If you own a home in Colorado, the score your insurer has been quietly using to price your policy is finally something you can see. And appeal. And cut with the mitigation work you already did.
Colorado HB25-1182, the risk-model transparency law, took effect on July 1, 2026. Insurers that use a wildfire risk score or classification in Colorado now have to send you a plain-language annual notice with your score, the range of possible scores, the mitigation discounts they offer, and the process to appeal.
Here’s what they don’t tell you. Insurers have been running these scores for years, using them to underwrite, price, non-renew, and refuse to write. Homeowners never got to see the score, argue with it, or point out that the Class A roof they paid $18,000 for last summer changes the risk. Colorado just made all of that visible. Rep. Brianna Titone said it plainly: “Coloradans have invested in wildfire mitigation efforts, only to receive no discounts from insurers” (Colorado Senate Democrats).
Show the math. Hail mitigation alone, according to the Colorado Division of Insurance’s own estimate, is worth $82 to $387 a year in premium savings (Colorado Senate Democrats). Wildfire-specific savings vary by carrier and by home, but they are real money if the carrier had never counted your work before. On a $3,200-a-year homeowners premium, a 10% wildfire mitigation discount is $320 you were leaving on the table.
The mitigation the law rewards is the physical stuff research shows actually saves homes when embers land: Class A roofing assemblies, non-combustible siding (fiber cement or metal), and ember-resistant vents in soffits and fascia. If you have the IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home designation, or your home is certified through Colorado’s Wildfire Partners program, you already have documented, science-based mitigation the law explicitly recognizes.
Do this now. First, dig out your last policy declaration and any renewal notice from your insurer since July 1. Your score arrives at your next renewal, in the required annual notice. Second, gather your mitigation evidence: roof invoices, defensible-space photos, siding specs, vent certifications, any Wildfire Partners or IBHS paperwork. Third, if the score looks wrong or the discount on your bill does not reflect the work you have done, file the appeal. Under the law, the insurer has 10 calendar days to acknowledge receipt and 30 days to respond in writing.
If you shop your policy, ask any new carrier for their wildfire score and the specific mitigation discounts they offer before you sign. That is now their job to answer. If you are shopping for a new home in the mountains or on the wildland-urban interface, our home financing hub covers how homeowners insurance flows through your escrow, because the premium your insurer sets ends up buried in your monthly payment.
One more thing about the rollout. The Colorado Division of Insurance is still writing rules on exactly what the notice has to include and how appeals get logged. If your July renewal notice lands without a score, and you know your carrier scores wildfire risk, that is a compliance question worth raising directly with the DOI. This law is worth using while it is fresh.
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