NU Online News Service, March 21, 3:05 p.m.EDT

The Texas Department of Insurance has just approved ahomeowners-insurance-rate hike for Allstate Insurance of 5.7percent and 9.8 percent for its companies.

Allstate Texas Lloyds had asked for a 5.7 percent averagestatewide increase. Allstate Fire & Casualty Insurance Co.sought approval for a 9.8 percent rate average hike.

Allstate had been using the new rates since December 2011 since Texas isa file-and-use state.

The Texas Department of Insurance put out a report saying thatit had completed its review of the filings and has found themsatisfactory. Jerry Hagins, TDI spokesperson, says the departmentconducted an actuarial review over a period of several weeks tomake sure that the new rate was not excessive, not unfairlydiscriminatory, and that it was adequate.

“The rate filing was probably a couple of hundreds of pages inlength itself, full of supporting data,” Hagins says. He directshomeowners to HelpInsure.com, a free state-run database whereconsumers may compare the rates of all carriers in their area.

Consumer groups are suspicious of the rate-hike approval.According to Alex Winslow, executive director of consumer groupTexas Watch, “Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman hasn't met arate increase she didn't like.”

Texas Watch reported that the State Integrity Project gave theTDI an “F” on its corruption scorecard, and Winslow says Allstate'sincreases, which run into the double digits, have madeTexasrates,already the highest in the nation, unaffordable for fixed-incomehomeowners.

Allstate spokesperson Kristen Beaman maintains that Texasweather has been increasingly severe since at least the 2008-2009storm season, which accounted for almost a quarter of catastrophelosses within the U.S, with hail and windstorms causing the mostdamage. Natural disasters inTexas, she says, “are not a matter ofif, but when.”

She says that Allstate agents, who service 600,000 policyholdersin the state, reach out personally to clients to help them mitigatecosts by practicing damage control.

Texas Watch maintains that because the 176-year-old state isinfamous for its erratic weather, “hailstorms, tornados andwildfires should be factored into existing rates.”