ICBC application for no rate increase approved

The Insurance Corp. of B.C. (ICBC) has gotten its wish and will not have to raise basic auto insurance rates in 2005. The B.C. Utilities Commission approved the public insurer’s rate application which had been submitted last July.
The commission does not regulate optional rates, but ICBC notes that these rates have not increased since 2003.
ICBC says the commission was pleased with moves the public insurer has made to change its financial allocation methodology, i.e. how costs and revenues from basic and optional products are divided. The commission has also called for further action in the form of a public workshop to review aspects of ICBC’s allocation so that a methodology can be finalized.
The commission will also receive a capital management plan for review from ICBC, as well as requiring a comprehensive revenue requirement application be filed by ICBC.
The commission took over regulation of basic auto insurance services and rates in 2003, following criticism that the process by which rates were set needed to be more open and cross-subsidization of the auto product avoided.