According to reports, the performance of ICBC's investments is so good that the government-run auto insurer is keen on giving its customers a break on the insurance rates.

The Insurance Corporation of B. C. has requested the B. C. Utilities Commission to decrease the basic auto insurance rates by 1.9%.

As per the sources, the BCUC is solely responsible for regulating the basic drivers of the insurance rates in B. C.

Reports suggest that the number of claims that the ICBC had to pay out has gone down. However, the average cost of claims has risen considerably, particularly in the area of bodily injuries that have been suffered in car crashes.

The figures reveal that ICBC has reflected a net profit of $563 million for 2009. The figures have risen from $497-million profit a year recorded earlier.

ICBC President Jon Schubert thanked the province's motorists. He said, "their smart driving has helped us control our claims costs and apply for this rate reduction".

As per the report, the recovery in the capital markets [and] maintaining the stable income from [ICBC's] conservative fixed-income portfolio is credited for the windfall.

Condemning the rate reduction request, Mike Farnworth, the New Democrats' ICBC critic, said that the request for low premiums by ICBC was linked to what he called the guilty conscience of over transferring $778 million of ICBC profits into the government's general revenue in the budget of March.