FAIR Plan Temporary Supplemental Fee: Why It's on Your Home Insurance Bill

The "Temporary Supplemental Fee" on a California home insurance bill is a charge your own insurer adds to recover part of what it paid toward the California FAIR Plan's $1 billion assessment after the January 2025 Los Angeles fires. It isn't a FAIR Plan bill. The Insurance Commissioner approved the assessment on February 11, 2025. Insurers carry half of it themselves, and each one needs the Commissioner's approval to recover the other half from its policyholders. When it's approved, the fee is a percentage of your premium, collected over no more than two years and shown as its own line.^[1][2] The Department of Insurance put the median homeowner fee at $28 a year.^[3]

We went through the Department's lists of approved filings to see how far the fee reached. From July 25, 2025 through August 25, 2026, the Department approved 176 fee filings from 101 insurance companies, covering homeowners, dwelling fire, renters, landlord and commercial package policies.^[4][5] If your home is insured with a large admitted insurer, check your last renewal bill for it.

Why is there a FAIR Plan fee on my homeowners bill?

Because every admitted property insurer in California is a member of the FAIR Plan and shares its losses. The plan is an association of all admitted insurers licensed to write basic property insurance in the state.^[6] When its own money runs short, it can ask the Commissioner to assess those members.

That happened in 2025. By February 11, 2025, the FAIR Plan had received 4,794 claims from the Palisades and Eaton fires, paid $914 million, and estimated its total loss from the two fires at about $4 billion.^[2] The Commissioner approved Order 2025-1 that day, letting the plan levy a $1 billion assessment on member insurers, the first in more than 30 years. Members had 30 days from their notice to pay.^[2] The last assessments followed the 1993 fires in Altadena and Malibu and the 1994 Northridge earthquake, totaling $260 million.^[2]

Each insurer's share of an assessment follows its market share. The Plan of Operation assesses members in proportion to their premiums written two calendar years earlier, and it keeps residential and commercial losses separate, so a dwelling loss is charged to residential lines only.^[6]

How much can my insurer charge?

Only what the Commissioner approves, within limits the Department set in two bulletins. Bulletin 2024-8, issued in September 2024, set the approach before any fire; Bulletin 2025-4, issued with the assessment on February 11, 2025, updated it.^[2][7] The main rules from Bulletin 2025-4:^[2]

The Department's press release on the court ruling put the median fee for homeowners at $28 a year.^[3] Your own amount depends on your insurer's share of the assessment, how it spread that across its policies, and your premium.

Which insurers were approved to charge it?

Most of the big names in California homeowners insurance. Bulletin 2025-4 requires each fee filing to carry "FPA-2025" in its program name, which makes them easy to find on the Department's public lists of approved and closed filings.^[2] The 2025 year-end list shows 144 approved FPA-2025 filings, closed between July 25 and December 23, 2025. The 2026 list, current to August 31, adds 32 more through August 25, 2026. Together that's 176 filings from 101 companies: 108 in personal lines, from 70 companies, and 68 in commercial lines.^[4][5]

A sample of the personal lines approvals:

Sources: CDI Rate Filing Approval and Closed Lists, YTD 12/31/25 and YTD 8/31/26.^[4][5] The list shows the approval, not the fee amount or the date collection starts, which the insurer sets in its filing.^[2]

An approval doesn't mean every policy from that company carries the fee. Each filing names the policy types it applies to, such as homeowners, dwelling, renters, condominium or manufactured homes, and an insurer whose assessment was fully covered by reinsurance has nothing to recover.^[2]

Do FAIR Plan or surplus lines policies carry this fee?

Not this one. The recoupment rules let member insurers charge their own policyholders.^[2] A FAIR Plan dwelling policy is issued by the plan, not by a member, and a surplus lines carrier isn't a member at all, because membership is limited to admitted insurers.^[6] Surplus lines policies have their own taxes and fees, and no guaranty fund, as our guide to surplus lines insurance explains.

The FAIR Plan has a separate supplemental fee for its high-value commercial policies (limits of $20 million per building, up to $100 million per location). The Plan of Operation pays losses on those policies first from temporary supplemental fees charged on them at inception or renewal.^[6] That doesn't apply to homeowners.

Can I get the fee removed?

Not by asking. An approved fee applies to every policy in the program the filing names, and the Commissioner's rules control how much and for how long.^[2] What you can do:

1. Check the line on your bill

   An approved fee must be shown separately on a notice, bill or declarations page, with the Department's required explanation of the FAIR Plan and the words "Temporary Supplemental Fee" next to the amount.^[2] If the charge has a different name, or no explanation, ask your insurer or broker what it is.

2. Confirm your insurer was approved

   Look for your insurer and policy type on the Department's approval lists, searching for "FPA-2025" in the program name.^[4][5] If you find nothing, ask the insurer for the file number.

3. Complain if something looks wrong

   The Department of Insurance's consumer hotline takes complaints about charges on your policy.^[8] The Department has said it will collect data to make sure insurers don't recover more than they were allowed.^[2]

4. Shop the whole premium, not the fee

   Switching insurers to avoid a fee with a median of $28 a year rarely makes sense by itself, and another admitted insurer may have its own approved fee.^[3][4] Compare the full cost and coverage at renewal instead. A homeowners quote request lets a broker do that across admitted and surplus lines carriers.

Could there be another assessment?

Yes. The Plan of Operation sets the order: the plan pays losses first from retained earnings, then from reinsurance, any line of credit and catastrophe bonds, and only then, if it faces insolvency, through an assessment on members.^[6] By January 2026 the plan said it had handled about 5,400 Eaton and Palisades claims and paid nearly $3.5 billion, and that it had secured a line of credit and a reinsurance program that includes a $750 million catastrophe bond, which makes another assessment less likely.^[9] Under Bulletin 2025-4, a future assessment above $1 billion in a year could be passed through in full above that amount, with approval.^[2]

The recoupment rules were also challenged. Consumer Watchdog asked the Los Angeles Superior Court to overturn them, and the court rejected the petition. The Department announced the ruling on July 1, 2026.^[3] For now, the framework in the two bulletins stands.

For the other ways the FAIR Plan affects your costs, see our main California FAIR Plan guide and our guide to the 2026 FAIR Plan rate increase. If you're applying to the plan, our step-by-step guide to getting a California FAIR Plan quote covers the broker process.

This guide is for educational purposes and summarizes California Department of Insurance bulletins, orders, press releases and approved rate filing lists, and the FAIR Plan's Plan of Operation, as of September 24, 2026. The filing counts come from the Department's lists current to August 31, 2026. Menlo Insurance Services is a licensed California broker and may earn a commission on policies it places.

The Bottom Line

The temporary supplemental fee is your insurer recovering half of its share of the $1 billion FAIR Plan assessment approved after the January 2025 fires. It has to be approved, shown on its own line, kept separate from premium and rates, and collected for no more than two years, and the Department puts the typical homeowner cost at $28 a year. Through August 2026 the Department approved 176 of these filings from 101 insurers. You can't negotiate it away. Check that it's labeled correctly, then compare your whole premium at renewal.