diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-h5py/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-h5py/package.py
index e652849fd1ed9d1cc40d58fb1751f3d74bd0c3cf..2b7d34cc4bd9adc3772ae8ba1df89c7cdfcbc01c 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-h5py/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-h5py/package.py
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ class PyH5py(PythonPackage):
     phases = ['configure', 'install']
 
     def configure(self, spec, prefix):
-        self.setup_py('configure', '--hdf5={0}'.format(spec['hdf5'].prefix))
+        self.setup_py('configure', '--hdf5={0}'.format(spec['hdf5'].prefix),
+                      '--hdf5-version={0}'.format(spec['hdf5'].version))
 
         if '+mpi' in spec:
             env['CC'] = spec['mpi'].mpicc