TAMPA, Fla. — Back in August, state-backed Citizens Property Insurance pleaded its case to the State's Office of Insurance Regulation, requesting a 14% rate increase for its policyholders. That was before back-to-back hurricanes.
According to the rate hike request, Citizens is pushing for an average near-14% increase in 2025 for many of its 1.2 million policyholders. According to the company’s own projections, personal line policies would see average premiums jump hundreds of dollars:
- Miami-Dade— $699.
- Palm Beach— $670.
- Hillsborough and Pinellas— $360.
However, months later, the state still hasn't decided whether to approve the rate hike.
Margaret Bowles's Dana Shores home flooded in Helene, and she has Citizens Property Insurance on a rental she owns in St. Pete. She's hoping the state shows mercy after this hurricane season.
"It forces me to have to pass that increase onto the tenants," Bowles said. "I'm trying to remember what my premium is it seems like with Citizens it was much lower than regular homeowners."
According to CEO Tim Cerio, that's exactly why Citizens, the state's insurer of last resort, is asking for this rate hike.
"We are ridiculously cheap compared to the private market," Cerio said. "We are not supposed to compete with the private market."
ABC Action News spoke with Florida's Insurance Commissioner, Michael Yaworsky, at a state insurance village after Hurricane Helene. He said a decision will likely be made in mid-November as hurricane season winds down.
"It's pretty rare for a Citizens filing to be approved in the same way it was filed so we were are looking at it delicately," Yaworsky said. "We are taking the time to make sure we get it right — we don't want a situation where Citizens does an assessment but we don't want people to pay more than they need at this time."
Because for storm victims like Bowles, that's the last thing they need.
"Have some mercy, have some mercy on folks," she said. "Because even insurance doesn't make you whole, we are finding that filing all these claims that it's not going to make us whole either way. So we need a break."
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