Tesla Solar Roof, courtesy of Tesla
To appease customers who had filed lawsuits after Tesla substantially hiked the prices of its solar power generation and storage products (by at least 45%) earlier this year, the company has now offered to revert prices back to the originally quoted ones for select customers — reports CNBC.
When Tesla significantly increased the prices it had quoted to customers looking for Tesla solar system installations after contracts had already been signed, the understandably disgruntled customers took to the legal system for remedy.
At least three separate lawsuits filed against Tesla alleged that customers were met with unexpected price increments and were asked to make additional payments to proceed with solar installations, all while they had already signed contracts with Tesla and, in some cases, had already prepared to have solar panels installed at their homes.
The price hikes weren’t too kind, either — the price for plaintiff Matthew Amans’ solar installation skyrocketed from his original contract’s ~$72,000 USD to ~$146,000 USD, according to lawsuit filings. That’s more than double the original price. All of the filed lawsuits were later consolidated into Amans v Tesla, Inc.
In a Thursday filing with the U.S. district court in San Jose, California, attorneys for the solar customers wrote:
Tesla informed counsel for Plaintiffs that Tesla had recently launched a program for customers who signed Solar Roof contracts before the April 2021 price changes to return those customers to their original pricing (if they were subject to a price increase in April 2021).
Tesla has not publicized this program or provided any details regarding it as of yet.
While Tesla’s solar power generation systems boast a per watt cost of less than $1.49 USD after incentives, getting one installed isn’t the easiest task — not only did Tesla make it so you can’t buy its solar panels and roofs as standalone products, but the company also axed its solar subscriptions earlier this month, leaving buyers with only cash and loan options.
