Meritage Homes Celebrates Earth Month by Including a SunPower Solar Power System on New Homes in California

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of Earth Month, Meritage Homes (NYSE: MTH) is including a high-efficiency solar power system from SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ:SPWR) at no additional cost with the purchase of a to-be-built home in select Meritage California communities. The offer is available for a limited time starting today and extending through midnight (PDT) April 30, 2014.

This promotion launches a nationwide joint offering announced by Meritage and SunPower in February to provide leading comprehensive energy efficiency and solar power solutions to all Meritage homebuyers throughout the U.S.  It reinforces Meritage's commitment to make every home it builds solar-ready, with the ability to achieve zero net energy consumption.

"Meritage Homes is setting new standards of excellence for energy-efficient homes, and the addition of well-designed, cost-effective solar power systems helps achieve even greater energy cost savings while enhancing the quality of life for our customers," said Steven J. Hilton, chairman and chief executive officer of Meritage Homes. "By partnering with SunPower, the industry's most experienced provider of solar technology to new home communities, we can provide homebuyers the most reliable and efficient solar technology available, enabling customers to create value the moment they take ownership of their new Meritage home."

"Increasingly, homebuyers understand the return on investment that a high quality, energy efficient, solar-powered new home delivers," said SunPower CEO Tom Werner. "We're very proud to partner with Meritage Homes, and to participate in this extraordinary offer to California homebuyers."

With the limited-time offer announced today, Meritage Homes will include a 1.4-kilowatt SunPower solar power system, which uses the most efficient solar panels available today, for no additional cost with the purchase of a to-be-built home in select Meritage California communities. Homebuyers will have the option of upgrading the size of their system at an additional cost  and may also include online monitoring, which allows homeowners to understand how much power their solar system is generating and better control energy use. SunPower will also work with Meritage Homes sales personnel and Meritage homebuyers to provide training and education on the benefits of their solar power systems. 

"Meritage offers a comprehensive system of advanced features such as spray foam insulation, double low-e windows, variable drive HVAC, LED lighting, home energy monitoring and control, and triple-certification by the EPA for meeting ENERGY STAR, Indoor airPLUS and WaterSense standards," concluded Hilton. "We believe the addition of SunPower solar power systems will make the best homes even better."

For more information, visit meritagehomes.com.

About Meritage Homes
Meritage Homes is the ninth-largest public homebuilder in the United States, based on homes closed in 2013. Meritage builds and sells single-family homes for first-time, move-up, luxury and active adult buyers across the Western, Southern and Southeastern United States. As of December 31, 2013, the company had 188 actively selling communities in markets including Sacramento, San Francisco's East Bay, the Central Valley and Orange County, California; Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Austin and San Antonio, Texas; Phoenix/Scottsdale, Green Valley and Tucson, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Orlando and Tampa, Florida; Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina; York County, South Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee.
Meritage has designed and built more than 80,000 homes in its 28-year history, and has a reputation for its distinctive style, quality construction, and positive customer experience. Meritage is the industry leader in energy-efficient homebuilding and has received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence Award in 2013 and 2014, for innovation and industry leadership in energy efficient homebuilding. Meritage was the first national homebuilder to be 100 percent ENERGY STAR qualified in every home it builds, and far exceeds ENERGY STAR standards today.

About SunPower
SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ:SPWR) designs, manufactures and delivers the highest efficiency, highest reliability solar panels and systems available today. Residential business, government and utility customers rely on the company's quarter century of experience and guaranteed performance to provide maximum return on investment throughout the life of the solar system. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., SunPower has offices in North America, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia. For more information, visit www.sunpower.com.

SunPower is a registered trademark of SunPower Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE SunPower Corp.