Insurance company twice bitten

Press, 10 January 1983, Page 24

Insurance company twice bitten

PA Wellington An insurance company chaired by Wellingtons Mayor, Sir Michael Fowler, has now been twice bitten byhydro project canal failures—first at Ruahihi and now at Wheao.

The N.Z. Municipalities Cooperative Insurance Company. Ltd. is one of two insurers for the $35 million Wheao project, the other

being the State Insurance Company. The co-operative company was founded in 1961. largely on the initiative of former Eastbourne Mayor and then Municipal Association secretary. Mr Cliff Bishop. Its clients were originally restricted to city, borough, and town councils, but this has changed over the years to include specified authorities—such as the Rotorua Area Electricity Authority. The company offers specialist insurance cover for all areas of local government. It has reinsurance agreements with the Monarch Insurance Company, which also provides advice and specialist insurance expertise. Its 21st annual report, for the year ended December 1981, lists premium income for the year of more than $6

million, an operating surplus of nearly $50,000, and investments and assets of more than $6 million. Notable claims listed in its history include a $1,000,000 settlement in 1966 for a personal injury claim involving the Whangarei City Corporation and a member of the public injured in a swimming pool; large claims in the 1970 s involving the flooding of a hotel complex in Taupo and damage to a New Plymouth reservoir; and in 1980 and. 1981. claims of ‘exceptional severity" involving damage to the Waipori power station in Dunedin and the Ruahihi canal collapse, each of which resulted in claims of several million dollars. “All these claims that have been lodged over the years have been met or are able to be met from the company's resources and those of its reinsurers,” the report says. The co-operative’s general manager, Municipal Association secretary. Mr Colin Archer, was unable to say how big a claim would be lodged from the Wheao project. Two insurance companies were involved, and damage had still to be assessed. ,