Texas Insurance Rates Spike After Beryl: Will You Be Affected?

The after-effects of Hurricane Beryl are not all physical, as Texan wallets may be impacted in addition to their homes.

According to points made in a recent meeting from the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) on July 15th, it's anticipated that half of the catastrophe reserve funds will be spent in damage payouts following Hurricane Beryl's devastation along the Texas coast.

The TWIA expects to pay over $200 million in claim payouts for those impacted by Beryl. The association serves as a last resort for those impacted by storm damages and are denied coverage from public insurers.

Will my insurance rate increase next year?

The TWIA committee voted, 5 to 1, to recommend a 10% increase to current insurance rates "for 2025 residential policies and by 10% for 2025 commercial policies."

They include that the current 38% for residential coverage and 45% for commercial coverage rates are "inadequate", given the busy year 2024 has been for disaster relief (wildfires and Hurricane Beryl).

These rates are already nearly doubled from last year, even before considering the additional 10% increase.

The one dissenting vote from Board of Directors Vice Chair Georgia Neblett was because she felt a rate increase would not fix the problem. Neblett claimed it would only "impact people's ability to live and work here", and that "these aren't rich people."

Neblett pointed to the fact that it's up to the state legislature to deal with state-wide insurance crises, not the insurance companies themselves.

Just a recommendation

It's important to keep in mind that nothing is set in stone yet. In fact, in recent years, TWIA recommended an increase in coverage rates which were disregarded by the board. So, this is not a done deal, but something to keep an eye on for sure.