Louisiana Citizens Considering Commercial Property Rate Increase

Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s board is expected to approve increasing its commercial coverage rates by an average of 45.1 percent statewide this week.

Almost all of Citizens’ roughly 5,700 commercial property policies are in the New Orleans area and coastal parishes. Three-quarters of those policies are wind-and-hail only, the coverage for hurricane damage.

In September, Citizens’ board approved increasing the rates by 56.9 percent, but the state Department of Insurance reduced that to 45.1 percent. Citizens, the state-backed insurer for those who can’t get traditional insurance, said the increase was needed so the company could buy enough reinsurance, the insurance that insurers buy to cover the damage caused by a 1-in-100-year storm.

The Advocate reports the commercial rate is one of several items on the board’s Nov. 8 agenda.