Tesla has been hit with a class-action lawsuit over its Solar Roof price hikes, led by customer who says his contract got jacked up from $71,000 to $146,000

• Tesla was hit with a class-action lawsuit over its Solar Roof product on Thursday.
• The plaintiff leading the complaint said he had the price of his Tesla Solar Roof jacked from $71,660 to $146,460.
• This is the second lawsuit Tesla is facing over its Solar Roof price increases.

Tesla was hit with a class-action lawsuit on Thursday by a Solar Roof customer who says the company jacked up the price of his roof by more than $70,000 after he had signed contracts.

The lawsuit, filed in a California court, is being led by Matthew Amans, an associate professor of clinical radiology at the University of California San Francisco.

Amans ordered a Solar Roof for his home in June 2020, the suit said. Amans' most recently signed contract before the price hike was from March 20, 2021, when he agreed to pay $71,662.06, the suit said. But over the weekend of April 10, Tesla sent him an email saying it was raising the price of his project, the suit said.

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When he logged onto his account, he saw the new price was $146,462.22, the suit said. This was corroborated by a screenshot Amans shared with Insider.

Rather than looking for compensation, the suit aims to get Tesla to honor its original contract with Amans and install the roof for the original agreed-upon price.

Other Tesla Solar customers have told similar stories of price hikes.

Amans, represented by the law firm Edelson PC, brought the suit on behalf of anyone in the US that was told their Solar Roof price was going up. The exact size of the class isn't known, the suit said.

Read more: A judge ordered Tesla to turn over documents related to Elon Musk's $55 billion compensation plan. Here's how the elaborate pay agreement works.

Unlike traditional solar panels, which sit on top of a roof, Tesla's Solar Roof replaces a roof, and is comprised of tiles that act as solar cells. Per the suit, Amans had not yet had the roof installed but he had already spent money on making alterations to his home in preparation, including removing trees to limit shade.

Amans told Insider that a Tesla representative phoned him after he received the email about the price hike. According to Amans, the representative apologized. When Amans asked why the price had risen, the representative repeatedly said it was a "business decision," Amans said.

Tesla also offered Amans a free Powerwall storage battery if he decided to proceed with the project, in an email viewed by Insider. "Basically a $5,000 price cut off of the $76,000 price hike," he told Insider.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Tesla sent out mass emails to Solar Roof customers in April informing them of price increases to their contract. CEO Elon Musk said during the company's Q1 earnings call that it had made "significant mistakes" calculating the cost of the product.

This is the second lawsuit filed against Tesla over the price hike in two weeks. A Pennsylvania couple who said their Solar Roof price got bumped up from $46,000 to $78,000 filed a lawsuit against Tesla on April 30.

Do you work for Tesla Energy? Email this reporter from a non-work email address at ihamilton@insider.com or iahamilton@protonmail.com.