Tesla cancels price hikes for some solar roof customers

Tesla solar roof customers who were blinded by the huge (and legally questionable) the price hikes in April could help restore their original rates, according to a judicial act published this week.

As first spotted by CNBC, a case filed Thursday with U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., details a new program Tesla has quietly launched to appease longtime solar rooftop customers:

“On September 13, 2021, Tesla’s attorney informed plaintiffs attorney that Tesla had recently launched a program for customers who signed solar roof contracts before the April 2021 price changes to bring those customers back to their original price (if they were subject to a price increase in April 2021).

The document comes from a class action lawsuit filed against Tesla in May by Matthew Amans. The lead plaintiff argues that Tesla increased the price of equipping its home with a solar roof by about $ 75,000 at the time of installation – from $ 71,662 per initial contract to $ 146,462, according to Business intern. Amans was not the only one: Several Tesla customers said they received emails from the company in April revealing huge price hikes for their solar roofing contracts, some of which had been signed over a year ago at that time, ahead of their planned installations.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla said later in a call for results this month, the company made “significant errors” in calculating how much to charge customers for its solar tile project. Instead of being placed on a roof like traditional solar panels, Tesla’s solar roof is designed to replace a building’s current roof with tiles that act like solar cells, allowing it to absorb rays. of the sun and convert it into energy. Musk claimed that Tesla had encountered difficulty “in assessing the difficulty of certain roofs” and that the “complexity of the roofs varied considerably.” As such, Tesla is no longer considered its original price estimates to be accurate, leading to dramatic price increases.

CNBC points out that Tesla solar websites do not appear to list any further details about the program described in Thursday’s filing. According to the document, the Amans legal team also requested additional information about the program. Tesla did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment, but it should be noted that the company has not announced a new PR department since the old one disbanded. in October 2020.