MPI to hold the line on auto rates

Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) is proposing to hold the line on auto insurance rates next year and provide its customers with a Cdn$49-million rebate in the spring.The public insurer has filed an application with the Public Utilities Board (PUB) proposing no increase in premium revenue for 2008-09 and a 7.5 % rebate, which would provide a Cdn$90 rebate on the average vehicle and mark the fourth rebate in six years. W know that Manitobans expect and require rate stability because it helps them manage the family budget, MPIs president and CEO Marilyn McLaren said in a release. The rate application means that over a 10-year period, Manitobans will have had only one rate increase, with five rate decreases and four years of holding the line on auto insurance rates. During the same time, we have provided our customers with four rebates worth Cdn$250 million. At the same time it filed its rate application, MPI made suggestions for streamlining the PUB process. The corporation is proposing that adjustments be allowed without the need for hearings when there is no substantive rate change.This year, we are spending [Cdn]$1 million on a process and application that asks for no increase to overall rates, McLaren said. We believe that we can suggest rules to save the costs of some hearings.