• Insurance rates rise for some due to adjustments.

By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer

Columbus County didn’t experience a hurricane last year, but some homeowners are still feeling the effects of tropical weather.

The county is linked with Robeson and Bladen counties in what the state Department of Insurance calls Territory 41. All counties in the state are designated by territories to better evaluate insurance risks.

While the territory doesn’t contain any coastal property, the close proximity to the storm-vulnerable beach areas heightens its risk of tropical problems. Insurers wanted to raise premiums 125 percent for neighboring Territory 42, which includes Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender and Onslow counties, according to the Department of Insurance. The areas in Territory 42 saw a 25 percent increase instead.

Combined with a rate increase approved by Insurance Commissioner Jim Long on May 1, some homeowners in Columbus have seen major jumps in their insurance fees.

Kristin Milam of the state Department of Insurance said the overall increase was far less than what the insurance companies pushed for earlier this year.

“They originally asked for a 70 percent overall increase,” she explained, “but officially filed for a 50 percent increase instead. The commissioner approved a 22 percent increase, and that’s what people are seeing now.”

According to the Department of Insurance, an average premium on a $100,000 home in Columbus County was $558 annually prior to May 1. Insurers formally filed requests to increase that to $837, but were approved for a jump to $681 for most homes.

The 22 percent increase, Milam said, is being felt worst by insurance customers whose carriers were charging slightly below average market prices.

“A company that didn’t increase their rates before could raise their prices by up to 22 percent,” she explained. “Sometimes they just equal out to the going rate, and sometimes the customer would see a major increase.

“Even in years where the insurance companies don’t ask for an increase,” Milam explained, “a homeowner that had a discount rate before might see an increase that balances out with the last approved rate increase. They can’t be charged more than the approved rate, but the cost can be adjusted upward to that rate.”

Columbus wasn’t seriously affected, rate-wise, by the floods that swept the east end of the county after last season’s single tropical system.

Milam said the office tries to balance the needs of both consumers and insurers.

“We want to make sure people aren’t taken advantage of,” she said, “but at the same time, we have to be sure insurance companies still want to do business in North Carolina.”

Milam said the Department of Insurance also looks at all increase requests with a skeptical eye.

“Usually if there is an increase,” Milam said, “Commissioner Long wants to see proof of the need.”