August Hearing for North Carolina Home Insurer Premium Increase

North Carolina’s top insurance regulator is scheduling an August hearing for insurance companies to explain their request to raise the cost of homeowners coverage by an average of 25 percent.

Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin’s office said Wednesday the hearing was needed after insurance companies represented by the North Carolina Rate Bureau provided too little detail on why they need such a large increase. Goodwin’s staff said the requested rate increases may be excessive and unfairly discriminatory.

The rates were increased by an average of 7 percent increase starting in July.

Rate Bureau insurance operations director Sue Taylor says companies haven’t had time to study Goodwin’s reasons for calling a hearing, but that August is a reasonable time frame. Companies say the requested increase is mostly based on claims projections.

(Editors: Ed Dufner, John Lear)