From Craig McInnes in the Sun:
"On the flip side, the government also gets to decide what to do when ICBC is deemed to have collected more cash than it needs to meet claims. The B.C. government chose to take for itself $778 million over three years that was collected from motorists in premiums that were subsequently judged to be excessive.
In Manitoba, when the Public Utilities Board found recently that the public insurance company had over-estimated the amount it needed to charge to cover claims, it ordered the money to be returned to the people who paid it rather than be turned over to the government.
The refunds averaged $450 per customer, or about 45 per cent of the previous year's premiums."
You can and should read the rest here.
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Remember that it was government that forced ICBC to keep a retained earnings account to "level the playing field" with private insurers because the latter must keep money aside for catastrophic losses while the former, as a Crown, is backed up by government. The practical effect was that ICBC had to keep premiums at a certain level to build up that "rainy day" account. It also had the side benefit of allowing private companies to keep their rates at just slightly under that rate and make good profits. And remember that ICBC itself was pointing out to government that this "excess" revenue was adding up beyond what was necessary --even beyond what was needed to meet the required reserves-- for at least the past three years. Beware any Crown that follows the government's pre-set directives in this "Families first" political climate. Too bad it will be short lived.
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