The multiplier trail, and why it cannot be read as a rate change

Three notices, in order. Each entry gives the manual the rating factors come from, then the four base loss-cost multipliers, then any premium divisor stated in that notice.

• Effective 11/1/2024 — 2020 ISO/PIAL Commercial Lines Manual, filing CF-2019-RLA2. FAIR Plan Group I ×10.562, Group II ×3.752; Coastal Plan Group I ×10.716, Group II ×4.826. No premium divisor stated.
• Effective 1/1/2025 — same manual, CF-2019-RLA2, and the same four multipliers: 10.562, 3.752, 10.716 and 4.826. Premium divided by 1.10 for both plans, implementing the suspension of the statutory ten-percent loading.
• Effective 11/1/2025 — 2025 ISO/PIAL Commercial Lines Manual, filing CF-2024-RLA1. FAIR Plan Group I ×10.551, Group II ×3.841; Coastal Plan Group I ×10.137, Group II ×4.828. No premium divisor stated.

Look at what changed across the last line: the underlying manual. The multipliers are applied to base loss costs that are themselves different numbers from November 1, 2025 onward, which means the multipliers are not comparable across that line. No percentage rate change for the commercial book can be computed from these documents.

So any claim that “Citizens raised condominium rates by X percent” in this period is unverified, whoever is making it. What can be said is that the commercial book was re-based, and that a re-basing moves premiums without a published percentage.²

What the personal-lines exhibits do show, and how to use them carefully

Citizens' 2026 personal-lines filing includes indicated changes by territory, and they are far more dispersed than the 3.1 percent headline. Ascension Parish, on the FAIR Plan, shows indications of 30.2%, 8.5%, 18.3%, 8.6% and −5.3% across the five coverage columns for an overall indication of 11.1%; Calcasieu shows 16.7%, 9.5%, 2.3%, 7.9% and −9.7% for 6.6%.

Those are indicated changes by territory, not approved statewide figures, and they are personal lines. They are useful for one purpose only: telling a board's members why a statewide average is a poor predictor of an individual parish, which is the same reason it is a poor predictor of a single building.

And you may not be able to see why your own premium moved

Louisiana rewrote its rate-filing process in 2025, and one of the changes narrows what an association or its counsel can read. LDI Bulletin 2025-06, issued November 21, 2025:

“Advisory Letter 2025-04, issued on August 20, 2025, provided notice that the Louisiana Department of Insurance (LDI) will promulgate a regulation implementing certain statutory provisions in La. R.S. 22:1451, et seq., as amended by Act 11 of the 2025 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature.”

“The new optional rate filing process provides for an insurer to file an affidavit along with its rates, supplementary rate information, and supporting information identifying any documents claimed to be confidential, proprietary, or trade secret, together with the legal basis for such designation. These documents will be reviewed by the LDI to determine whether the designation is proper. If an affidavit is filed and the LDI concurs, an attestation from the LDI will be issued and shall be included in the filing.”

Rate filings are public in Louisiana only to the extent the Department does not concur in a confidentiality designation under R.S. 22:1464. Since November 2025 there is a formal affidavit-and-attestation route for locking material down.³

A related change reaches associations that buy surplus lines: LDI Bulletin 2026-03, issued March 3, 2026, implements Act 79 of 2025 and provides that “[e]ffective July 1, 2026, LDI will utilize the SLIP+ for States system operated by FSLSO as the exclusive system for reporting Louisiana surplus lines policies and endorsements and for remitting surplus lines premium taxes required under Louisiana law.”

What a board can do

• Budget from the quote, not from the news. There is no published commercial percentage to budget against.
• Ask the producer which plan and which group. FAIR or Coastal, Group I or Group II — the multipliers differ materially between them.
• Ask what manual edition the quote is built on. A manual change is what moved commercial premiums in November 2025.
• Do not promise members a public explanation. The filing may be attested confidential, and there is no route around that for a private association.

What to watch next

Citizens' next commercial rate notice, and whether it restates the 1.10 statutory-loading divisor that appeared only in the January 2025 notice. And the regulation the Department said it would promulgate under Act 11 of 2025, which had not appeared in the Louisiana Register as of the August 2026 issue.