According to a court document, Tesla solar roof customers who were stunned by the company's April price increases (and which are legally questionable) may be eligible to have their original rates restored.
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CNBC first reported that a Thursday filing at the U.S. District Court in San Jose, California details a program Tesla quietly launched to placate its long-standing solar roof customers.
Counsel for Tesla informed counsel of Plaintiffs on September 13, 2021 that Tesla had just launched a program to restore pricing to customers who signed Solar Roof contracts prior to the April 2021 price increases.
Matthew Amans filed the class-action lawsuit against Tesla in May. According to Business Insider, the lead plaintiff claims that Tesla raised the cost of installing a solar roof on his home by $75,000. This was in addition to his original contract which had been $71,662. The price went up to $146.462. Amans was not the only one. Multiple Tesla customers claimed that they received emails in April from Tesla revealing huge prize increases for their solar roof contracts. Some of these contracts had been signed over a year before their scheduled installation.
Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, later stated during an earnings call in October that the company made serious mistakes when calculating the amount of solar roof tiles to be charged customers. Tesla's solar roof replaces traditional solar panels by being installed on top of roofs. Instead of placing tiles on roofs, it acts as solar cells and absorbs the sun's rays to convert them to energy. Musk stated that Tesla was having trouble assessing the difficulty and complexity of different roofs, so the solar roof is designed to replace a building's roof with tiles that act as solar cells. This allows it to absorb the suns rays and convert them into energy.
CNBC notes that Tesla's solar websites don't seem to provide any additional information about the program as described in Thursdays filing. According to the document, Amans legal staff has also requested additional information. Gizmodo did not receive a response immediately to Tesla's request for comment. However, it is important to note that Tesla hasn't yet announced a new PR department after it disbanded its previous one in October 2020.
