Rates for Florida Keys going up and down

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty and Citizens Property Insurance Corp. have agreed on insurance rate changes -including an average 35 percent decrease for homes and a 15.2 percent increase for mobile homes – in Monroe County, which includes the Keys.

The new rates will be for new and renewal business as of Jan. 1, 2007.

The 35 percent decrease is slightly bigger than the original 32.2 percent decrease ordered by the Office of Insurance Regulation in August after it challenged rates used by Citizens. The bigger rate cut is meant to compensate policyholders who were charged an excess rate as a result of the previous rate filing.

Citizens had originally sought to raise rates in Monroe County by 25.9 percent for homeowners and 20.4 percent for mobile homes. By law Citizens rates must be higher than the rates charged by private insurers. However, a recent OIR report concluded there is not a competitive market in Monroe County, which erased the requirement that rates had to be higher.