The North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI) settled its dispute with home insurance companies about their proposed 42.2% rate increase, allowing a 7.5% increase in June and another 7.5% increase in June 2026.
The North Carolina Rate Bureau (NCRB), which represents homeowners insurance companies in the state, made its request in January 2024.
"I was shocked at the large request that was made, as were the people of North Carolina, because over the comment period, I received over 25,000 comments from homeowners all across North Carolina," said Mike Causey, insurance commissioner of North Carolina, in a
NCDOI and the NCRB could not reach an agreement after the request was made, and went to court about the
"The insurance companies wanted to raise our homeowners' rates up to 99.4% in some areas and an average 42.2% statewide in a single year," Causey stated in a press release. "I fought for consumers and knocked them back to 7.5% increases over two years with a maximum of 35% in any territory. We consider this settlement a big win for both homeowners and North Carolina."
In the settlement, NCRB agreed to no further rate increases until after June 1, 2027.
"North Carolina homeowners will save approximately $777 million in insurance premiums over the next two years compared to what the insurance companies requested. This also protects homeowners from future base rate increase requests until June 2027," Causey said. "These rates are sufficient to make sure that insurance companies, who have paid out large sums due to natural disasters and face increasing reinsurance costs due to national catastrophes, have adequate funds on hand to pay claims."
