Democrats accused Transportation Minister Todd Stone of trying to avoid scrutiny in the legislature by hiding information about ICBC’s $110-million blunder.
VANCOUVER – The supposed good news of ICBC customers getting refunds after being overcharged is masked by the continuing bad news for drivers whose rates have been raised by the Christy Clark BC Liberal government for consecutive years on top of paying sky-high gas prices which this weekend has reached beyond $1.50.
Democrats accused Transportation Minister Todd Stone of trying to avoid scrutiny in the legislature by hiding information about ICBC’s $110-million blunder.
“Rather than immediately notifying the public about this mistake – which meant many people were overbilled for years on their auto insurance – Minister Stone hid this information until after he had finished debating his ministry’s budget in the legislature,” said New Democrat ICBC critic Mable Elmore.
After news broke that ICBC is on the hook for $110 million in billing errors, Minister Stone responded that he was “as angry as I expect British Columbians to be.”
“It’s not good enough for the minister to come out after media broke the story and claim he is angry,” said Elmore. “We want to know why he hid this important information from the public for more than a month.”
Elmore also noted that the minister served three years on the board of directors at ICBC before he was elected, including in 2013 when the billing error first became known to ICBC.
“Rates are on the rise, with a 4.9 per cent increase last year, and another increase coming this year,” said Elmore.
“Now, ratepayers are being put last again by this minister’s decision to put political damage control ahead of accountability. People deserve better from this minister, and from ICBC.”
The Crown corporation admitted this week that an operational error at ICBC has overcharged thousands of drivers on optional insurance in the last six years, a blunder totaling $36-million.
In a statement issued Sunday, ICBC said that about 40,000 customers per year were charged based on an incorrect vehicle description since at least 2008. Each customer overpaid on optional insurance by about $21 per year, on average.
The same error also caused 58,000 customers per year to underpay on optional insurance – amounting to about $71-million in lost fees.
The company has promised affected customers a full refund by July. ICBC will pay back an additional $3-million in interest to those who overpaid. Those who underpaid will not be charged retroactively.
It’s a combined loss of nearly $110-million for ICBC.
