Tesla has consented to paying about $6 million to put an end to a Solar Roof class-action lawsuit.Customers who had already made agreements to have the Solar Roof installed at their homes, were taken aback by the price hikes in 2021 that necessitated larger payments in order to push ahead with their installations.According to court paperwork released this week, Tesla's alterations to the terms after the sale led to approximately 6,300 customers scrapping their Solar Roof contracts.
Tesla has agreed to pay out more than $6 million in order to settle a class-action lawsuit brought against them by customers affected by sudden Solar Roof price hikes in 2021 after they had already agreed to have it installed at their homes. Back in 2016, Elon Musk had first introduced the system, known then as Tesla "solarglass," as a way to generate energy through an aesthetically pleasing roofing product.It was later uncovered, however, that the prototype that Musk had presented at the shareholders' meeting had been a prop and not a working model. Shockingly, customers experienced price increases up to as much as twice the original amount that was agreed upon - Matthew Amans' contract, for example, was initially around $72,000 but saw a raise to a total of $146,000. In addition, Tesla Energy made it mandatory for customers to order the Powerwall energy storage system in order to install the solar roof tiles.According to the amended settlement agreement, 8,636 people were affected by the changes made in 2021 and approximately 6,300 terminated their contracts with Tesla Energy. The company managed to complete 1,656 dealings at the original price quoted, with 57 more scheduled to be done at the same cost. The remaining customers who do not wish to terminate their contracts or get the solar roof tiles installed at a higher price amount to 616 people.In 2022, Wood Mackenzie estimated that Tesla had only installed 3,000 solar roof systems since revealing the technology, however, as of the first quarter of 2023, their overall solar deployments had raised 40% from the same time the previous year. Other Energy products, such as home and utility-scale backup batteries, have also seen a rise in revenue for the company.The national average in 2022 for a 10-kilowatt solar panel installation, taking into account federal tax credits, was around $20,000. More information about the class-action lawsuit can be accessed through Amans v. Tesla, Inc. 3:21-cv-03577.
This story has been amended to include the accurate solar deployment totals of Tesla for the first quarter of 2022 and 2023.
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