Public Invited to Comment as TWIA Committee Considers Updated Independent Rate Report and Rate Change Recommendation at December 1 Meeting

UPDATE: The revised and updated information from independent consulting firm Willis Towers Watson that will be considered by the Actuarial & Underwriting Committee at its December 1 meeting is available for public review here.

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association’s (TWIA) Actuarial & Underwriting Committee will meet on Tuesday, December 1 at 10:00 a.m. to review updated information from an independent report on TWIA’s rate adequacy and develop a report/recommendation to the Board of Directors.

The meeting will be held via Zoom and members of the public are invited to participate and provide comment (see additional details below). The agenda for the meeting is available here.

Independent Report

As required by statute, TWIA annually produces and publishes a rate adequacy analysis. The most recent TWIA rate adequacy analysis, completed in July 2020, indicates that TWIA’s current rates are inadequate by 44 percent for residential coverage and 49 percent for commercial coverage.

At its September 22 meeting, the Committee reviewed an independent report by consulting firm Willis Towers Watson (WTW) on TWIA’s rate adequacy and the use of hurricane modeling in estimating potential losses in its rate-setting process. The independent report indicated that TWIA’s current rates are inadequate by 32 percent for residential coverage and 42 percent for commercial coverage.

The Committee directed WTW and TWIA staff to work together to incorporate additional data into an updated report. Examples of additional data requested by the Committee include:

• Commercial business occupancy data
• Secondary risk characteristics
• Details from inspection reports

Rate Filing Recommendation

At its August 2020 meeting, the TWIA Board of Directors voted for the Association to file a 0 percent rate change in its annual required rate filing with the Texas Department of Insurance. Noting that TWIA may also make additional rate filings with TDI at any time, the Board directed the Committee to review WTW’s report and make a recommendation to the Board.

At its December 1 meeting, the Committee will consider WTW’s updated report and is expected to develop its report/recommendation to the TWIA Board. The TWIA Board may then consider the Committee’s report/recommendation at its quarterly meeting on December 8.

Public Participation and Comment

Members of the public are invited to submit written comments via email at PublicComment@TWIA.org. Emailed comments received by Sunday, November 29 will be compiled and provided to the Committee prior to the December 1 meeting.

Members of the public are also invited to provide comment during the designated public comment portion of the meeting by logging on to the meeting via Zoom. Click here to register to attend the meeting via Zoom. The meeting will also be livestreamed via YouTube.

An archived recording of the meeting will be available on TWIA’s website at www.twia.org/about-us/board-of-directors/archived-meetings.

If you are a member of the media, you may send inquiries to mediarelations@twia.org.