… Fire is why premiums have been skyrocketing for the Lukins Brothers Water Company, a South Tahoe water utility that my family has run for the past century. … We have never filed an insurance claim. Despite this, our insurance rates skyrocketed after the Caldor Fire, increasing from $56,000 in 2021 to $299,000 in 2023 — a more than 200% increase. In 2021, insurance accounted for approximately 6% of our expenses; by 2023, that figure had risen to 20%. This translates to an increase of an additional $21 per month per customer for catastrophic property insurance.
–Written by Jennifer Lukins, the co-owner and general manager of Lukins Brothers Water Company in South Lake Tahoe.