Citizens Homeowners Rates To Increase

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — East Baton Rouge Parish homeowners who buy coverage from Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. would see rates increase an average of 9.9 percent while wind-only policies would jump by 17.1 percent under a proposed rate filing.

Statewide, Citizens personal lines, which include homeowners, renters, mobile home, condominiums and wind-only coverages, would increase an average of 5.2 percent.

The Advocate reports the Citizens board voted Thursday to submit the rate filing to the state Department of Insurance for approval.

Under the proposal, Chief Financial Officer Steve Cottrell says rates for about 90 percent of Citizens personal lines policyholders would increase an average of 6.7 percent. Rates for policyholders in the areas below the Intracoastal would drop an average of 8 percent.