Andrew Dickens Afternoons

The Press is breathlessly reporting that a homeowner in the Christchurch suburb of Strowan Merivale has just received his latest insurance bill from Tower and his premiums have been increased near enough five-fold.The bill has gone from $2300 to near enough $13,000 a year. The bill is more than $1000 a month. The insurance company is Tower, the first New Zealand company to go to a fully risk-based approach.The owner obviously freaked out and moved to another insurer who charged a more modest amount. But even still premiums are on the way up as other firms move to partial risk-based cover.This has been signalled for a while and it comes after a string of events that have hit the insurance sector. Earthquakes in Christchurch have cost insurers $21 billion and that doesn’t include the $12 billion EQC has paid out.The fully risk-based approach means that from now on the insurance liability will no longer be spread across the whole country. So Mr Insurance Man believes that is places like Christchurch, Napier, Wel