North Carolina Home Insurance Ruling Scheduled for After Election

Two weeks ahead of the election deciding whether he keeps his job, North Carolina’s insurance commissioner told companies they’ll have to prove they should be allowed to increase homeowners’ premiums by a statewide average of 17.7 percent.

The move by Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin at least postponed the rate increase that insurers had wanted to take effect on June 1.

Goodwin scheduled a hearing for June 3 to hear arguments for and against the increase. The commissioner — either Goodwin or Republican challenger Mike Causey — would then decide whether any increase is warranted, and if so how large it should be.

The insurance companies are represented by the North Carolina Rate Bureau. The last homeowners’ rate increase was in 2008, before Goodwin took office. Insurers sought an average of 19.5 percent statewide and got 4 percent.

The agency headed by the Democrat seeking re-election to a second four-year term said the proposed rates appear “excessive and unfairly discriminatory.”

“After an initial review of the filing and comments submitted by the public, department experts believe the requested rate increases are not justified based on the data submitted,” Goodwin’s office said in a statement.

Goodwin’s department said insurers may be using old data, unjustified risk factors, and a profit calculation method previously denied by the state Supreme Court.

A model estimating hurricane damage and losses “does not appear to be adequately documented or justified,” Goodwin’s office said.

Causey has gotten an election boost in coastal counties because the property insurance increases approved in 2008 went into effect during Goodwin’s term.