LANGLEY, B.C. — B.C.’s Utilities Commission has rejected a request by transport authorities to standardize basic insurance premiums for transport trailers.

Agreeing with the British Columbia Trucking Association, the commission shot down the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia‘s proposal, which could have raised premiums on hundreds of large fleets.

The plan, while lowering the basic rate for trailers, would have eliminated discounts for carriers with large trailer numbers and low claims, says BCTA. As a result, the change would have hurt more carriers than it would have helped, the commission found.

According to ICBC’s own estimates, 309 fleets would have seen basic premiums rise by over 10 percent under the changes, with 110 of those fleets facing hikes of well over 20 percent.

Certain fleets with a current discount of 59 percent, would have experienced a rate hike of 140 percent, according to BCTA.

The commission noted that ICBC itself characterizes rate increases of more than 6 percent as "rate shock."

The commission also found that "average" fleets with a trailer-to-tractor ratio of roughly 4:1 would have experienced rate increases over 6 percent while fleets with just a 2:1 would have avoided any significant increases.

BCUC noted that ICBC’s proposal failed to reward good and penalize bad safety performance.

"Given that the cause of the increase is ICBC’s desire to introduce a more rational approach to premium pricing rather than a higher risk posed by the behavior of these customers, they should not be unduly penalized by the introduction of this new rating system."

The commission did, however, approve changes to the number of vehicles required for Fleetplan eligibility (5 power units) and the elimination of Plan A from the Fleet Retrospective Rating Program.