Citizens Insurance presents double-digit rate hike proposal at Board of Governors meeting

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Citizens Board of Governors on Wednesday will hear a proposal for double-digit rate hikes, set to be in place by year’s end.

Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. earlier this month revised its latest rate hike proposals by settling on an average 11.5% increase for multi-peril policies. The average becomes 12.3% when factoring in all personal lines, such as wind-only and mobile-home policies. Many commercial properties could otherwise be looking at an average hike of 10.2%.

This comes after Citizens was ordered in August by the state Office of Insurance Regulation to back down from seeking an average increase of 13.3% overall. The since-tossed proposal called for 12% increases among primary residences with multi-peril policies.

“We’ve responded to OIR’s (the Office of Insurance Regulation’s) concerns and think the rates we’re presenting to our board reflect those requested changes,” Citizens spokesperson Michael Peltier said in mid-September.

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What’s being presented to the board on Wednesday, if approved and left unchanged, would have commercial rate hikes go into effect Nov. 20 and personal-line increases begin Dec. 16.

The Citizens Board of Governors meeting is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. within Florida State University’s Augustus B. Turnbull Center in Tallahassee.

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