TALLAHASSEE — Property insurance companies in Florida have consistently avoided scrutiny when seeking to raise rates by keeping proposals just below the threshold that would trigger a public hearing.

These hearings are mandated when an insurer proposes a 15% rate hike or higher.

Out of 134 rate requests since 2022, the most commonly sought increase? 14.9%

Companies have also used a practice of piggy-backing rate adjustments — first introducing a rate under 15% and then coming back again. That has caused some homeowners to see premiums surge more than 20% when their policies renew.

Now state regulators have a message for insurance companies: No more games when it comes to requesting rate increases.

Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation is signaling that such tactics are no longer tolerated. On Thursday, regulators held a public hearing for Deerfield Beach-based People’s Trust Insurance Co., seeking an overall 14.8% rate hike for about 38,000 policies that mostly cover vacant homes.

Under the old rules, a hearing wouldn’t have been held. These meetings allow public and state insurance consumer advocates to ask insurance executives detailed questions about their proposals.

Office of Insurance Regulation Commissioner Mike Yaworsky said the new strategy was part of the office’s accountability and transparency efforts.

“We do see a lot of value in our broader transparency measures in allowing the public to see what’s going on and hopefully have faith in the overall process,” he said.

Yaworsky also questioned why so many companies have asked to raise rates by about 14.9% over the years.

“Why do we end up there a lot?” Yaworsky said. “I think that’s a good question to ask. And I think if the answer is … to avoid a rate hearing, I don’t think it’s going to get you there.”

Regulators are also planning a public hearing for First Protective Insurance Co., seeking an overall 14.7% rate hike, primarily on its homeowners policies.

Every company’s rate request must be approved by regulators. When those hikes are less than 15%, regulators question the company behind closed doors, and the rate hikes aren’t publicly announced.

But now Yaworsky is exercising another state law allowing such hearings whenever regulators deem necessary.

Just how common it is for companies to seek increases just under 15% isn’t clear. But the Times/Herald reviewed 134 Florida homeowners’ rate requests, according to the ratings agency AM Best, and found that the most common request was 14.9%, occurring 13 times. Thirty of the rate requests were between 14% and 14.9%.

Prior to People’s Trust’s 14.8% request, regulators noted the company asked for increases of 14.4%, 15%, 14.8%, 11.2%, 6.2% and 14.7% since 2020.

A spokesperson for People’s Trust, whose chief operating officer is former Florida insurance commissioner Tom Gallagher, did not respond to requests for comment.

The scrutiny comes as some companies have announced no changes or even single-digit rate decreases this year, considered signs of hope for homeowners after years of skyrocketing premiums. Those rate hikes, or decreases, are the average experience, meaning not all policyholders will see increases or decreases.

Public rate hearings are usually dull affairs, full of technical language about methodology. The public rarely participates.

But they do offer rare opportunities to question executives in public. In 2021, regulators accused executives with Tallahassee-based Southern Fidelity Insurance Co. — now insolvent — of manipulating their methodology to seek an average 36% increase on more than 64,000 homeowners policies.

Regulators had approved a 31% increase in the same year, meaning some homeowners faced hikes of more than 70% on average.

During a rate hearing in April, an attorney who represents policyholders, Ali Kadir, spoke during public comment, questioning a company’s data and regulators’ responses.

“A lot of people no longer can afford their insurance and are packing up and leaving the state,” Kadir said. “These rate increases are just getting rubber-stamped.”