Home insurance rates climb in Alberta; insurers say 2024 saw costly climate disasters

Insurance experts say rates are rising across the board because last year was the costliest for damage caused by extreme weather.

A Chestermere senior’s jaw dropped when he saw his new home insurance rate.

Alvin Phillips said he couldn’t believe the $9,000 quote on the contract renewal document from TD Home Insurance.

He said last year’s rate to insure his 1,500-square-foot home was $5,300.

That’s a jump of about $3,000.

The monthly premium would be $700.

“It was a little bit of a shock that it would go up that much,” Phillips said.

Phillips said he’s been a TD Insurance customer for 20 years and has lived at his residence on the city’s west side since the early 2010s.

He said he has only ever made one claim: to replace the roof for hail damage in 2013.

His stepdaughter called his insurance company, and their advice was to shop around for another insurance provider’s rate.

Most destructive season

The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) said 2024 was the costliest year in the country’s history for insurable damage, at $8.5 billion, due to extreme weather events.

Alberta alone saw $4 billion in damage, largely due to the Jasper Wildfire and the Calgary hailstorm in August of that year.

Aaron Sutherland, vice-president for Pacific and Western for IBC, told CTV News risk has gone up, especially for areas prone to disasters, as major climate events happen more frequently.

“All of that is putting pressure on insurance premiums as we see the costs of these events continue to go up and up and up,” he said.

Sutherland said provincial or municipal building codes need to be addressed to mandate building resilient materials.

“We can’t continue building in areas north of (Calgary) with vinyl siding and asphalt shingles that simply can’t stand up to these types of events,” he said.

Sutherland said insurance pools the premiums of the many to pay for the claims of the few, and prior claims or lack thereof aren’t affecting premium rates as much as the community burden.