BATON ROUGE — Premiums for almost all of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.'s commercial customers will increase an average of 2.3 percent beginning in February, under a proposed rate filing. But the 307 customers whose properties lie below the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway will see rates drop by 17.5 percent.
Citizens Chief Financial Officer Steve Cottrell says the average policyholder there will see annual rates drop to $4,764, a savings of $1,011. Cottrell said the main reason for the rate change is that the cost of reinsurance, the insurance that insurers buy to protect themselves from excessive claims, has fallen. Citizens is the state's property insurer of last resort and covers properties private insurance companies will not. In most cases, state law requires Citizens to charge more than private insurers. (AP NEWS).
