MPI set to cut cheques again

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This article was published 04/06/2011 (5214 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MPI is ready to crank up its rebate-cheque-writing machine once again after getting a truckload of complaints from ratepayers claiming to be shortchanged in the last go-round.

On Friday, Manitoba Public Insurance announced it would seek regulatory approval to pay out $16 million over and above the historic $320 million it mailed out a few weeks ago.

“It’s going to affect those people who received only a partial or no rebate, but that’s up to the discretion of the Public Utilities Board,” MPI spokesman Brian Smiley said.

Smiley said MPI will file an application with the public regulator early next week. It’s expected the PUB will rule on it as quickly as possible.

Smiley also said what has driven the controversy over the rebates is the average size of the cheques, about $450, he said.

When some ratepayers didn’t get a payment of that size, they noticed right away, he said.

MPI did not calculate the rebate any differently this year than in past years, he added. But in past years, drivers didn’t notice the discrepancy because it was considerably smaller, he said.

As many as 157,000 ratepayers could benefit, including 22,000 who received no rebate and 135,000 who received only partial rebates.

Those affected are ratepayers who changed their policy during the 2009-10 operating year. The average rebate this time around would be about $100.

Frustrated driver Renee Perron said the process has been so confusing and mired in misinformation that she’ll believe a new rebate is on the way when it lands in her mailbox.

“I’ve learned my lesson and I’m not going to get excited at all,” she said.

Perron paid close to $1,100 in premiums for the 12 months in 2009-10. She expected a rebate cheque of close to $500 but all she received was $76. She is among those ratepayers who cancelled policies and created new ones when they bought new cars.

Earlier this week, CAA Manitoba and the Consumers’ Association of Canada asked that the Public Utilities Board review the recent rebate and the method used to determine how it was calculated.

Liz Peters, a spokeswoman for CAA Manitoba, said her organization is pleased with MPI’s quick response to CAA’s concerns.

“I was very, very happy to see this today, knowing that they’re listening,” she said of MPI.

But Peters said regulatory changes are needed to ensure the situation isn’t repeated. “We want to make sure that people are getting what’s right and what’s fair.”

In a statement, MPI president Marilyn McLaren said Friday the corporation will ask the PUB to allow it to pay rebates based on the greater of “premiums paid in fiscal year 2009-10 and on the 2009-10 insurance rating year.”

“This will ensure affected customers receive a rebate based on the calculation that is most advantageous to them and eliminates any potential disadvantage based on their particular vehicle or Autopac insurance purchasing decisions,” she said.

McLaren said MPI agrees with the concerns CAA Manitoba and the Consumers’ Association of Canada raised, and it will ask the PUB to allow it to use the “best of two calculations” approach in the future.

McLaren said the corporation continues to be in a strong financial position, with a surplus of $20 million before paying the additional rebate.

— with files from Mary Agnes Welch

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca