Attorney General David Eby has let B.C. motorists know that they'll be paying more for their vehicle insurance this year.

After ICBC recorded its largest loss in history, the Crown-owned company is boosting the basic rate by 6.4 percent.

That's significantly lower than the 20 percent rate hike recommended in a report released in July.

“Our commitment to British Columbians is to make life more affordable for them—forcing 20 percent rate increases on drivers is a nonstarter,” Eby said in a news release. “Our government is working overtime to clean up the mess we inherited in a way that minimizes impacts on drivers.”

Eby also criticized the former B.C. Liberal government for treating ICBC "like an ATM machine". He claimed that this cost motorists more than $1 billion since the former government changed the rules to take more cash out of the Crown-owned company.

According to ICBC's financial report, it lost $913 million in 2016-17. That's a sharp reversal from the $131-million profit in the previous year.

The new NDP government has also announced that it is launching an operational audit of ICBC with the goal of ensuring "this type of mismanagement can never happen again."

In addition, red-light cameras will be operationg 24 hours a day, seven days a week—up from the six hours a day presently.

New ads will be launched to educate the public about distracted driving and a "dangerous roads initiative" will "identify and rapidly retrofit infrastructure, regulations and signage at dangerous roads and intersections".