RALEIGH – The hearing scheduled for the insurance industry’s proposed statewide average 17.4% homeowners’ insurance rate increase has been extended one month from Sept. 4, 2019, to Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019.  Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey says he needs the additional time to review the documents filed by the North Carolina Rate Bureau or NCRB.

“There is a pervasive lack of documentation, explanation, and justification of both the data used, as well as the procedures and methodologies utilized in the filing,” Commissioner Causey said.   “The proposed rates appear to be excessive and unfairly discriminatory and I want more time to study the data to ensure our consumers are treated fairly.”

The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in the Second Floor Hearing Room in the Albemarle Building, 325 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh.

The hearing will be held unless the N.C. Department of Insurance and NCRB are able to negotiate a settlement before that date. The Department of Insurance and NCRB can settle the proposed rate increase at any time during litigation.

The NCRB represents insurance companies that write the state’s homeowners’, auto and workers’ compensation policies. It is a separate entity from the Department of Insurance.

The NCRB filed the average statewide 17.4% increase Dec. 20, 2018. The filing covers insurance for residential property, tenants, and condominiums at varying rates around the state.

The last Rate Bureau homeowners’ rate filing was in 2017. That year, the NCRB requested an average 18.9% statewide increase in homeowners’ insurance rates, but Insurance Commissioner Causey settled, instead, on an average 4.8% increase.