Citizens Property Insurance rate hikes remain unresolved

TALLAHASSEE — Proposed rate increases that could have taken effect Jan. 1 for customers of the state's Citizens Property Insurance Corp. remain unresolved — with any hikes now unlikely to hit customers' bills for months.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has not ruled on the proposal, which the Citizens Board of Governors approved in June. The proposal, for example, could lead to an average 13.5 percent rate increase for the most-common type of Citizens policy, known as homeowners' multi-peril coverage.

When asked about the issue recently, Citizens President and CEO Tim Cerio said the insurer is waiting for word from regulators. If rate changes were approved now, they likely could not take effect until May 1, he said.

"We'll implement what they decide," Cerio said after a meeting of the Florida Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.

Cerio and Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky did not discuss the Citizens rate issue when they testified in front of the committee about property-insurance issues. Regulators held a hearing in August on the Citizens proposal and could deny it or revise the potential increases.

Along with the homeowners' multi-peril coverage, other types of policies would see varying increases under the Citizens proposal, but all averages would be in double digits. For example, condominium-unit owners would see an average 14.2 percent increase for multi-peril coverage.

State law limits annual increases for Citizens' customers. For 2025, the law would allow a maximum 14 percent increase for owner-occupied primary residences, while increases could be as high as 50 percent for second homes.

Citizens officials have long argued that the state insurer needs higher rates because it often charges less than private carriers. The state has worked to shift policies from Citizens into the private market, and officials say lower Citizens rates serve as a disincentive for policyholders to move. But homeowners in some areas contend they have few other options for coverage.

During their presentations to the Senate committee last week, Yaworsky and Cerio said the industry, including Citizens, emerged financially sound from the state getting hit by hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton in 2024.

"It's not a major stress point on the industry at this time," Yaworsky said.

Yaworsky credited far-reaching insurance changes that lawmakers approved in 2022 amid widespread financial problems in the industry. He said if hurricanes Helene and Milton had hit before the changes, the state likely would have seen insolvencies among carriers.

Cerio said that as of Jan. 7, Citizens had paid out about $823 million in claims from the hurricanes, with more than $700 million going to claims from Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in October in Sarasota County before crossing the state.

Citizens, which has reserves and buys reinsurance, has not needed to collect extra charges, known as assessments, to pay the hurricane claims. ¦