It is the countrywide classification system used by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) to reflect a community's local fire protection for property insurance rating purposes. The public fire protection of a city, town or area is graded using ISO's Fire Suppression Rating Schedule to develop the community's classification.
The PPC system in some form is used in all 50 states. Texas was the last to adopt it. Commissioner Elton Bomer replaced the old key rating system with ISO's Fire Suppression Rating Schedule and related Public Protection Classification system, effective February 1, 1998.
ISO is a New York-based advisory organization that serves the property and casualty insurance industry by providing inspection services, insurance coverage form development and statistical services. ISO has Texas offices in Dallas and Austin.
How does the PPC system grade local fire protection?
ISO classifies communities from 1 (the best) to 10 (the worst) based on how well they score on the ISO Fire Suppression Rating Schedule, which grades such features as water distribution, fire department equipment and manpower and fire alarm facilities. ISO field representatives use the schedule when surveying a community's fire protection capability. The score that is determined from applying the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule is translated into a public protection classification. A perfect score in Texas is 106.5. It consists of 50 points for fire department capabilities, 40 points for water supply and distribution, 10 points for receiving and handling fire alarms and 6.5 points for a "Texas Addendum" that grades fire safety education, building code enforcement, fire prevention code enforcement and fire investigation capabilities. Texas Addendum to the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule.
How does a community's score translate into a PPC rating?
The first number is the PPC for buildings within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant and five road miles of a recognized fire station. The second number is for buildings more than 1,000 feet from a fire hydrant but within five road miles of a recognized fire station.
Does ISO automatically penalize communities for having volunteer fire departments?
Every city, town or area that provides fire protection services is subject to being graded to establish a PPC. Individual buildings -- including your house -- are subject to the community's PPC. When calculating property insurance premiums, insurance companies using the PPC apply a factor that reflects a particular community's PPC.
Larger cities, which tend to have the best fire protection, generally are rated 3 or 4. A few are rated 2. Small towns tend to cluster in the 4-to-7 range. A number of previously uninspected areas that returned ISO questionnaires about their fire fighting capabilities are rated 7 or 9.
Does my community's Public Protection Classification significantly affect my homeowners' insurance premium?
Although homeowners' insurance rates are driven mainly by your area's claim experience, your community's PPC rating also is important. For rate regulated companies, the premium on a brick veneer house is 39 percent higher in an area rated 10 (worst) than in one rated 1 (best). (This range is even greater for frame houses.) A brick veneer home's rate difference from one class to the next ranges from 1.5 percent to 9 percent.
Consider a $100,000 brick veneer house in three different communities in the same rating territory. Each is covered by a HO-B policy with a one percent deductible, $60,000 in "replacement cost" personal property coverage, $25,000 in liability coverage and $1,000 in medical payments insurance.
The first house is in a city with a PPC rating of 4. The second is in a town with a rating of 7. The third is in an "unprotected" area rated 10.
An insurance company's benchmark rate in the city graded 7 is 15 percent higher than the one in the town with a PPC rating of 4.
The owner of the house in the "unprotected" area rated 10 pays about 25 percent more than the one in a city rated 4.
Any building more than five road miles from a fire station or outside the boundary of a fire protection area, such as a city or volunteer fire department service area is rated 10. An exception is an area that has an "automatic aid agreement" with a recognized and rated fire department to respond to fires in that area. In such cases, ISO assigns the area a rating after evaluating the agreement. Use of the assigned rating will depend on the distance of individual buildings from fire stations.
Has the Texas Department of Insurance done anything to minimize "rate shock" for communities that benefited from fringing under the key rate system?
Yes, when Commissioner Bomer set the benchmark rates that took effect February 1, 1998, he capped homeowners insurance benchmark rate changes attributable solely to the switch to PPC at ±1O percent for the first year and ±21 percent for the second year. Renters insurance rate changes were capped at ±20 percent the fiat year and ±44 percent the second year. This, in effect, gives local governments and volunteer fire departments in fringed areas until the year 2000 to make improvements and be inspected by ISO. In addition, TDI negotiated ISO's agreement to improve from 9 to 7 the temporary ratings of 72 formerly fringed communities that returned ISO's questionnaires but had not been inspected as of March 1, 1998. As a result, in these communities, rates for brick veneer houses will be 6.5 percent lower and rates for frame houses will be 29 percent lower than they would have been.
By asking ISO for a re-evaluation based on improvements since last inspection. If your community has never been inspected, it needs to start by returning ISO's questionnaire if it has not already done so. City officials can make inquiries by calling ISO Customer Service, 1-800-444-4554 or TDI's PPC Oversight Representative at 512-305-7941. For a re-evaluation, ISO requires a letter from the fire chief or city official.
If my town makes improvements and seeks a re-evaluation, how soon will the improvements affect my homeowners' insurance rate?
ISO publishes evaluations quarterly. For several reasons, including the fact that homeowners policies are written for a year at a time, it may take a year or longer for a re-evaluation to affect an individual homeowner's premium.
Does TDI oversee ISO to assure that PPC ratings are accurate and fair?
Yes, TDI has a PPC Oversight Representative that reviews each proposed new classification rating. This review may take no longer than 30 days, including 10 days for local officials to comment. If the new rating appears reasonable, TDI authorizes ISO to publish it for use by insurance companies.
Are ISO inspection reports and lists of PPC ratings open records?
Yes, inspection reports may be viewed at ISO's office in Austin (3000 S. IH 35, Suite 225, telephone 512-440-9900). The current ratings list and certain other documents such as grading sheets and inspections summary sheets are on file with TDI as open records. The Public Protection Classification Office also has copies.
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