's going on".
Commerce Commission chair John Small told AM the price variations the Commission witnessed were "very difficult for us to understand".
"That's why we're asking for the companies to explain to us exactly what is happening."
Small told AM the Commision wrote to the major players a couple of days ago but are yet to hear back.
"I'm confident that we'll get them to sit down them and have a good talk about exactly what's going on."
If they don't play ball, the Commission can force them to hand over information with a compulsory information notice – though Small made it clear that is not what's happening here.
"[We're] asking them for meetings so we can sit down and talk to them face to face about how exactly these prices are set. That's the reason for the please explain at this point."
The latest report by the Commission shows motorists in Whangārei are paying more for fuel than other cities. But Small said on Wednesday the difference cannot be easily explained by the data supplied to them.
"Marsden Point is our nearest port to major fuel sources like Singapore and South Korea, and being near the Marsden Point import terminal means higher prices can’t simply be explained by higher ocean or local transport costs. Land costs in Whangārei don’t shed any light on these prices either."
Waitomo Group managing director Jimmy Ormsby said the Commission's report makes Whangārei an "attractive" market for Waitomo to enter and believes the region's high fuel prices are due to the lack of competition.
Small said Hamilton has some of the lowest prices across the motu, another anomaly he wants an answer for.
"This significant variation in pricing is of concern to us so we are asking the major fuel companies to help us understand the data being reported to us."
Watch the full video above for more.
