Slight rate increase coming for Manitoba Public Insurance customers

Manitoba Public Insurance rate-payers will be seeing a small bump on their bills starting April 1.

The public insurer had actually applied to the Public Utilities Board for a rate decrease last fall — and it was approved.

But in a release Wednesday the PUB said when the newly approved decrease is offset against the removal of a previously approved five per cent capital release — which led to one-time cheques being sent out to all customers last year — the change will actually mean an average increase in premiums of 1.54 per cent for drivers.

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In its release, the PUB said it noticed big jumps in MPI’s staffing expenditures, with more than 400 new jobs added since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An IT renewal project at the public insurer that was initially budgeted to cost $106.8 million when announced in 2020 is now budgeted for between $257 and $290 million.

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The PUB has asked for several reports on Project Nova to make sure the money’s being put to good use.

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