“30% to 68% of the total homeowner’s insurance premium in high-risk areas.” That line, from the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s Sept. 28 release, is the share of a home insurance bill that hail accounts for in the City of Calgary and nearby areas, according to a study the bureau commissioned from the accounting firm MNP.
For a Calgary household, that range shows up on every renewal notice.
The same release says homeowners in high-risk areas can cut their premium by up to 50% with hail-resistant roofing and siding. Put that on the kitchen table. Take a Calgary policy at $2,000 a year, a round number chosen for illustration and not a published average. By our arithmetic, hail would account for $600 to $1,360 of it, and a full 50% cut would leave $1,000 a year with the household. The words “up to” are doing a lot of work, though. That figure is a ceiling, and it applies only to the riskiest addresses.
Key facts
- The Insurance Bureau of Canada said on Sept. 28, 2026, citing a study by MNP, that hail accounts for 30% to 68% of the total homeowner’s insurance premium in high-risk areas of Alberta.
- The MNP study released by the Insurance Bureau of Canada on Sept. 28, 2026, puts insured hail damage in Alberta from 2020 to 2025 at more than $6 billion.
- The City of Calgary’s Resilient Roofing Rebate paid $3,000 per home toward impact-resistant roofing, issued 1,600 rebates and ended in May 2022, according to the City of Calgary.
- Alberta’s building code in force is the National Building Code 2023 Alberta Edition, according to the Government of Alberta.
Insurers already hold the discount the study describes
The bureau’s recommendations mostly ask someone else to move first. It wants hail-resistant materials required in new homes in high-risk areas, public money for retrofits, support for municipal resilience work and a revived Calgary rebate. Some of that may be worth doing. All of it waits on a government.
The study itself points somewhere closer. It describes what insurers already offer some owners of hail-resistant homes, including hail deductibles cut by 50% to 75%, longer depreciation terms and removed caps. Those are real concessions. They are also buried in individual policies, where a homeowner comparing roofing quotes can’t see them.
At least one large insurer will put up to $2,500 toward hail-resistant materials after a hail, wind or snow claim. That money arrives after the damage. The bill before the storm stays where it was.
If a Class 4 roof can cut a Calgary premium in half, the companies that set premiums can say so in a table, by postal code, now. A published discount would move more roofs than a mandate, and it would cost the treasury nothing.
Calgary’s rebate worked and the City let it lapse
The City of Calgary launched its Resilient Roofing Rebate after the June 2020 hailstorm. It paid $3,000 per home, issued 1,600 rebates and closed in May 2022. Five months later, the City accepted an award for it.
By our arithmetic, those rebates came to $4.8 million. A program good enough to win an award after it ended is one the City owes residents a plain explanation for ending, along with a clear answer on whether it belongs in the next budget.
Homeowners replacing a roof should get the insurer’s number first
Before signing a roofing contract, ask your insurer in writing for two figures, your annual premium with a Class 4 impact-resistant roof and your premium without one. Get the answer before the roofer’s quote expires, and keep it with the contract. Then ask your ward councillor whether the roofing rebate is in the City of Calgary’s 2027 to 2030 budget, which council decides in November.
