As expected, N.C. Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey rejected on Tuesday a proposal by insurance companies to increase homeowners’ insurance rates by an average of 42.2 percent statewide, saying the increases were “excessive and unfairly discriminatory.”
The Commissioner set a hearing with the N.C. Rate Bureau, which represents the companies that write insurance policies in the state and requested the rate increases, for Oct. 7 at 10 a.m. in Raleigh. He will have 45 days after the hearing to issue an order settling the rates.
In a rate filing that it submitted in early January to the Commissioner in which it requested rate increases statewide, the NCRB asked for increases of 45.1 percent in the “beach areas” of Dare and Currituck counties and 33.9 percent in the two counties’ “coastal areas.”
Calling these proposed increases “astronomical,” the Southern Shores Town Council encouraged residents in a Jan. 19 “Take Action” email to oppose the NCRB’s proposal during the legally mandated public-comment period. All written comments had to be received by Commissioner Causey’s office by Feb. 2.
See The Beacon, 1/20/24.
The NCRB’s highest proposed rate increases were concentrated in the southern coastal area of North Carolina, where it asked for increases of 99.4 percent in the beach areas of Brunswick, Carteret, New Hanover, Onslow, and Pender counties and 71.4 percent in the “eastern coastal areas” of these counties.
The lowest rate increase the Bureau requested was 4.3 percent in some of the mountain counties.
“I haven’t seen the evidence to justify such a drastic rate increase on North Carolina consumers,” Commissioner Causey said in a press release announcing his decision to reject the Bureau’s rate filing.
“The Department of Insurance has received more than 24,000 emailed comments on [the NCRB’s] proposal, with hundreds more policyholders commenting by mail. Scores more consumers spoke during a public comment forum. North Carolina consumers deserve a thorough review of this proposal. I intend to make sure they get that review,” he continued.
The Commissioner professed to being “shocked” by the high increase amounts requested by the NCRB for insurance companies, who, it claimed, are losing money on paying claims.
The last time the NCRB requested a rate increase was November 2020, when it submitted a homeowners insurance rate filing with Commissioner Causey, requesting an average statewide increase of 24.5 percent. The Commissioner rejected that proposal and reached a settlement with the NCRB for an overall average rate increase of 7.9 percent.
In light of this history, it was expected that Commissioner Causey, a Republican whose term is expiring this year, would reject the NCRB’s January rate filing.
Mr. Causey has two opponents in the March 5 primary. If he should be elected the Republican nominee, he would face a Democratic challenger in the November general election.
(NOTE: In-personal early voting for Super Tuesday begins next Thursday, Feb. 15.)
Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 2/8/24
The Southern Shores Beacon 