New Zealand insurers are not holding their breath on reform of the Earthquake Commission (EQC), as the country prepares for national elections next month.

The Government says it will review the role of the state-owned insurer, with private insurers calling for more involvement in claims-handling.

But Insurance Council of New Zealand CEO Tim Grafton told insuranceNEWS.com.au that if the Government initiates a review immediately after the election there will almost certainly be a public consultation, and that could not begin until next year.

“Then legislative change would be required, and the earliest that could come in would be the latter half of 2015,” he said.

“For a piece of legislation to pass through the Parliament would take the best part of 12 months, which would take us into 2016, and implementation would probably not start until the middle of 2017.”

The EQC writes the first $NZ100,000 ($90,850) of earthquake cover for home buildings and $NZ20,000 ($18,170) for contents and passes over-cap claims to homeowners’ private insurers.

In 2012 it proposed replacing its levy with differential pricing to reflect risk and dropping the contents cover.

It wants to remain as the central claims agency, and says giving private insurers more control, with the EQC acting as reinsurer, could lead to cost shifting by the insurance industry.