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The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has settled 1,120 out of 1,333 claims lodged for storms that crossed the country between January and September this year.
EQC paid out around $17 million in settlements for all storm claims. These claims do not include those lodged for the Canterbury and Kaikoura earthquakes.
Nationally, EQC received 101 claims for the January storm centred in Kaiau-Thames - of these 98 were resolved with $1,191,798 paid to customers. For the ex-Cyclone Fehi, 137 claims were lodged and of these only one is left unsettled with customers receiving $920,626 from EQC. It has also completed 271 claims of the 282 lodged for ex-Cyclone Gita, with $6,425,739 paid to customers. The average time for settlement is 69 days.
Overall, the Auckland district saw the highest number of claims for all events with 332 lodged, followed by Tasman with 300, Wellington with 89, Rotorua with 61 and the Nelson City district with 58.
“To have settled 84% of all 2018 storm event claims reflects EQC’s commitment to delivering a high level of service for customers throughout New Zealand,” EQC manager national customer care Robyn Nation said. “If there is another storm in the coming months and local residents have damage to their property, then they should talk to us about lodging a claim.
“Our message is that if your property suffers storm damage get in touch with us and we can start the claim process,” he added.
