RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s insurance commissioner on Monday began deciding whether to allow homeowners’ coverage costs to rise by as much as 35 percent even as more insurers demand even higher rates in agreements with customers.

Craig Smith has seen the annual insurance premium for his rural Pitt County home double to $2,000 since he and his wife Brenda moved in 12 years ago, he said. For about half that time, insurance companies refused to cover his $365,000 home about 130 miles from the Atlantic coast unless he signed an agreement to pay a price they wanted that more than the regulated rate set by state Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin.