N.B. Consumers Deserve Rate Reductions: Insurers Want to Comply
To date, companies that insure almost half of Canada’s motoring public in New Brunswick have reportedly filed rate reductions with the province’s Public Utilities Board (PUB) and still more have rate reductions ready to be submitted and implemented. Nothing can reportedly happen, however, to make these new and lower rates a reality for consumers until the PUB has concluded additional hearings on the reductions.
“Insurance companies are more than willing to comply with the government’s rate reduction policy,” said Don Forgeron, VP Atlantic, IBC. “Unfortunately, it appears that these reductions must wait for the PUB hearings to conclude and the first hearing date isn’t until August 11.” said Forgeron. “We understand the need for these hearings, but consumers want and deserve relief now.”
The proposed hearings have reportedly essentially stalled the momentum toward further rate reductions. IBC stresses that more companies would have filed rate reductions but now will be forced to wait until the PUB process plays out.
“Going through the rate filing process is an expensive process and to do so now would be wasteful without knowing the outcome of the PUB hearings,” added Forgeron. “We hope that this bottleneck is cleared soon so insurers can respond to the needs of their customers.”