Meanwhile, Big Spring and Sweetwater homeowners face the state's most costly insurance, despite a 3.26-percent decrease in their rates. The local changes are part of an average 6.6-percent statewide benchmark rate cut proposed by State Insurance Commissioner Jose Montemayor. The benchmark rate for each territory, consisting of a number of counties, is based on the amount of damage and number of claims over a 10-year span. The statewide decrease doesn't mean Texans will automatically receive lower insurance bills.
Insurance companies use benchmark rates on homeowners insurance as a guideline for policy premiums.
The last reduction was an average of 6 percent. I am pleased to announce even further decreases.'' For years, Corpus Christi homeowners paid the highest rates in the state because of potential slab damage, which happens when clay shifts and pipes break, said Jim Davis, a spokesman for the insurance department. But rough weather in West Texas during the past decade caused Sweetwater and Big Spring homeowners to be charged the highest premiums. Statewide break State insurance officials are lowering the statewide benchmark because of a reduction in severe weather patterns over most of the state in recent years. The worst damage reported in the 1990s came from a series of hailstorms across a large section of North Texas in 1995.