Nearly half a million Floridians who use the state’s property insurer of last-resort will likely be paying more for that coverage starting next February.
The board that oversees Citizens Property Insurance has voted unanimously to raise premiums on homeowners by an average 5.3 percent and on commercial customers by an average of 8.4 percent.
State regulators must still approve the hikes.
Citizens says the hikes are not to swell the hurricane claim fund, but rather to compensate for a growing number of water loss claims.
The hike percentages are averages because the actual amount a Citizens customer’s premium goes up varies by type of policy and property location.
The biggest premium hikes are likely to be in South Florida, where water loss claims are more prevalent.
Citizens has more than 451,000 customers, down from more than a million a few years ago.