Insurance companies have asked state regulators to increase homeowners’ insurance rates by an average of 42.2 percent.
Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey said that the North Carolina Rate Bureau filed the rate filing with the N.C. Department of Insurance on Wednesday.
The industry has asked for the rates to become effective Aug. 1.
The Rate Bureau represents companies that write insurance policies in the state and is a separate entity from the Department of Insurance.
The rate hikes vary by region. The insurance companies have asked for a 99.4% increase in the beach areas in Brunswick, Carteret, New Hanover, Onslow and Pender counties. But the proposed increase in Haywood, Madison, Swain, and Transylvania counties is 4.3%.
In the large population areas, the industry is asking for a 39.8% increase for Raleigh and Durham, a 36.6% increase for Greensboro and a 41.3% increase for Charlotte and the surrounding area.
State Farm Fire & Casualty holds the largest market share in the homeowners insurance market in North Carolina with 16.1%, or $600.7 million in premiums. The North Carolina Farm Bureau is second with 12.2%, or $457 million in premiums in 2022, the latest statistics available.
The industry collected $3.7 billion in direct homeowners multi-peril premiums in the state in 2022. A 42.2% hike would mean an additional $1.5 billion in premiums paid by consumers.
This rate filing is the first since the homeowners’ insurance rate filing that the Department of Insurance received from the Rate Bureau in November 2020, where the industry requested an overall average increase of 24.5%.
That filing resulted in a settlement between Causey and the Rate Bureau for an overall average rate increase of 7.9%.
A public comment forum will be held to at the North Department of Insurance’s Jim Long Hearing Room on Jan. 22 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Long Hearing Room is in the Albemarle Building, 325 N. Salisbury St., in Raleigh.
Regulators are also accepting emailed comments by Feb. 2 at NCDOI.2024Homeowners@ncdoi.gov.
Written public comments must be received by Kimberly W. Pearce, by Feb. 2 and addressed to 1201 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1201.