(a) Rates, including loss costs under AS 21.39.043 or any other provision of law, shall be made in accordance with the following provisions:

(1) rates shall not be excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory;

(2) consideration shall be given to past and prospective loss experience inside and outside this state; to the conflagration and catastrophe hazards; to a reasonable margin for underwriting profit and contingencies; to dividends, savings, or unabsorbed premium deposits allowed or returned by insurers to their policyholders, members, or subscribers; to past and prospective expenses both countrywide and those specially applicable to this state; and to all other relevant factors inside and outside this state;

(3) the systems of expense provisions included in the rates for use by an insurer or group of insurers may differ from those of other insurers or group of insurers to reflect the requirements of the operating methods of the insurer or group of insurers with respect to any kind of insurance, or with respect to a subdivision or combination thereof for which subdivision or combination separate expense provisions are applicable;

(4) risks may be grouped by classifications for the establishment of rates and minimum premiums; classification rates may be modified to produce rates for individual risks in accordance with rating plans that establish standards for measuring variations in hazards or expense provisions, or both; the standards may measure any differences among risks that can be demonstrated to have a probable effect upon losses or expenses;

(5) in the case of fire insurance rates, consideration may be given to the experience of the fire insurance business during a period of not more than the most recent five-year period for which experience is available;

(6) when there is an established program to inspect new and existing dwellings and the program has been certified by the director as likely to reduce the incidence of fires in inspected dwellings, then in any rate plan used in this state, dwellings that have been found by the inspection to meet the standards established by the program shall have credits applied to the rate in amounts approved by the director.

(b) Except to the extent necessary to meet the provisions of (a)(1) of this section, uniformity among insurers in matters within the scope of this section is neither required nor prohibited.

(c) In this section “dwelling” means a residential structure containing not more than four family living units.